Regulations on the Procedure for Checking Academic and Scientific Texts for Originality

Regulations on the Procedure for Checking Academic and Scientific Texts for Originality
at the National Aerospace University “Kharkiv Aviation Institute”

Approved by:
Academic Council
of the National Aerospace University
“Kharkiv Aviation Institute”
Protocol No. 5 dated December 27, 2023

Enacted by: Order No. 3040 dated December 27, 2023

 

СУЯ ХАІ-НМВ-П/007:2023

Date of Entry into Force: September 1, 2024

Revision No. 1

1. General Provisions

1.1. The “Regulations on the Procedure for Checking Academic and Scientific Texts for Plagiarism” (hereinafter – the Regulations) have been developed in accordance with the Laws of Ukraine “On Higher Education,” “On Education,” “On Scientific and Scientific-Technical Activity,” “On Copyright and Related Rights,” the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution No. 261 dated March 23, 2016, “On Approval of the Procedure for Training Higher Education Applicants for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Science in Higher Education Institutions (Scientific Institutions)” (as amended), the “Methodological Recommendations for Higher Education Institutions to Support the Principles of Academic Integrity,” outlined in the letter of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine dated October 23, 2018, No. 1/9-650, the University Charter, as well as the Academic Integrity Code of the National Aerospace University “Kharkiv Aviation Institute” (hereinafter – the University) and other regulatory documents governing academic integrity at the University, taking into account the best practices in this field of leading higher education institutions in Ukraine, Europe, and worldwide.

1.2. These Regulations govern the procedures for checking academic and scientific texts of students and University employees using the anti-plagiarism online system “Unicheck” to detect matches with texts present in the University databases, databases of other higher education institutions, and on the Internet. If necessary, additional checks may be conducted using other freely available systems.

1.3. The following types of works are subject to mandatory checking:

-  lification (diploma) works of higher education students at the Bachelor’s and Master’s levels (checking of course works, calculation-graphic works, and homework is not mandatory and may be carried out if provided by the educational program, or selectively by decision of authorized persons for quality control purposes, or at the request of the relevant course instructor);

-  tracts and manuscripts of dissertations for the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Science, submitted for defense to the University’s Specialized Academic Councils (hereinafter – SAC);

-  uscripts of monographs, textbooks, and teaching materials submitted to the Academic Council of the University for consideration and recommendation for publication;

-  uscripts of articles submitted for publication in the editorial boards of the University’s scientific periodicals (hereinafter – editorial board).

1.4. The task of the anti-plagiarism online system is to determine the degree of similarity of the text of a qualification (diploma), academic, or scientific work to the texts of documents contained in databases and on the Internet. Works found to have a significant percentage of similarity cannot be qualified (accepted for consideration) as they are considered to contain plagiarism. Decisions regarding the presence or legitimacy of the matches detected by the anti-plagiarism system are made by the Academic Integrity Support Group established at the relevant department, faculty, SAC, or editorial board, depending on the type of academic text under review, in accordance with these Regulations.

1.5. The contact person between the University and the company LLC “Antiplagiat” (Unicheck), which provides services for detecting text matches and plagiarism, on all technical issues of the anti-plagiarism system operation, as well as the coordinator of work on checking academic texts at the University, is the Anti-Plagiarism System Administrator. The duties of the Anti-Plagiarism System Administrator are assigned by the Rector’s order to a certain academic staff member or other University employee. The list of functional duties of the University’s Anti-Plagiarism System Administrator is approved by the Rector’s order.

1.6. Checking for possible use of other authors’ published results (texts) without proper citation at the level of each structural unit (in particular, faculty, SAC, editorial board) is carried out by the person responsible for checking texts for academic plagiarism (hereinafter – the Responsible Person), appointed by the Rector’s order.

1.7. The responsibilities of the Responsible Person, assigned by the Rector’s order upon submission of the faculty dean, SAC chair, or editorial board chair, are assigned to academic, scientific, pedagogical, or other staff of the faculty, secretary, or members of the SAC and editorial board.

1.8. The Anti-Plagiarism System Administrator and the Responsible Persons from faculties, SACs, and editorial boards interact with each other on all technical issues concerning the operation of the Anti-Plagiarism System. The Anti-Plagiarism System Administrator coordinates and controls the work of the Responsible Persons and is part of the University’s Academic Integrity Support Group.

2. Tasks and Responsibilities of Responsible Persons

2.1. The Anti-Plagiarism System Administrator account is created by a representative of the developer company. The opening of accounts for Responsible Persons at the level of faculties, SACs, and editorial boards is carried out by the Responsible Person for the anti-plagiarism system.

2.2. A Responsible Person at the faculty level may delegate part of their authority to Responsible Persons at the department level of the faculty, providing them with the corresponding account attributes. Responsible Persons at the department level are appointed by the faculty dean upon submission by the department head and the faculty Responsible Person.

2.3. The author of the work is responsible for preparing the file to be checked. The file format must be acceptable for plagiarism checking (supported formats are .doc, .docx, .pdf, .odt, which do not contain protection elements).

2.4. During the preparation of the work file, it is prohibited to use any methods to deceive plagiarism checking services, in particular, it is forbidden to:

-  lace text characters with visually identical images;

-  lace individual letters of one alphabet with visually similar letters of another alphabet (e.g., replacing Cyrillic letters with corresponding Latin letters and vice versa);

-  ert additional text characters that are visually invisible.

In the event of an attempt to deceive the plagiarism checking system in submitted works, a negative conclusion is issued with the preparation of a corresponding protocol, and such work is not accepted for defense (or recommended for publication).

2.5. After receiving the work files from the authors, the Responsible Person conducts plagiarism checking according to the following procedure:

-  s into the online plagiarism checking service;

-  oads the work files to the service server via the appropriate web interface;

-  cks the uploaded files against the University’s internal document database and/or Internet resources within the online service;

-  es extended electronic reports locally on storage media regarding the check results, containing information about the percentage of originality of the works.

2.7. Department-level Responsible Persons are accountable for:

-  crepancies between submitted paper and electronic versions of works;

-  viding false or inaccurate information in the report;

-  imely plagiarism checking and report generation, provided that the author submitted the text within the required deadlines.

2.8. The Anti-Plagiarism System Administrator may conduct selective verification of similarity reports and decisions submitted by Responsible Persons.

3. Assessment of the Level of Originality and Conditions for Considering Borrowings as Lawful

3.1. In the University’s system for preventing academic plagiarism, the criterion for the originality of works is the originality level of the text expressed as a percentage, obtained using software-technical tools for plagiarism checking and reduced by the percentage of lawful borrowings.

3.2. For scientific, educational-methodical, and final qualification (diploma) works, the following scale of assessment is recommended depending on the quantitative indicator of the originality level of the work:

For the Unicheck system:

For theses and dissertation abstracts	For master’s theses, monographs, and manuscripts of scientific articles	For qualification (bachelor’s and master’s) works, manuscripts of textbooks, teaching manuals, and other works	Originality Level	Recommended Action
Over 85%	Over 80%	Over 75%	High	The text is considered original and does not require additional actions to prevent unlawful borrowings. Submitted for consideration by the Academic Integrity Support Group.
70% – 85%	60 % – 80%	55 % – 75%	Satisfactory	Some signs of academic plagiarism are present. It is necessary to verify the presence of references to primary sources for cited fragments. Submitted for consideration by the Academic Integrity Support Group, which determines the need for rechecking.
50% – 70%	40% – 60%	35 % – 55%	Low	Certain signs of academic plagiarism are present, but the material may be accepted subject to revision with mandatory subsequent originality verification of the revised work.
Less than 50%	Less than 40%	Less than 35%	Unacceptable	Significant signs of plagiarism are present. The material is not accepted for consideration.
Note: The uniqueness coefficient of the quantitative indicator of a work’s originality level may be adjusted for engineering-technical specialties and other fields that have traditional calculation methods and technological approaches.

3.3. Borrowings identified in the text of a work are considered lawful if they are:

- oper names (individual designations of specific objects, including the names of institutions, titles of works studied in the text, bibliographic references to sources, etc.);

- tablished phrases characteristic of a specific field of knowledge;

- operly formatted citations;

- lf-citation (fragments of text belonging to the author of the work, previously published or made publicly available in electronic form in other works), if permitted by the editorial policy of the publication.

3.4. Originality (uniqueness) indicators of academic texts (in percentages) may be adjusted by the decision of the graduating departments, the Academic Council, the Specialized Academic Council (SAC), or the editorial board and are recorded in the corresponding meeting protocol, taking into account the specifics of the specialties with indication of the grounds for such adjustment, but cannot be significantly lower than the recommended values. This rule must be promptly communicated to students (authors).

3.5. Results obtained in reports on text originality checks are advisory and serve only as supplementary materials for the work of the Academic Integrity Support Group at the level of the structural unit, depending on the type of academic text being checked, in accordance with this Regulation. The final decision on the acceptance or rejection of the submitted text may only be made by the officials of the graduating department, the State Examination (Attestation) Commission (for qualification (bachelor’s and master’s) works of students), the SAC (for abstracts and dissertation manuscripts for the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Sciences), the University Academic Council (for manuscripts of monographs, textbooks, and teaching manuals), or the University editorial board (for manuscripts of articles submitted for publication in scientific periodicals). Such decisions must be reasoned and recorded in the protocol (conclusion).

4. Verification of qualification (diploma) works of students

4.1. Verification of students’ qualification (diploma) works for academic plagiarism is carried out using Internet-based services, based on the internal database of the University and publicly available Internet resources.

4.2. Verification of qualification work manuscripts for academic plagiarism is conducted on the basis of a student’s application (in the form provided in Appendix 1 to this Regulation).

4.3. The student (author of the qualification (diploma) work) is responsible for submitting the file for plagiarism check. No later than 15 calendar days before the meeting of the graduating department, at which the admission of the work to defense will be considered, the student prepares the file of the completed qualification (diploma) work in a format acceptable for plagiarism verification and submits the ready file to the responsible person at the level of the graduating department at least two days before the meeting. The student has the right to check the qualification (diploma) work using free software or services and inform the supervisor about the results of the check.

4.4. The responsible person at the level of the graduating department submits the qualification (diploma) works in electronic and/or printed form to the responsible persons at the level of the faculty for plagiarism verification, or conducts such verification independently if delegated such powers.

4.5. Verification must be completed within no more than 5 calendar days. Verification results (Report on the results of verification by the supervisor/reviewer regarding academic integrity violations) are submitted to the corresponding dean’s office.

4.6. Works with a low level of text originality are returned to the student for revision, usually for no more than 2 calendar days, after which they are sent for a repeat check, which must be completed within 3 calendar days.

4.7. Works with an unacceptable or low level of text originality based on the results of the repeat check are not admitted to defense. Based on submitted reports and decisions of the Academic Integrity Support Group, approved at the department meeting, the graduating department forms the list of students admitted to defense.

4.8. Upon completion of the full plagiarism verification process, including the repeat check, similarity reports and expert conclusions must be provided by the responsible persons at the faculty level to the University’s anti-plagiarism system Administrator.

5. Verification of dissertation manuscripts

5.1. Verification of dissertation manuscripts of PhD and Doctor of Sciences candidates (hereinafter referred to as “candidates”) for academic plagiarism is carried out using Internet-based services based on the University’s internal database and open Internet resources and is a mandatory condition for acceptance of the manuscripts for consideration by the Specialized Academic Council (SAC).

5.2. Verification of dissertation manuscripts for academic plagiarism is conducted on the basis of an application submitted by the candidate (in the form provided in Appendix 3 to this Regulation).

5.3. Persons responsible for checking dissertation manuscripts for academic plagiarism are the academic secretaries of the University SAC or other council members appointed by the Rector’s order upon submission by the SAC Chair.

5.4. For plagiarism verification of a dissertation manuscript, the candidate, together with the submission of the dissertation for preliminary review by the SAC, must, no later than 10 calendar days before the SAC meeting:

-     a dissertation file in a format acceptable for plagiarism verification;

-     he completed dissertation file to the responsible person at the SAC level;

-     o the responsible person at the SAC level an application for checking the dissertation manuscript for plagiarism.

5.5. For plagiarism verification, the responsible person at the SAC level:

-     he dissertation in the Internet service within 3 days from the date of receipt of the manuscript and the candidate’s application;

-     the SAC Chair with an electronic report on the results of the check.

5.6. Based on the submitted report, the SAC Chair makes a decision regarding the further procedure for reviewing the manuscript. If the text originality level is satisfactory or high, the SAC Chair convenes the Academic Integrity Support Group, which includes at least 3 SAC members in the specialty for which the dissertation was submitted. The Academic Integrity Support Group decides on accepting the manuscript for consideration or the need for a repeat check within no more than 3 calendar days and records its decision in writing with justification for acceptance or referral for re-check.

5.7. Works with a low level of originality are returned to the candidate for revision with mandatory repeat plagiarism verification. Only after this is the manuscript submitted to the Academic Integrity Support Group.

5.8. Works with an unacceptable level of originality are not accepted for SAC review.

5.9. Results of the review by the Academic Integrity Support Group are documented in writing according to the sample in Appendix 2 to this Regulation in two copies (the first remains with the SAC, and the second is submitted to the responsible person at the SAC level).

5.10. The SAC Chair informs council members of the verification results during the preliminary review of the dissertation at the SAC meeting.

5.11. If the work submitted for defense has a secrecy classification, after verification the manuscript and detailed report are deleted from the database, and only the summary report (PDF) is retained.

5.12. Upon completion of the dissertation plagiarism verification procedure, including a repeat check if conducted, the responsible person at the SAC level must submit the similarity report and the decision of the Academic Integrity Support Group created at the SAC to the University’s anti-plagiarism system Administrator.

6. Verification of manuscripts of monographs, textbooks, and teaching manuals submitted for recommendation for publication

6.1. Verification of monograph manuscripts for academic plagiarism is carried out using Internet-based services based on the University’s internal databases and open Internet resources and is a mandatory condition for acceptance for review by the University Academic Council.

6.2. Verification of monograph, textbook, and teaching manual manuscripts is conducted on the basis of an application from the author(s) in the form provided in Appendices 1 and 3 to this Regulation.

6.3. Plagiarism verification of monograph, textbook, and teaching manual manuscripts is carried out by responsible persons at the faculty level.

6.4. Results of plagiarism verification are taken into account by the department when deciding whether to submit a recommendation for publication of the monograph, textbook, or teaching manual.

6.5. Before plagiarism verification, the author(s) of the monograph, textbook, or teaching manual:

- prepare the manuscript file in a format acceptable for plagiarism verification;

- submit the completed manuscript file to the responsible person.

6.6. To conduct plagiarism verification, the responsible person, upon receipt of the manuscript file and application from the author(s), within 5 calendar days:

- checks the manuscript against Internet resources using the Internet service;

- informs the official responsible for the structural unit (body) where the monograph, textbook, or teaching manual will be reviewed about the uniqueness percentage and provides an extended electronic report on the verification results.

6.7. The official responsible for the structural unit (body) where the monograph, textbook, or teaching manual will be reviewed, based on the submitted report, makes a decision on the further procedure for reviewing the manuscript. If the text originality level is satisfactory or high, this official convenes the Academic Integrity Support Group, which includes at least 5 persons holding scientific degrees in the specialty corresponding to the submitted material or related specialties, and 3 student representatives. The Academic Integrity Support Group decides on accepting the manuscript for review or the need for a repeat check within no more than 3 calendar days and records its decision in writing according to the sample in Appendix 2 to this Regulation in two copies (the first remains in the unit where the manuscript will be reviewed, and the second is submitted to the responsible person) with justification for acceptance or referral for re-check.

6.8. If the submitted manuscript has a low level of originality, a repeat check is mandatory after revision by the author(s). The repeat check must be completed within 3 calendar days from receipt of the revised manuscript. Only after this is the manuscript submitted to the Academic Integrity Support Group.

6.9. Upon completion of the full plagiarism verification process, including the repeat check, the similarity reports and one copy of the decision of the Academic Integrity Support Group must be submitted by the responsible persons at the faculty level to the University’s anti-plagiarism system Administrator.

7. Verification of manuscript articles in University journals

7.1. Verification of manuscripts of periodical scientific journals for academic plagiarism is conducted using Internet-based services based on open Internet resources.

7.2. Verification of manuscripts submitted for publication in periodical scientific journals (hereinafter referred to as “manuscripts”) is carried out free of charge (if provided by relevant University agreements) or on a commercial basis according to the approved cost estimate for the publication of the periodical scientific journal.

7.3. Plagiarism verification of manuscripts is carried out by the responsible secretaries of the editorial boards of University periodical scientific journals.

7.4. Information about the fact of verification is posted on the journal’s website.

7.5. The originality (uniqueness) indicators of manuscript articles (in percentage) are established for each periodical scientific journal and recorded in its editorial policy.

7.6. To submit manuscripts for publication in a periodical, the author(s):

-  prepare the manuscript file in a format acceptable for plagiarism verification;

- submit the completed manuscript file to the responsible secretary of the editorial board.

7.7. To carry out plagiarism verification, the responsible secretary, upon receipt of the manuscripts from the author(s), within 3 calendar days:

-  checks the manuscript in the Internet service;

- informs the responsible editor of the scientific journal of the uniqueness percentage of the manuscript and provides an extended electronic report on the verification results.

7.8. Plagiarism verification results are taken into account by the editorial board when deciding whether to allow the manuscript for publication. Manuscripts with an unacceptable or low level of originality are not accepted for review; other manuscripts are reviewed according to the journal’s established policy.

7.9. Responsible secretaries of the editorial boards of University periodical scientific journals must submit plagiarism verification reports to the University’s anti-plagiarism system Administrator.

7.10. Authors of manuscripts and chief editors of periodical scientific journals bear personal responsibility for publishing manuscripts that have not passed plagiarism verification.

8. Procedure for filing and reviewing appeals

8.1. Appeals by students (authors) are considered by the University Academic Integrity Commission.

8.2. In case of disagreement with the decision of the faculty, SAC, or editorial board, a student, graduate student, doctoral student, teacher, or other participant in the educational (scientific) process has the right to submit a written appeal to the Chair of the Academic Integrity Commission within three days, in the form provided in Appendix 4 to this Regulation.

8.3. The Chair of the University Academic Integrity Commission convenes a meeting within one week from the date of the appeal submission.

8.4. The appellant is notified of the date and time of the meeting at least two days in advance.

8.5. If the appellant does not appear at the Academic Integrity Commission meeting, the matter is considered in their absence.

8.6. Based on the meeting results, the Academic Integrity Commission forms a final conclusion signed by the Chair, its members, and the appellant (if present).

9. Responsibility of students, authors, and officials for academic plagiarism

9.1. Establishing facts of unsatisfactory originality (low uniqueness) is grounds for refusal to provide a recommendation for publication or for sending the materials for revision.

9.2. A low originality percentage of works by students at the “bachelor” or “master” levels is grounds for decisions regarding non-admission to defense, sending materials for revision, issuing a new assignment, expulsion, or deprivation of scholarship (tuition benefits).

9.3. If unauthorized borrowed material is used without reference to the author or source, the dissertation is removed from consideration at any stage without the right to defense.

9.4. Detection of plagiarism in works of doctoral students, graduate students, and candidates for scientific degrees is grounds for reviewing the advisability of their further stay in the postgraduate (doctoral) program or their detachment from the department.

9.5. Detection of plagiarism in works of University scientific and teaching staff is taken into account when renewing their contracts.

9.6. Detection of plagiarism in works of doctoral students, graduate students, or candidates for scientific degrees published without verification is grounds to prohibit the author from including such works in the list of their scientific and methodological publications.

9.7. According to Part 6, Article 6 of the Law of Ukraine “On Higher Education,” only dissertations (scientific reports) independently completed by the candidate are allowed for defense. Detection of academic plagiarism in a submitted dissertation (scientific report) is grounds for refusal to award the corresponding scientific degree.

9.8. Detection of academic plagiarism in a defended dissertation (scientific report) is grounds for canceling the SAC decision to award the scientific degree and issuing the corresponding diploma. Cancellation of the SAC decision due to detected plagiarism is carried out by the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance according to the procedure established by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and may be appealed according to Ukrainian legislation.

9.9. Scientific and teaching staff, students, candidates for educational-qualification and scientific degrees, their supervisors, SAC members, and official opponents bear personal responsibility for complying with the principles of academic integrity as provided by Ukrainian legislation and the University Code of Academic Integrity.

9.10. The University has the right to apply to the relevant authorities (upon submission of the University Academic Integrity Commission) to revoke a scientific degree or academic title of persons whose academic texts contain plagiarism.

9.11. Appeals regarding violations of copyright are considered at a meeting of the University Academic Integrity Commission. The meeting may involve the Rector, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs, Vice-Rector for Research, the University anti-plagiarism system Administrator, five University faculty members with the highest Hirsch Index in the Scopus database, the Head of the University Legal Department, and additional persons at the discretion of the Chair.

10. Final provisions

10.1. The Regulation on the procedure for plagiarism verification of academic and scientific texts is approved by the University Academic Council and comes into force by order of the Rector.

10.2. Amendments and/or additions to this Regulation are made in accordance with the procedure established for its adoption.

Annex 1