Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences is strictly committed to upholding the highest standards of academic integrity and publication ethics. All submitted manuscripts are subjected to plagiarism screening prior to peer review.

Definition of Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as the appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit. This includes, but is not limited to:

Copying or closely paraphrasing text, figures, or data from other sources without proper citation,

Self-plagiarism (duplicate or redundant publication),

Translating previously published content without permission or acknowledgment,

Submitting work that is not entirely original.

Plagiarism Screening and Similarity Limits

All submissions are checked using plagiarism detection software (e.g., iThenticate, Turnitin, or Similarity Check).

The following similarity thresholds are strictly enforced:

The total similarity index must not exceed 20%.

Similarity from a single source must not exceed 3%.

Similarity in references, commonly used phrases, or methodological descriptions may be excluded at the editors’ discretion.

Manuscripts exceeding these limits will be returned to the authors for revision or rejected outright.

Author Responsibility

Authors are fully responsible for ensuring the originality of their manuscript and for providing accurate citations. Submitting a manuscript implies that:

The work is original and free from plagiarism,

It has not been published previously,

It is not under consideration elsewhere.

Misconduct Handling

If plagiarism is suspected at any stage—pre-review, during peer review, or after publication—the editorial team will initiate an investigation in line with COPE procedures. Confirmed cases may result in:

Immediate rejection of the manuscript,

Retraction of a published article,

Notification to the authors’ affiliated institutions.