Policy on PlagiarismPlagiarism

I. Definition of Plagiarism

The Editors and Editorial Board of Aquatic Mammals ascribe to a definition of plagiarism as expressed by V. E. McMillan in Writing Papers in the Biological Sciences (Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, New York)

“Plagiarism is the theft of someone else’s words, work, or ideas.  It includes such acts as (1) turning in a friend’s paper and saying it is yours; (2) using another person’s data or ideas without acknowledgement; (3) copying an author’s exact words and putting them in your paper without quotation marks; and (4) using wording that is very similar to that of the original source but passing it off as entirely your own even while acknowledging the source.”

This includes information in textbooks or laboratory manuals, honors and master’s theses, all writing assignments, and images.  The Editors and Reviewers for Aquatic Mammals attempt to monitor manuscripts for incidences of plagiarism. 


II. Disciplinary Action

If plagiarism is confirmed in a submission, the Editors will discuss the situation with the author(s) and indicate the penalty for this academic dishonesty.  If a manuscript can not be reworked to exclude plagiarism, then it will be rejected from publication in Aquatic Mammals.