PLAGIARISM

Manthano: Journal of Christian Education is committed to maintaining the originality and integrity of all published scholarly work. The journal takes a firm stance against plagiarism in all its forms and applies this policy consistently to all submitted manuscripts regardless of the author's institutional affiliation, nationality, or academic standing.

Definition

Plagiarism is defined as the use of another person's ideas, words, data, figures, or other intellectual property without proper attribution, whether intentional or unintentional. This includes direct copying of text without quotation marks and citation, paraphrasing another author's work too closely without acknowledgement, reproducing figures, tables, or data from published sources without permission and proper attribution, and presenting previously published work as new and original research.

Self-plagiarism refers to the reproduction of substantial portions of an author's own previously published work without disclosure and proper citation. This includes submitting a manuscript that overlaps significantly with a previously published article, book chapter, conference paper, or thesis. Self-plagiarism is treated with the same seriousness as the plagiarism of others' work.

Screening

All manuscripts submitted to Manthano are screened using similarity detection software prior to peer review. The maximum acceptable similarity index is 20 percent, calculated excluding the reference list, quoted material, and common phrases. Manuscripts exceeding this threshold will be returned to the authors without proceeding to review.

Consequences

If plagiarism is detected at the submission stage, the manuscript will be returned to the authors with an explanation. If plagiarism is detected during the review process, the manuscript will be rejected immediately and the authors will be notified. If plagiarism is discovered after publication, the article will be retracted and a retraction notice will be published in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The editorial office reserves the right to notify the authors' institutional affiliations in cases of serious misconduct.

Author Responsibility

Authors are fully responsible for ensuring the originality of their submitted work. It is strongly recommended that authors conduct an independent similarity check using Turnitin or an equivalent tool before submission and include the similarity report as a compulsory supplementary file. Providing a false or manipulated similarity report constitutes research misconduct and will result in permanent rejection and reporting to the relevant institution.