Originality & Plagiarism

NG Civil Engineering (NGCE) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity, originality, and ethical scholarly publishing. Submitted manuscripts must be original, must not have been published previously, and must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere at the time of submission.

Plagiarism in any form is not acceptable. This includes direct copying, close paraphrasing without attribution, unattributed use of data or ideas, redundant publication, and inappropriate reuse of previously published material. Manuscripts found to contain plagiarism or other forms of publication misconduct may be rejected at any stage of the editorial process. If serious concerns are identified after publication, the journal may issue a correction, expression of concern, or retraction, as appropriate.

Where relevant, the journal may follow recognized good practice and publication ethics guidance, including COPE principles, in the assessment of suspected misconduct.

Originality Requirements

Authors submitting to NG Civil Engineering must ensure that:

  • the manuscript is their original work
  • all sources are properly cited and referenced
  • text, figures, tables, data, and ideas taken from other works are appropriately acknowledged
  • the manuscript is not under review elsewhere
  • the manuscript does not substantially duplicate previously published work, including the authors’ own prior publications, without proper disclosure and justification

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission where required for the reuse of copyrighted material.

Similarity Screening

All submitted manuscripts may be screened using plagiarism detection software such as Turnitin or iThenticate before peer review or at any stage of the editorial process.

As a general editorial guideline, the journal expects the overall similarity level of a manuscript to remain below 10%, subject to editorial assessment. However, similarity percentage alone does not determine whether plagiarism has occurred. The editorial office will consider the nature, location, context, and source of the overlap before making a decision.

During similarity checking, the following standard exclusions may be applied where appropriate:

  • bibliography or reference list
  • properly quoted text
  • properly cited text

Even where the similarity percentage is below the threshold, manuscripts may still be rejected if the overlap is judged to be inappropriate or misleading. Likewise, a manuscript with a higher similarity score may be considered further if the overlap is clearly attributable to legitimate and properly cited material, subject to editorial review.

Forms of Unacceptable Overlap

The following are considered unacceptable:

  • verbatim copying without quotation or attribution
  • close paraphrasing without proper citation
  • duplicate submission to more than one journal
  • redundant or duplicate publication
  • undisclosed reuse of substantial parts of the authors’ own previously published work
  • misappropriation of data, images, figures, tables, or ideas
  • manipulated citation practices intended to disguise overlap or inflate references

Editorial Action

If plagiarism or related ethical concerns are identified, the journal may take one or more of the following actions:

  • request clarification or revision from the authors
  • reject the manuscript
  • suspend editorial consideration until concerns are resolved
  • inform the authors’ institution or relevant authority in serious cases, where appropriate
  • publish a correction, expression of concern, or retraction for affected published articles

Author Responsibility

Authors are strongly encouraged to check their manuscripts for originality before submission and to ensure that all borrowed content is properly acknowledged. Submission of a manuscript to NG Civil Engineering implies that all authors accept responsibility for the originality and integrity of the work.