Applications of Language Studies

Applications of Language Studies defines plagiarism as:

"The unattributed appropriation of intellectual content—including concepts, textual expressions, structural frameworks, or research findings—through verbatim reproduction, inadequate paraphrasing, or misrepresentation of provenance."

Manifestations of Plagiarism

All following constitute academic misconduct:

1. Presenting others' work as original scholarship

2. Reproducing verbiage or ideas without attribution

3. Falsifying source documentation

4. Preserving source syntax through superficial lexical substitution

5. Deriving >30% of content from single sources (even with attribution)

6. Unauthorized use of visual elements (figures/images/graphs) without:

   • Copyright holder permission

   • Contextual citation

Detection Protocol

ALS employs industry-standard plagiarism detection software (iThenticate) to screen submissions. Manuscripts undergo similarity analysis pre-peer-review with these thresholds:

Post-Publication Remediation

Plagiarism discovered after publication triggers:

1. COPE-guided investigation

2. Retraction for severe violations (>25% unattributed content)

3. Correction for localized infractions

Author Best Practices

• Attribute all non-original content using APA/MLA conventions

• Secure written permissions for copyrighted materials

• Distinguish verbatim text via:

  • Quotation marks (short passages)

  • Block indentation (>40 words)

• Deposit linguistic data/corpora in disciplinary repositories (e.g., TalkBank, CLARIN)

• Disclose AI-assisted writing in Methods section (excluding grammar tools)

Special Consideration: Linguistic researchers must properly attribute

• Unpublished corpus data

• Fieldwork informant contributions

• Translated/adapted materials