Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism Policy

The Pakistan Journal of Artificial Intelligence (PJAI) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity. Plagiarism, defined as “taking and using the thoughts, writings, or inventions of another as one's own” (Concise Oxford Dictionary), is strictly prohibited and considered a serious violation of scholarly ethics.

To ensure originality, PJAI uses Turnitin for plagiarism detection and adheres to the Higher Education Commission (HEC) guidelines, which allow:

• A maximum overall similarity index of 19%

• No single-source similarity exceeding 5%

PJAI maintains a zero-tolerance policy for academic misconduct, which includes:

• Verbatim copying without attribution

• Self-plagiarism or duplicate submissions

• Paraphrasing ideas without proper citation

• Citation manipulation

• Data falsification or fabrication

If plagiarism or any research misconduct is discovered before or after publication, PJAI will act in accordance with COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines, which may involve:

• Rejection or retraction of the manuscript

• Blacklisting of authors from future submissions

• Notifying the authors' affiliated institutions

AI Usage Policy

PJAI acknowledges the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in research workflows and follows the COPE Position Statement on AI Tools. While AI tools may aid the research process, they cannot be credited as authors, as they are not capable of taking responsibility for the work.

Permissible Use of AI Tools (with full disclosure):

• Language editing or grammar correction

• Data processing or visualization

• Image or figure generation (with clear attribution)

• Initial data screening or automation tasks

Authors must explicitly disclose the use of AI tools in the manuscript (e.g., in the Methods or Acknowledgments section).

Prohibited Uses:

• Generating false or fabricated data

• Inserting fabricated citations or references

• Using AI to bypass ethical research practices

The final responsibility for the accuracy, validity, and ethical compliance of the manuscript lies solely with the authors. Any misuse of AI tools leading to ethical breaches will be subject to PJAI’s disciplinary actions.

By submitting to PJAI, authors confirm that their work is original, properly attributed, and adheres to the journal’s plagiarism and AI usage policies.