Plagiarism Policy

Introduction

Welcome to Butta-Toa, where academic integrity and originality are at the core of our mission. We are dedicated to promoting scholarly excellence, and one of the fundamental principles guiding our publication process is the prevention of plagiarism. This Plagiarism Policy outlines our commitment to upholding the highest standards of ethical writing and research.

Definition of Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a breach of academic and professional ethics, which involves using someone else's work, ideas, or intellectual property without appropriate attribution or permission, and presenting it as one's own. At Butta-Toa, we consider plagiarism in any form a serious offense, including but not limited to:

Verbatim Plagiarism: Copying and pasting text from a source without proper quotation marks and citation.

Paraphrasing Plagiarism: Rewriting or summarizing another person's work without providing adequate citation.

Self-Plagiarism: Submitting one's own previously published work without proper acknowledgment or disclosure.

Unauthorized Use of Visual Content: Using images, graphs, multimedia, or other visual content without permission and proper attribution.

Consequences of Plagiarism

At Butta-Toa, we maintain a strict zero-tolerance policy for plagiarism. Authors found guilty of plagiarism may face the following consequences:

Immediate Rejection: Manuscripts found to contain plagiarism will be rejected outright and will not be considered for publication.

Blacklisting: Authors who engage in plagiarism may be prohibited from submitting future manuscripts to our journal.

Notification: We may inform the author's affiliated institution, funding agencies, or other relevant parties about the plagiarism incident.

Editorial Note: If plagiarism is detected in a published article, an editorial note highlighting the plagiarism may be added to the article, and a retraction may be considered.

Avoiding Plagiarism

We encourage all authors submitting their work to Butta-Toa to adhere to the following guidelines to prevent plagiarism:

Cite Sources: Properly cite all sources used in your work, including text, data, images, and ideas, using a recognized citation style.

Quotation Marks: Use quotation marks for verbatim text from a source and provide a citation.

Attribute Ideas: Give credit to the original author or creator of ideas, concepts, and intellectual property used in your work.

Seek Permission: When using copyrighted material, seek permission from the copyright holder and provide proper attribution.

Self-Citation: If you include your own previously published work, cite it correctly and disclose its use to the journal.

Reporting Plagiarism

We encourage our readers, reviewers, and fellow authors to report suspected cases of plagiarism to the Butta-Toa editorial team. Your vigilance helps us maintain the integrity of our journal and uphold academic excellence.

Conclusion

At Butta-Toa, we are dedicated to fostering a scholarly environment built on trust, integrity, and authenticity. Our Plagiarism Policy serves as a cornerstone of this commitment, ensuring that all published work is the result of original and ethical research. We expect all authors, reviewers, and readers to familiarize themselves with and adhere to this policy, as it reflects our unwavering dedication to academic excellence.

Date of Last Revision: 21 September 2023