Plagiarism Policy

Vat-Vriksha follows a strict zero-tolerance policy towards plagiarism in all its forms. Plagiarism is defined as the unauthorized use, reproduction, or close imitation of another author’s ideas, data, text, images, tables, figures, or intellectual output without proper acknowledgment, citation, or permission.

Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, the following unethical practices:

• Direct plagiarism – verbatim copying of text without quotation or citation
• Mosaic or patchwork plagiarism – mixing copied phrases with original text without proper attribution
• Self-plagiarism – reuse of one’s own previously published work without citation or justification
• Duplicate or redundant publication – submission of the same or substantially similar manuscript to more than one journal
• Data fabrication or falsification and unethical manipulation of figures or results

All manuscripts submitted to Vat-Vriksha must be entirely original and must not have been published previously or be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Authors are required to provide accurate citations and complete references for all sourced material, including published articles, preprints, theses, conference proceedings, datasets, and online resources. Any reuse of the authors’ own previously published work must be clearly cited, limited in extent, and scientifically justified.

As part of the editorial and peer-review process, all submissions may be screened using plagiarism detection tools and expert editorial evaluation. Manuscripts found to contain unacceptable similarity levels, unattributed content, or ethical violations at any stage of review or after publication will be rejected, withdrawn, or retracted, as appropriate. The journal reserves the right to notify the concerned authors’ institutions, employers, or funding agencies in serious cases of misconduct.

Authors are strongly advised to assess the originality of their manuscripts prior to submission. Several free and publicly accessible plagiarism-checking tools may be used for preliminary self-evaluation. These include:

• Plagiarism Checker by Small SEO Tools
• DupliChecker
• PlagiarismDetector.net
• Quetext (free version with limited checks)
• Grammarly Plagiarism Checker (limited free access)

These tools are suggested solely for pre-submission self-assessment and do not replace the journal’s internal plagiarism screening and editorial judgment. Use of such tools does not guarantee acceptance of a manuscript.

While minor similarity may be acceptable in standard methodological descriptions, legally reused definitions, or properly cited content, high similarity in the abstract, results, discussion, conclusions, interpretations, or original analysis is strictly unacceptable. The acceptable similarity threshold may vary depending on the nature and type of the manuscript and is determined exclusively by the editorial board.

By submitting a manuscript to Vat-Vriksha, authors explicitly affirm that their work is original, ethically prepared, and free from plagiarism. Any violation of this declaration is considered a serious breach of academic integrity. The journal remains firmly committed to upholding internationally accepted standards of ethical publishing and expects the same level of integrity from its authors, reviewers, and editors.