"What percentage is allowed?" is one of the questions we hear most. In India, the answer for universities and colleges comes from the University Grants Commission's Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Educational Institutions Regulations, 2018. Journals set their own limits, which are often stricter, so always check the journal's policy as well.
Similarity is not the same as plagiarism
A similarity report shows how much of your text matches other sources. It does not decide whether you plagiarised. A properly quoted and cited passage still shows up as a match; a stolen idea rewritten in new words may not show up at all. That is why the regulations set out exclusions, and why institutions use people, not just software, to judge a case.
The similarity levels
The regulations define four levels, measured after the permitted exclusions:
| Level | Similarity | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Level 0 | Up to 10% | Minor similarity; no penalty |
| Level 1 | Above 10%, up to 40% | Penalty applies |
| Level 2 | Above 40%, up to 60% | Higher penalty |
| Level 3 | Above 60% | Most serious |
Penalties rise with each level. For research scholars' theses and dissertations they range from submitting a revised script within a set period, to a bar on resubmission for a year, to cancellation of registration for the programme. For faculty and staff publications they include withdrawing the manuscript and, at higher levels, losing annual increments and the right to supervise new students for a period. Repeated offences are treated more severely. Your university's own policy, built on these regulations, gives the exact details.
The regulations also set a zero-tolerance policy for the core of the work, such as the abstract, summary, hypothesis, observations, results, conclusions and recommendations. These parts must be your own, original work, whatever the overall percentage.
What is excluded from the count
- Text in quotation marks, with proper permission or citation
- References, the bibliography, the table of contents, the preface and acknowledgements
- Generic terms, laws, standard symbols and standard equations
- Common knowledge and coincidental phrases of up to fourteen consecutive words
- Your own earlier work, where the institution's rules allow it and it is properly cited
Most similarity tools let you apply these exclusions in their settings, for example by excluding the bibliography, quoted text and small matches. A report run without them can look far higher than it really is, so check the settings before you worry.
Who decides
The regulations ask each institution to set up a Departmental Academic Integrity Panel (DAIP) and an Institutional Academic Integrity Panel (IAIP). The departmental panel looks into a suspected case first and makes a recommendation; the institutional panel reviews it and decides the penalty. Students submitting a thesis also give a declaration that the work is original, and the supervisor certifies it.
Bringing similarity down, the honest way
- Cite every source you used, including your own earlier papers. Reusing your own published text without citation is still a problem
- Quote word for word only when the exact wording matters, and mark the quotation clearly
- Paraphrase properly: read the source, close it, write the idea in your own words and structure, then check and cite
- Summarise instead of describing at length: cut long accounts of standard methods and cite the original instead
- Add your own analysis: comparing, criticising and connecting sources makes the text yours, and it makes a better thesis too
What not to do
Do not use tricks to fool the software, such as hidden characters, swapped letters from other alphabets, text pasted as images, or automatic "paraphrasing" and synonym tools. Modern tools detect many of these, the writing becomes hard to read, and deliberate attempts to deceive can be treated as misconduct in their own right. The same caution applies to AI writing tools: check your institution's and the journal's policy, never list an AI tool as an author, and take responsibility for every sentence you submit.
Before you submit
- Check the limit your university or journal applies, in writing
- Run a check with the correct exclusions applied
- Read the report match by match, not just the headline percentage
- Fix missing citations first, then rewrite the passages that need it
- Run a final check and keep the report
Our plagiarism correction service checks your work, helps you rewrite flagged passages properly and gives you a re-check report. Read our plagiarism policy to see how we work.
