Plagiarism & Retraction Policy

Plagiarism Policy

The Editorial Board of Estudiante Law Journal firmly asserts that any form of plagiarism constitutes a serious violation of academic integrity and is therefore strictly unacceptable. This policy is developed in accordance with the ethical standards and best practices established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

All submitted manuscripts will be screened using iThenticate plagiarism detection software to ensure originality. The maximum allowable similarity index is 20%, with due consideration given to proper citation practices and legitimate use of sources.

If a manuscript exceeds this threshold, it will be returned to the author for revision and resubmission. However, in cases of substantial plagiarism such as unattributed copying or misappropriation of intellectual work the Editorial Board reserves the right to reject the manuscript outright. All suspected cases of plagiarism will be handled in accordance with COPE guidelines, ensuring a fair, transparent, and evidence-based review process.

Article Withdrawal

The article withdrawal policy applies to manuscripts categorized as Articles in Press, which are accepted but not yet formally published in a journal issue.

Withdrawal may occur under the following circumstances:

Significant errors are identified in the manuscript;
Accidental duplicate submission is detected;
Violations of publication ethics are discovered, including plagiarism, false authorship claims, or data manipulation.

In line with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics, all withdrawal decisions are made through an objective and rigorous editorial evaluation. Withdrawn articles will be removed from the journal system (HTML and PDF versions) and replaced with an official notice indicating the withdrawal status.

Article Retraction

Article retraction is implemented for published articles that are found to violate ethical standards or contain serious errors that compromise the validity of the research.

Grounds for retraction include:

Plagiarism;
Duplicate submission;
False or misleading authorship claims;
Fabrication or falsification of data;
Fundamental errors affecting the integrity of the study.

Retraction procedures follow the guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics, with the following provisions:

A retraction notice entitled “Retraction: [article title]” will be published;
The notice will be signed by the author(s) and/or editor;
It will appear in a subsequent issue of the journal and be listed in the table of contents;
The original article will remain accessible with a visible “retracted” watermark on each page;
The electronic version will include a direct link to the retraction notice.

This approach reflects the principles of transparency and accountability in maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record.

Article Removal (Legal Considerations)

In exceptional cases, it may be necessary to remove an article from the journal’s online database due to legal considerations. This action will only be taken when:

The article is defamatory in nature;
It infringes upon the legal rights of others;
It is subject to, or likely to become subject to, a court order;
It poses a serious risk to public health if acted upon.

This policy is aligned with the ethical framework promoted by the Committee on Publication Ethics regarding legal responsibility and public protection.

In such cases, the article’s metadata (title and authorship) will be retained, while the full text will be replaced with a notice indicating that the article has been removed for legal reasons.

Academic Integrity Statement

By adopting the standards of the Committee on Publication Ethics, Estudiante Law Journal reaffirms its commitment to upholding the highest standards of: