Proper Source Attribution

Proper Attribution of Sources

The origin of all data and statements in the manuscript must be correctly identified so that the reader has absolute clarity about what information corresponds to the author of the text and what information comes from specific sources. As a norm of academic writing, the author must even acknowledge the credit of the author(s) on whom they based their research. Failures in proper attribution of sources can lead to plagiarism. Among the main forms of plagiarism in the printed domain, the following are included:

  • Submitting someone else's manuscript as one's own.
  • Copying words or borrowing ideas from someone without giving them due credit.
  • Failing to enclose a direct quotation in quotation marks or not indenting a copied block of text to indicate its verbatim nature (the use of italics does not signify verbatim transcription).
  • Changing some words but retaining the syntactic structure of a passage or sentence taken from another source (patchwriting), even if the source is appropriately cited.
  • Providing incorrect or false information about the cited sources (in citations or references).

Plagiarism is a crime punishable by Bolivian law (Penal Code, Article 362). The Journal de Comunicación Social assumes that the author, when submitting their manuscript, implicitly certifies that they are not engaging in any of these practices or any other behavior that hinders proper recognition of others' work. However, after submission, each manuscript will be screened by the OURIGINAL computer system for originality and appropriate citation of sources, a tool designed to detect plagiarism regardless of the language in which the text is written.

After submitting the manuscript, the editorial team will send the author a declaration that should be returned with their name and signature, as a preliminary stage before peer review. This document serves as a guarantee that the manuscript complies with all the journal's requirements, as outlined in this section and in section 5 (Authors).