It is JQM editorial policy to welcome the original work that is not under consideration for any other publication at the same time. All authors are obliged to be aware of the importance of presenting content that is based on their own research and expressed in their own words. Plagiarism is considered to be bad practice and unethical. As per the part of JQM Copyrights Policy, originality guidelines are designed to assist authors in understanding acceptable and unacceptable practice. Our approach is specifically aimed at promoting and protecting authors' work.

The following types of plagiarism should be avoided:

Verbatim copying - Verbatim copying of more than 10% or 15% (or a significant passage or section of text) of another person's work without acknowledgement, references or the use of quotation marks.

Paraphrasing - Improper paraphrasing of other person's work is where more than one sentence within a paragraph or section of text has been changed or sentences have been rearranged without appropriate attribution. Significant improper paraphrasing (more than 10% of work) without appropriate attribution is treated as seriously as verbatim copying.

Re-using parts of a work without attribution - Re-use of elements of other person's work, for example, a figure, a table or a paragraph without acknowledgement, references or the use of quotation marks. It is incumbent on the author to obtain the necessary permission to reuse elements of another person's work from the copyright holder.

Self-plagiarism - JQM requires that all authors sign a copyright form that clearly states that their submitted work has not been published previously. If elements of a work have been previously published in another publication, including any UMT publication, the author is required to acknowledge the earlier work and indicate how the subsequent work differs and builds upon the research and conclusions contained in the previous work. Verbatim copying of author's own work and paraphrasing is not acceptable and we recommend that research should only be reused to support new conclusions.

We recommend that authors cite all previous stages of publication and presentation of their ideas that have culminated in the final work, including conference papers, workshop presentations and listserv communications. This will ensure that a complete record of all communication relating to the work is documented.

Republication of original work – Only original and innovative work is published in the JQM with a small number of exceptions only. These exceptions include conference papers, archival papers that are republished in special issues and at the discretion of the editor. The original work is fully and correctly attributed and permission from the appropriate copyright holder obtained. Besides, it is the author’s obligation to mention any facts in this regard in the compliance with ethical standard statement at the end of the manuscript.

Attribution - References to other publications must be in APA 6.0 style for JQM. All references should be carefully checked for completeness, accuracy, and consistency. You should include all author names and initials and give any journal title in full.

Handling allegations of plagiarism - JQM seeks to uphold academic integrity and to protect authors' rights and to ensure this, the editors take all cases of plagiarism very seriously. JQM editors are also aware of the potential impact of an allegation of plagiarism can ruin a researcher's career. Therefore, they have procedures in place to deal with alleged cases of plagiarism. In order to take an unbiased approach, they investigate each case thoroughly, seeking clarification from all affected parties.

JQM is an academic publication and uses software such as Turnitin.com to get help when an alleged case of plagiarism is brought to the attention. If the JQM editors are approached by a third party with an allegation of plagiarism, they would always seek a response from the author(s)/contributors or copyright holder(s) before deciding on a course of action. Their decisions will be unbiased and objective as well not influenced by other parties.

JQM is not obliged to discuss individual cases of alleged plagiarism with third parties. JQM reserves the right not to proceed further with a case if the complainant presents a false name or affiliation or acts in an inappropriate or threatening manner towards JQM editors and staff.

Prior Publication

If submitted manuscript or its significant part has been previously published, it is not generally acceptable for publication in the journal. However, for abstracts and posters presented at conferences, the authors are responsible to inform the editor and acknowledge the first source of publication. Articles that have been presented at a conference but not published by the conference organizers may also be considered. The author should confirm that they have not granted the conference organizers a license to the work; if the author retains all the rights in the work, the journal editor may consider the article for publication based on the fact that articles presented at a conference are unlikely to be the same or substantially the same version as that being accepted by the journal. 

In all cases, the author should disclose any prior publication or distribution to the editor and ensure appropriate attribution to the prior distribution and/or publication of the material.