Public Resource Innovation Management and Excellence (PRIME) is dedicated to upholding the highest standards of academic integrity and takes a strong stance against plagiarism. We believe in the importance of originality and the ethical dissemination of research. This policy outlines the journal's stance on plagiarism and the procedures followed to prevent and address it.

Definition of Plagiarism:

Plagiarism involves the use of someone else's work, ideas, or expressions without proper acknowledgment or permission. It can take various forms, including:

• Direct Plagiarism: Copying text from another source without quotation marks or proper citation.
• Self-Plagiarism: Reusing significant parts of one's own previously published work without proper citation or acknowledgment (also known as duplicate publication or text recycling).
• Mosaic Plagiarism: Incorporating phrases, ideas, or text from various sources into a new work without proper attribution.
• Accidental Plagiarism: Unintentionally failing to cite sources correctly or adequately.

Plagiarism Detection:

To ensure the originality of submitted manuscripts, PRIME employs the following measures:

• Plagiarism Detection Software: All submissions are screened using reputable plagiarism detection software (such as Turnitin, iThenticate, or Similarity Check) to identify potential instances of plagiarism.
• Editorial Review: In addition to software checks, the editorial team conducts a thorough review to identify any signs of plagiarism that may not be detected by software.

Author Responsibilities:

Authors submitting manuscripts to PRIME must adhere to the following guidelines:

• Originality: Authors must ensure that their work is entirely original and properly cite any content derived from other sources.
• Proper Attribution: All sources of information, ideas, or data that are not the authors' own must be appropriately cited.
• Declaration: Authors must declare that their manuscript is not under consideration for publication elsewhere and that it has not been previously published in any form.

Handling Plagiarism:

If plagiarism is detected at any stage of the publication process, the following actions will be taken:

• Pre-Publication:

  • Minor Overlap: If minor instances of plagiarism are detected (e.g., small sections of text), authors will be asked to revise the manuscript to ensure proper attribution and citation.
  • Significant Plagiarism: If significant plagiarism is detected, the manuscript will be rejected immediately. The authors may be given a chance to respond to the findings, but if the explanation is unsatisfactory, the submission will be declined.

• Post-Publication:

  • Retraction: If plagiarism is identified after publication, the journal will conduct an investigation. If the claims are substantiated, the published article will be retracted. A retraction notice will be issued, and the article will be marked as retracted on the journal's website.
  • Notification: The authors' institutions and any relevant funding agencies will be notified of the plagiarism case.

Consequences of Plagiarism:

Authors found to have committed plagiarism will face the following consequences:

• Rejection of the manuscript or retraction of the published article.
• A ban on future submissions to PRIME.
• Notification to the authors' affiliated institutions and funding bodies.
• Potential legal actions, depending on the severity and nature of the plagiarism.

Educational Support:

PRIME is committed to promoting ethical research practices. We provide resources and guidance to authors on how to avoid plagiarism and ensure proper citation of sources. Authors are encouraged to familiarize themselves with best practices in scholarly writing and citation.

By adhering to this plagiarism policy, PRIME ensures the integrity and quality of the research it publishes. We thank our authors, reviewers, and readers for their commitment to maintaining high ethical standards in scholarly publishing.

For any questions or further information regarding our plagiarism policy, please contact the editorial office.