The Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) strictly adheres to the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) plagiarism policy. Research articles submitted for publication in ISSI’s journal, Strategic Studies, go through a rigorous similarity/plagiarism check process. The ISSI editorial team authenticates the plagiarism/similarity check process by using Turnitin software. As per HEC policy the Similarity Score Index (SSI) must not exceed 19%. With reference to using the Turnitin to generate originality reports, highlighting Similarity Score Index (SSI), the Strategic Studies follows the following policies and procedures:
- The in-house editors will check a submission for three times only (explained in section 2, 3 and 4 of the HEC plagiarism policy available at their website). Once at the time of initial submission and two more chances ─ subject to approval for further processing by the Internal Evaluation Committee ─ provided to improve the quality of research article. A failure to improve the quality of the paper and to meet the HEC criteria, the Internal Evaluation Committee/in-house editors may take necessary action including rejection, penalties and reporting of the matter to the HEC.
- After the submission of a research article by the researcher, at the internal evaluation stage, an initial comprehensive Similarity Score Index report would be generated . This initial report would help in-house editors/evaluator(s) to verify the overall Similarity Score Index (SSI). Once the committee approves the paper for further processing, the report will also help the researcher to reduce its overall SSI.
- A second SSI report would be generated when a researcher submits the revised research article. At that stage, in-house editors/evaluator(s) may generate a SSI report by excluding “Quotations, Bibliography and Matches.”
- A third SSI report would be prepared, if needed, before the paper is sent for peer review and publication process.
- In-house editors are responsible for performing all the relevant tasks related to plagiarism check.