Plagiarism is strictly prohibited in The Andalasian International Journal of Social and Entrepreneurial Development. All manuscripts submitted for publication will be screened for plagiarism using Turnitin plagiarism detection software. The journal defines plagiarism as copying another person’s text or ideas and presenting them as one's own, without appropriate acknowledgment.

To avoid plagiarism, authors must clearly delineate (i.e., separate and identify) any copied text from their own writing and must provide proper citations for all sourced content. Plagiarism, whether intentional or not, is a serious academic offense and may result in severe consequences including academic sanctions, reputational damage, and in educational contexts, failure of the associated course.

Definition of Plagiarism

The journal considers plagiarism to include, but is not limited to:

• Copying text or ideas regardless of the source;

• Copying even if the original source itself may have copied from others;

• Copying whether or not the authorship of the original material is known;

• Copying into any form of writing (journal article, book, website, student paper, etc.);

• Copying regardless of whether the source author gives permission to copy the material;

• Copying one's own previously published work without proper citation (self-plagiarism).

Levels of Plagiarism and Editorial Actions

Upon detection of plagiarism, the Editorial Board will assess the severity of the offense and determine the appropriate course of action according to the following guidelines:

1. Minor Plagiarism

Definition: A small sentence or short paragraph has been plagiarized without including significant data or original ideas from the source.

Editorial Action: A formal warning is issued. The authors will be required to revise the manuscript and properly cite the original sources.

2. Intermediate Plagiarism

Definition: A significant portion of data, paragraphs, or sentences are plagiarized without appropriate citation.

Editorial Action: The manuscript is automatically rejected.

3. Severe Plagiarism

Definition: A large portion of the manuscript is plagiarized, involving original results (e.g., data, equations, statements), methodologies, or key ideas from previously published work.

Editorial Action: The manuscript is automatically rejected and the authors are permanently banned from submitting to the journal in the future.

Article Retraction Policy

Published articles in The Andalasian International Journal of Social and Entrepreneurial Development may be retracted if:

• There is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable due to misconduct (e.g., data fabrication) or honest error (e.g., miscalculation or experimental mistake);

• The findings have been previously published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing or justification (i.e., redundant publication);

• The article contains plagiarism;

• The article reports unethical research.

All retraction procedures will follow the Retraction Guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), available at: https://publicationethics.org/files/retraction%20guidelines.pdf