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8. Levels of Plagiarism
Plagiarism would be quantified into following levels in ascending order of severity for the purpose of its definition:
i. Level 0: Similarities upto 10% - Minor similarities, no penalty
ii. Level 1: Similarities above 10% to 40%
iii. Level 2: Similarities above 40% to 60%
iv. Level 3: Similarities above 60%
So do law reviews follow the UGC limits and consider papers only below 10% or are even stricter ??
Any insights will be helpful for all law students wanting to publish academic articles in prominent law reviews!
It is an evaluation of the whole paper to figure out what you have taken from where, what you have cited, are the arguments merely paraphrased (hence plagiarized, but not similar) from existing sources, have paragraphs been copied directly, etc.
For selected pieces, we open each citation to read it and check that the cited content is indeed there and then we also do general literature checks to ensure that the submission is novel. Subject to these conditions (and other conditions of peer reviewer approval, comparative quality with other submissions, etc.) the piece proceeds for publication.
But to answer in short - a particular percentage of similarity doesn't matter. What is showing up as similar and whether it is to defraud us into thinking that it is your idea is what matters.