Plagiarism and Generative AI

Plagiarism is the unethical act of copying someone else’s prior ideas, processes, results, or words without explicit acknowledgment of the original author and source. Self-plagiarism occurs when an author utilizes a large part of his/her own previously published work without using appropriate references. This can range from getting the same manuscript published in multiple journals to modifying a previously published manuscript with some new data.

 Types of Plagiarism:

1. Full Plagiarism: Previously published content without any changes to the text, idea, and grammar is considered full plagiarism. It involves presenting exact text from a source as one’s own.
2. Partial Plagiarism: If the content is a mixture from multiple different sources, where the author has extensively rephrased text, then it is known as partial plagiarism.
3. Self-Plagiarism: When an author reuses complete or portions of their pre-published research, then it is known as self-plagiarism. Complete self-plagiarism is a case when an author republishes their own previously published work in a new journal.

 Please Note:

1. Full plagiarism, partial plagiarism, and self-plagiarism are not allowed.
2. The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.
3. An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
4. Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

Fenomena Zero tolerance for plagiarism. We use Turnitin to evaluate the similarity index, and then the editor decides the case of possible plagiarism (A similarity report will be provided to the author). The Editorial Board has passed the following actions:
1. Similarity Index above 20%: Article Rejected (due to poor citation and/or poor paraphrasing, article outright rejected, NO RESUBMISSION accepted).
2. Similarity Index (10-20%): Send to the author for improvement (provide correct citations to all places of similarity and do good paraphrasing even if the citation is provided).
3. Similarity index Less than 10%: Accepted or citation improvement may be required (proper citations must be provided to all outsourced texts).

In cases 2 and 3: The authors should revise the article carefully, add required citations, and do good paraphrasing of outsourced text. And resubmit the article with a new Turnitin report showing NO PLAGIARISM and similarity of less than 20%.

 Generative AI Policy:

FENOMENA: Journal of the Social Sciences upholds academic integrity, originality, and ethical scholarship in regulating the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in scholarly publishing. This policy is aligned with internationally recognized publication ethics (including Elsevier’s guidelines) and reflects the journal’s commitment to social science research grounded in local wisdom, socio-cultural contexts, and critical academic inquiry.
Generative AI refers to technologies capable of producing text, images, audio, or synthetic data, such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Claude, Jasper AI, DALL·E, Midjourney, and similar tools. While these technologies may support certain aspects of academic work, they also present risks, including inaccuracy, bias, lack of proper attribution, confidentiality concerns, and intellectual property issues, as well as potential misuse in scholarly communication.

 Generative AI Usage Key Principles:

a) Scholarly Writing and Content Creation
The use of Generative AI to write, generate, or substantially compose any part of a manuscript—including the abstract, introduction, literature review, methodology, results, or discussion—is not permitted. All scholarly content must represent the authors’ original intellectual contribution. Authors bear full responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, and validity of their work.
b) Data Generation, Reporting, and Interpretation
Generative AI must not be used to generate, fabricate, manipulate, or report research data or findings, whether qualitative or quantitative. The authors must conduct the creation, analysis, and interpretation of research data to ensure transparency, authenticity, and academic accountability.
c) Statistical and Empirical Reporting
The use of Generative AI to produce or report statistical information, numerical data, or empirical claims within the manuscript is not permitted due to concerns regarding data authenticity and reliability. However, the use of AI tools as auxiliary support for data analysis, under the direct supervision and control of the authors, may be acceptable.
d) Language Editing and Copy-editing
Limited use of Generative AI is permitted for language editing purposes only, such as improving grammar, spelling, clarity, and readability. This use must not alter the scholarly content, arguments, or interpretations of the manuscript. Authors remain fully responsible for the originality and substance of the work.
e) Images and Visual Materials
The submission and publication of images, illustrations, or visual materials generated entirely by AI tools or large-scale generative models are not permitted in FENOMENA. All visual materials must be authentic, derived from original research data, field documentation, or legitimate sources that can be academically verified.

 Author Responsibility:

Authors are required to ensure that any use of Generative AI does not compromise academic ethics, obscure intellectual authorship, or conflict with the journal’s commitment to social science scholarship rooted in local wisdom and socio-cultural authenticity. Any misuse of Generative AI may result in editorial action in accordance with the journal’s publication ethics.