Believers Medical Journal (BeMJ) is committed to maintaining academic integrity, responsible authorship, appropriate attribution, and the reliability of published medical research. The journal does not permit plagiarism, misleading text reuse, duplicate publication, inappropriate appropriation of ideas or data, or other practices that may compromise the originality and integrity of scholarly work.
This policy is informed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations, and transparency principles reflected in Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) criteria. Submitted manuscripts may undergo similarity screening and editorial assessment before or during the peer-review process.
Plagiarism includes presenting another person's words, ideas, data, images, methods, or other intellectual contributions as one's own without appropriate acknowledgment. It may occur intentionally or unintentionally.
Unacceptable practices in BeMJ submissions include:
Submitted manuscripts may be evaluated using journal-approved similarity-detection software before external peer review or at another appropriate stage of editorial assessment.
Similarity percentages are screening indicators and are not treated as automatic evidence of plagiarism or as the sole basis for accepting or rejecting a manuscript. The editorial assessment may consider:
The location, nature, extent, and attribution of matched material.
Substantial copying from a single source may raise an integrity concern even when the overall similarity percentage is relatively low.
Unauthorized duplication, misleading reuse, or unattributed reproduction is not permitted.
Authors must disclose and appropriately cite relevant previous publications arising from the same research.
Substantial reuse of previously published text, data, analyses, tables, or figures requires appropriate attribution, transparency, and permission where applicable. Limited overlap in methodological descriptions may be acceptable when necessary for accurate reporting, but such reuse must not mislead readers about the originality or novelty of the submitted work.
Authors should not divide a single study into multiple publications without adequate scientific justification or appropriate cross-reference. Such practices may constitute segmented or salami publication.
Authors must also not submit the same or substantially similar manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously.
When plagiarism, inappropriate text recycling, duplicate publication, or another academic-integrity concern is identified before or after publication, BeMJ may take proportionate action based on the available evidence and relevant publication-ethics guidance.
Possible actions include:
If confirmed plagiarism is identified after publication, BeMJ will assess the matter according to the extent and location of the copied material, its potential effect on the reliability of the published article, and the available evidence.
Depending on the circumstances, the journal may publish a Correction, Expression of Concern, Retraction, or another appropriate editorial notice. Where a retraction is issued, the notice will be linked to the affected article and relevant publication metadata will be updated where applicable.
Believers Medical Journal (BeMJ) applies plagiarism and academic-integrity procedures informed by COPE Core Practices, ICMJE Recommendations, and relevant DOAJ transparency principles.
This policy is reviewed periodically and may be updated when necessary to reflect developments in journal procedures, scholarly publishing standards, and similarity-screening practices.
Authors remain responsible for the originality and integrity of their submitted work, accurate citation of relevant sources, transparent disclosure of related publications, and obtaining any permissions required for the reproduction of copyrighted tables, figures, or other material.