Plagiarism Policy

Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine (CSMM) is committed to publishing original, high-quality research and maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record. Plagiarism in any form — including verbatim copying, close paraphrasing without attribution, self-plagiarism, and unauthorized reuse of previously published text, data, or figures — is strictly prohibited.

Screening Process

All manuscripts submitted to CSMM are screened for plagiarism using iThenticate prior to peer review. Manuscripts found to contain substantial unoriginal or improperly attributed content at this stage are returned to the authors or rejected outright, depending on severity.

Definition

For the purposes of this policy, plagiarism is understood as the use of another person's ideas, language, data, images, or other original material without adequate citation or permission — whether reproduced verbatim or through close paraphrasing — regardless of whether the original source is formally copyrighted.

Handling Suspected Plagiarism

If plagiarism is suspected in a manuscript under review, the Editor-in-Chief will contact the corresponding author to request a written explanation. Depending on the outcome, the manuscript may be rejected, or, in cases of confirmed serious misconduct, the matter may be reported to the author's institution.

If plagiarism is identified in an article after publication, CSMM will conduct an investigation in accordance with COPE guidelines on plagiarism, and may issue a correction or retract the article.

Self-Plagiarism and Duplicate Submission

Authors must not submit substantially the same manuscript, or one with substantial content overlap, to more than one journal simultaneously, and must appropriately cite and disclose any prior publication of related material (e.g., conference proceedings, preprints).