Plagiarism Statement

Plagiarism is “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own: use (another's production) without crediting the source” (Merriam-Webster). Plagiarism is said to occur when ideas, key phrases or large chunks of text are taken from a literature source and the source is not properly cited. Copying a sentence from another work and merely replacing a few words in that sentence also is considered plagiarism. Authors who do not credit the original sources of ideas and phrases are guilty of stealing the original authors’ scientific contributions. 

All manuscripts submitted to the SSMJ will be screened for plagiarism, and those containing plagiarism will be rejected. Editors and reviewers will use their judgement concerning minor plagiarism when an author uses parts of an introduction from an earlier paper and even self-plagiarism, the reuse of significant, identical or near-identical portions of one's own work without citing the original version. If discovered after publication, a retraction will be made and statement published in the next issue.