Plagiarism Policy

The Global Review of Tourism and Social Sciences (GRTSS) applies a Zero Tolerance Policy towards plagiarism and outlines specific measures for handling manuscripts with identified plagiarism.

Definition:
Plagiarism refers to the "use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work."

Policy:
Submitted manuscripts must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Any material taken verbatim from another source must be clearly identified as distinct from the manuscript’s original text by:

  1. Indentation
  2. Use of quotation marks
  3. Proper citation of the source

Any text exceeding fair use standards (defined as more than two or three sentences) or any graphic material reproduced from another source requires written permission from the copyright holder and the original author (if feasible) and must include proper identification of the source.

Authors are required to submit their manuscripts along with a Turnitin similarity report showing the similarity percentage. All manuscripts will undergo an additional similarity check by the editorial team.

Actions Based on Similarity Index

The Editor-in-Chief, in consultation with the editorial team, will evaluate the Turnitin similarity report and take action according to the following guidelines:

  1. Similarity Index above 40%:

    • Immediate Rejection
    • The article is rejected due to extensive plagiarism or poor citation and paraphrasing practices. No resubmission will be accepted.

  2. Similarity Index between 20% and 40%:

    • Major Revision Required
    • The manuscript will be returned to the author(s) for significant improvement. Author(s) must provide correct citations and paraphrase properly, even if citations are already present. A revised manuscript must be resubmitted with a new Turnitin report showing a similarity index below 20%.

  3. Similarity Index equal to or less than 20%:

    • Accepted with Minor Revisions (if necessary)
    • Manuscripts may be accepted with minor citation improvements to ensure that all outsourced text is properly cited.

In cases 2 and 3, the authors must carefully revise their manuscript, add required citations, and paraphrase properly. The revised manuscript must be accompanied by a new Turnitin report showing a similarity index below 20%.

Similarity Check Process

Every manuscript submitted to GRTSS undergoes a similarity check using Turnitin. The editorial team reviews the similarity report and communicates the results to the author(s). Failure to comply with the plagiarism policy will result in rejection.