Plagiarism & Retraction Policy

The Editorial Board of the LIER: Language Inquiry & Exploration Review upholds a rigorous stance against plagiarism. This policy outlines the measures LIER will undertake when instances of plagiarism or similarity are identified in submitted articles. Turnitin's originality checking software will be employed to detect textual similarities in manuscripts and final articles. Articles with a similarity index exceeding 20% will be returned to authors for revision and resubmission.

Definition of Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as the "use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author, representing them as one's own original work."

Policy Details

Originality Requirement: All submissions must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration elsewhere. Verbatim material must be clearly marked using indentation, quotation marks, and source identification.

Citation and Permission:

  • Text exceeding fair use standards (more than two or three sentences) or graphic materials must be accompanied by proper citation and permission from the copyright holder and original author(s), where applicable.
  • Authors must identify and reference any previously published material and obtain necessary permissions for its reproduction.

Levels of Plagiarism and Corresponding Actions:

Minor Plagiarism: Involves a short section from another article without significant data or ideas. Action: A warning to authors and request for text revision and proper citation.

Intermediate Plagiarism: Significant portions of a paper are plagiarized without appropriate citation. Action: Rejection of the article and a one-year ban on further submissions.

Severe Plagiarism: Involves substantial replication of results or ideas from another publication. Action: Rejection of the paper and a five-year ban on further submissions.

Repeated Offenses: For a second instance of plagiarism by the same authors, the Editorial Board, including the Editor-in-Chief, will decide on measures which may include a permanent ban on submissions.

Self-Plagiarism:

  • Significant overlap with previously submitted or published papers will be treated as plagiarism. For significant overlap, the case will be considered severe; for less significant overlap, intermediate or minor as applicable.
  • Previously published material must be identified, and permission obtained for republishing.

Retraction and Corrections:

Retraction: LIER may retract a publication for reasons including, but not limited to, unreliability of findings, plagiarism, unauthorized material, legal issues, unethical research, or compromised peer review.

Correction: Issued for minor inaccuracies or errors that do not undermine the overall reliability of the publication.

Expression of Concern: Issued if there is inconclusive evidence of misconduct, or an investigation is pending but will not be timely.

Implementation and Maintenance: The LIER layout editor will maintain a list of authors subject to penalties and ensure compliance. The policy will be posted on the LIER website and provided to authors upon manuscript receipt.