Pen Academic adopts a zero tolerance policy towards all forms of plagiarism. Plagiarism is considered a serious breach of academic integrity and includes, but is not limited to

• Direct copying of statements from other sources without proper attribution,
• Rewriting important parts of another work without citing the source (paraphrase),
• Use of ideas, data, figures, methods or findings of other researchers without attribution,
• Republishing a previously published work (including one's own work) (self-plagiarism or duplicate publication).

All manuscripts submitted to Pen Academic journals are checked with advanced plagiarism detection software (e.g. Turnitin, iThenticate) prior to the peer review process, or a plagiarism report is requested from authors when the manuscript is uploaded. If plagiarism is detected at any stage, the status of the manuscript is assessed according to the extent of plagiarism; in case of severe violations, the manuscript is rejected, in case of mild violations, a correction may be requested.

If plagiarism is detected after publication, the article may be withdrawn from publication and this situation is publicly announced. If deemed necessary, the institutions to which the authors are affiliated are informed. This process is carried out in accordance with the principles of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics).

Authors are obliged to declare that their submitted work is original and that all sources are properly cited. Every author who submits an article to Pen Academic journals is deemed to have accepted this policy.