The European Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems (EJITS) maintains a strict policy on plagiarism to uphold the integrity of the academic record. Plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, is a serious violation of publication ethics and is not tolerated by the journal. EJITS is committed to ensuring that all manuscripts submitted for publication are original and properly cite any previous work.

1. Definition of Plagiarism

Plagiarism occurs when an author deliberately uses the work, ideas, or words of others without appropriate acknowledgment. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Direct Plagiarism: Copying text or ideas from another source without attribution.
• Self-Plagiarism: Reusing significant portions of one's own previously published work without proper citation or justification (also known as redundant publication).
• Mosaic Plagiarism: Paraphrasing content from another source without giving proper credit.
• Inaccurate Citation: Falsely attributing information to incorrect or non-existent sources.

Plagiarism can occur in any section of a manuscript, including the introduction, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusions.

2. Plagiarism Detection

EJITS uses plagiarism detection software to screen all submitted manuscripts for potential plagiarism before they enter the peer-review process. Manuscripts found to contain significant levels of similarity with previously published works will be flagged and may be rejected outright. If minor similarities are identified, the authors will be given an opportunity to revise their work and properly cite all sources.

3. Handling Cases of Plagiarism

If plagiarism is detected at any stage of the publication process, EJITS will take the following actions:

• Before Acceptance: If plagiarism is identified before the acceptance of a manuscript, the submission will be rejected, and the authors will be informed of the reason for the rejection. The editor may consider allowing the authors to resubmit if the plagiarism is minor and can be addressed with proper citation and revisions.

• After Acceptance or Publication: If plagiarism is discovered after a manuscript has been accepted or published, EJITS reserves the right to retract the article. A notice of retraction will be published, and the authors' institutions may be informed of the misconduct. A formal investigation may be initiated depending on the severity of the plagiarism.

4. Author Responsibilities

Authors are responsible for ensuring the originality of their work and for correctly citing all sources. Authors must:

• Properly attribute all sources, including data, figures, ideas, and text, that have been taken from other authors or from their own previously published work.
• Ensure that their submission does not exceed acceptable similarity thresholds as determined by plagiarism detection software.
• Avoid submitting the same or substantially similar work to multiple journals without disclosing the relationship between submissions.

5. Consequences of Plagiarism

Authors who engage in plagiarism will face the following consequences:

• Immediate rejection of the manuscript
• Banning from future submissions to EJITS for a specified period
• Reporting of the misconduct to the authors' institutions and funding bodies
• Retraction of any published articles found to contain plagiarized content

6. Appeals

Authors who believe their manuscript has been wrongly accused of plagiarism can appeal the decision. Appeals will be reviewed by the editorial team and an independent ethics committee. If the appeal is successful, the manuscript will be allowed to proceed through the publication process.