Commitment to Original and Responsible Scholarship

Core Standards

Plagiarism is the presentation of another person’s words, ideas, arguments, methods, data, images, findings or creative work as one’s own without appropriate acknowledgement. Plagiarism may be intentional or unintentional; however, authors are responsible for ensuring that every borrowed contribution is accurately cited and clearly distinguished from their original work.

Manuscripts containing plagiarism, misleading attribution, unauthorised reproduction or substantial unattributed material will not be accepted for publication. Where plagiarism is detected after publication, the journal may issue a correction, expression of concern, retraction or other appropriate notice.

Authors must not present previously published text, data, tables, figures, interpretations or findings as entirely new work. Substantial reuse of an author’s own published material without citation, disclosure or academic justification may constitute self-plagiarism or redundant publication.

Limited reuse of standard methodological descriptions may sometimes be unavoidable, but the original source should be cited where appropriate, and the submitted manuscript must contain a substantial new scholarly contribution.

Authors must disclose when a manuscript is based on a thesis, dissertation, conference presentation, working paper, preprint, institutional report or another earlier version. Such disclosure enables the Editorial Committee to assess whether the submission provides sufficient originality and additional academic value.

Submitted manuscripts may be examined through similarity-checking or plagiarism-detection software during editorial screening, peer review, production or after publication. The journal may also conduct manual examination of citations, language, data, images and other content when necessary.

A similarity percentage does not by itself establish plagiarism. Similarity reports must be interpreted carefully because quotations, references, standard terminology, methodological language, institutional names and legitimately reused expressions may contribute to the reported similarity.

Editorial decisions will be based on the nature, extent, location and academic significance of the matched content rather than on a numerical score alone. Authors may be asked to revise improperly cited material, provide clarification or submit supporting evidence.

Artificial intelligence and automated tools may be used only as supportive instruments under meaningful human supervision. Such tools must not replace the author’s original research, intellectual analysis, interpretation, critical reasoning, methodological responsibility or scholarly judgment.

Authors may use appropriate digital tools for limited purposes such as language improvement, spelling correction, grammar checking, formatting assistance, coding support, translation support, data organisation or technical editing. However, authors must independently verify every output and ensure that the final manuscript accurately represents their own scholarly contribution.

Substantial AI-generated text, analysis, images, data, references, code or interpretations must not be presented as original human scholarship without transparent disclosure, careful verification and a legitimate academic basis.

✓ Checking spelling, grammar, punctuation and readability while preserving the author’s intended scholarly meaning.

✓ Improving sentence structure, formatting and presentation under the direct supervision of the authors.

✓ Supporting coding, statistical organisation or data-processing tasks when the methods and outputs are independently checked and accurately reported.

✓ Assisting with translation, provided that subject-specific terminology, meaning, quotations and citations are carefully verified by a competent person.

✓ Supporting literature organisation or search planning, provided that every source is independently located, read, verified and cited by the authors.

Artificial intelligence systems, language models, chatbots and automated software cannot be listed as authors or co-authors. Authorship requires intellectual responsibility, approval of the final manuscript, disclosure of conflicts of interest, accountability for the accuracy of the work and the ability to respond to ethical concerns.

Only human contributors who satisfy the journal’s authorship criteria may be included in the author list. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all co-authors are informed of any substantial AI-assisted process used in preparing the manuscript.

Authors should disclose any substantial use of generative artificial intelligence or automated tools that materially influenced the preparation, analysis, interpretation or presentation of the manuscript. The disclosure should identify the purpose for which the tool was used and explain how the authors verified its output.

Routine spelling checks, basic grammar correction and ordinary word-processing functions generally do not require a separate declaration. However, disclosure is expected where a tool has generated or substantially rewritten content, produced analytical output, created images, developed code or influenced research interpretation.

✓ Every reference must be verified against the original publication or a reliable bibliographic record.

✓ Authors must confirm author names, titles, publication years, journal names, volume and issue details, page numbers, URLs and DOI information.

✓ Quotations must be checked against the original source and must not be attributed to an author who did not make the quoted statement.

✓ AI-generated summaries must not be treated as substitutes for reading and understanding the original scholarly source.

✓ Authors are responsible for correcting fabricated, inaccurate, irrelevant or misleading information introduced by an automated tool.

Responsibilities of Editors and Reviewers

When plagiarism, fabricated content, false references, undisclosed substantial AI use or another serious violation is suspected, the journal may seek clarification, supporting data, source documents or an explanation from the authors. Editorial action will depend on the evidence, seriousness and stage of publication.

In serious or repeated cases, the journal may communicate with the authors’ institution, research supervisor, funding organisation, ethics committee or another relevant authority. Such communication will be undertaken responsibly and will not itself constitute a final finding of misconduct.

By submitting a manuscript to The Research Dialogue, the authors declare that the work is original, appropriately referenced, not simultaneously under consideration elsewhere and compliant with the journal’s plagiarism, authorship, artificial-intelligence and publication-ethics policies.

The authors further confirm that all substantial use of AI-assisted tools has been transparently disclosed, all generated information has been independently verified and the human authors accept full responsibility for the content and integrity of the submitted manuscript.

Commitment to Authentic Academic Contribution