Plagiarism Policy

DEPLOY operates a zero-tolerance policy on plagiarism. Every manuscript must be the authors' original work, and all ideas, text, data, figures, or code taken from others must be clearly attributed.

1. Forms of Plagiarism

Verbatim copying; mosaic or patchwork paraphrasing, including AI-assisted rewording of others' text to evade detection; appropriation of ideas; self-plagiarism through undisclosed reuse of one's own published work; reuse of tables, figures, or datasets without permission; and use of source code without crediting its origin and respecting its licence.

2. Similarity Threshold

All manuscripts are screened with Turnitin. The maximum overall similarity is 20%, with no more than 5% from any single source. Reference lists and properly quoted material are excluded.

The percentage alone is not decisive: 15% concentrated in the methods or results section may be more serious than 22% spread across standard technical terminology. Editors always inspect the similarity report manually.

3. Avoiding Plagiarism

Rewrite source ideas in your own words and still cite them; quote directly only where necessary; cite every definition, figure, and non-obvious statement; use a reference manager; cite your own prior work like any other source; obtain written permission for copyrighted figures; and run a similarity check before submitting.

4. Consequences

Before review: return for revision or immediate rejection. During review: rejection with written explanation. After acceptance: acceptance withdrawn. After publication: retraction with a permanent notice and notification of the authors' institutions. Serious cases carry a [three]-year submission ban for all authors involved.