Editorial Policies and Publication Ethics

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSING
The authors retain copyright of their work and grant the journal the right of first publication. Articles are published under a Creative Commons license, allowing unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.  By submitting to the UBMRJ, authors grant the University of Baguio, through the RIECO Office, a non-exclusive license to publish, archive, and distribute the manuscript in print and electronic form. Authors are responsible for ensuring that all third-party materials included in their manuscripts are properly attributed and that necessary permissions have been secured in accordance with Intellectual Property Laws in the Philippines. The RIECO Office reserves the right to refuse publication where intellectual property concerns have not been adequately addressed.

PLAGIARIASM
The University of Baguio Multi-Disciplinary Research Journal (UBMRJ) upholds the highest standards of academic integrity and ethical scholarly publishing. The journal adopts a zero-tolerance policy toward plagiarism in all forms. All manuscripts submitted to UBMRJ must be original works of the authors and must properly acknowledge the contributions of other scholars. UBMRJ adheres to ethical publishing standards consistent with recognized academic publishing guidelines.

Similarity Index Guidelines. UBMRJ uses the following thresholds as editorial guidance, not as sole determinants of plagiarism.

Above 40% Similarity Index
● Immediate rejection
● Manuscript considered to have serious citation and originality issues
● No resubmission allowed

15%–40% Similarity Index
● Manuscript returned to the author for revision
● Authors must:
   ○ Improve paraphrasing
   ○ Provide complete citations
   ○ Address all flagged similarities
● Resubmission must include a new similarity report showing less than 15% similarity

Below 15% Similarity Index
● Manuscript may proceed to peer review
● Minor citation corrections may still be required

Below 10% Similarity Index
● Generally acceptable, subject to editorial evaluation

Author Responsibility. Authors are responsible for:
● Ensuring originality of their work
● Proper citation and referencing
● Ethical scholarly writing
● Checking similarity before submission

Failure to comply with this policy constitutes academic misconduct.

PRIVACY STATEMENT
UBMRJ is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of all individuals involved in the publication process.
Names, email addresses, institutional affiliations, and other personal information entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of UBMRJ and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party without consent.

All submitted manuscripts are treated as confidential documents. Access is limited to the editorial team, reviewers, and authorized personnel involved in the publication process.

OPEN ACCESS STATEMENT
UBMRJ is a fully open-access journal. Users are permitted to:
● Read
● Download
● Copy
● Print
● Distribute
● Search
● Link to full-text articles
● Use articles for lawful academic and non-commercial purposes
without requesting prior permission from the publisher or authors, provided the original work is properly cited.

The journal supports the principle that open access promotes wider dissemination of knowledge, increased scholarly visibility, and equitable access to research worldwide.

ARCHIVING POLICY
UBMRJ ensures the long-term preservation and accessibility of published content through institutional and digital archiving systems.
Published articles may be archived in:
● Institutional repositories
● Library databases
● Indexing platforms
● Long-term digital preservation systems

Each published article is assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to provide a permanent and stable link to its digital location. The DOI ensures that articles remain easily accessible, citable, and trackable regardless of changes in the journal’s website or hosting platform. 

REPOSITORY POLICY
Authors are permitted to deposit:
● Preprints
● Accepted manuscripts
● Published versions

in institutional repositories, personal websites, and academic networking platforms, provided proper citation to the original publication in UBMRJ is included.