Peer-reviewed journals almost always have a restriction against double publication – submitting for publication a manuscript that is substantially the same as one that has already been published by another peer-reviewed journal. A related concept is double submission, where the same or substantially the same manuscript is under consideration for publication by two peer-reviewed journals simultaneously. At JM3 , for example, manuscript submission includes a requirement that the submitter acknowledge any prior publication of any of the major results/data/figures/etc. found in the submitted manuscript. But while submitting a manuscript that has already been published is an obvious problem, defining when duplicate content crosses the line to duplicate publication is not always easy. What, exactly, does “substantially the same” mean?
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