Screening

Manuscripts may be screened before review, during revision or after publication. Similarity reports are interpreted by editors rather than judged by a single numerical threshold. Legitimate overlap in methods, references, standard technical phrases, theses or disclosed preprints is distinguished from misleading or unattributed copying.

Unacceptable practices

• Presenting another person’s text, data, images, analysis or ideas without appropriate attribution.
• Submitting substantially the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time.
• Publishing materially overlapping work without transparent disclosure, citation and justification.
• Reusing substantial portions of an author’s earlier publication in a misleading manner.
• Dividing one coherent study into minimally distinct papers primarily to increase publication count.
• Manipulating citations, images, references or similarity reports to conceal source material.
• Using artificial-intelligence tools to create false citations, fabricated content or disguised plagiarism.

Author response and evidence

When material overlap is identified, authors may be asked to explain sources, provide related manuscripts, correct attribution or submit underlying records. Failure to disclose closely related work may be treated as an integrity concern.

Editorial action

Action is proportionate to the evidence, severity, intent and publication stage. JBSS may request correction, return or reject the manuscript, contact another journal or relevant institution, publish a correction or expression of concern, or retract an article. Authors will ordinarily be given an opportunity to respond before a final action, except where urgent legal or safety considerations apply.