Plagiarism Screening

All manuscripts submitted to Jurnal Inovasi Administrasi Negara Terapan (Inovant) are screened for similarity using Turnitin as part of the initial editorial assessment before proceeding to peer review. Additional similarity checks may be conducted during revision or before publication when considered necessary by the editorial team.

As a general editorial requirement, submitted manuscripts should have an overall similarity index of no more than 20%, with the bibliography/reference list excluded from the similarity calculation. In addition, similarity originating from any single source should normally not exceed 3%.

These numerical thresholds are used as initial editorial screening criteria and do not constitute an automatic determination of plagiarism. A manuscript with a similarity score below the stated threshold may still be considered problematic when inappropriate copying, unattributed paraphrasing, duplicate publication, or other forms of academic misconduct are identified. Conversely, legitimate similarities resulting from properly cited quotations, names of institutions, legislation, standardized terminology, methodological expressions, or other unavoidable textual similarities will be evaluated in context by the editorial team.

Editors assess similarity reports by considering the source, extent, location, context, and nature of matched text, as well as the adequacy of citation, quotation, attribution, and acknowledgment.

Inovant considers the following practices unacceptable:

  • Direct plagiarism — copying words, sentences, paragraphs, ideas, data, or other intellectual material from another source without appropriate citation, quotation, acknowledgment, or permission where required.
  • Substantial copying — reproducing a significant portion of another work without adequate attribution.
  • Improper paraphrasing or patchwriting — making minor changes to another author's wording or sentence structure while retaining the original ideas or expressions without proper acknowledgment.
  • Self-plagiarism and redundant publication — reusing substantial portions of an author's previously published work without appropriate citation, transparency, or editorial justification.
  • Unattributed reuse of tables, figures, images, or data — reproducing published materials without proper acknowledgment and permission where required.

A similarity score above 20%, or a similarity level above 3% from a single source, may result in the manuscript being returned to the author for clarification or revision before further editorial processing. Manuscripts containing substantial plagiarism, duplicate publication, deliberate concealment of copied material, or other serious integrity violations may be rejected.

Depending on the nature and severity of the issue, the editorial team may:

  1. request clarification from the author;
  2. return the manuscript for correction and proper attribution;
  3. require substantial revision and rescreening using Turnitin;
  4. reject the manuscript when serious plagiarism or publication misconduct is confirmed; or
  5. take corrective action in accordance with the journal's Publication Ethics, Research Misconduct, and Corrections and Retractions policies.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all sources are appropriately cited, quotations are clearly identified, paraphrased materials are properly attributed, and previously published works—including their own—are used transparently and ethically.

Attempts to manipulate text, characters, files, or formatting for the purpose of avoiding similarity detection are considered a breach of publication ethics.