As per the University Grants Commission (UGC) Regulations on Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and Other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education, 2018, the plagiarism policy for academic publications should follow the guidelines provided in the UGC (Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2018.

The UGC regulations define plagiarism as the “act of using the work of another person (including their ideas, concepts, and expressions) without giving due credit or acknowledgement” and apply to all forms of academic publications, including research papers, books, theses, and dissertations. The key features of the UGC’s plagiarism policy include:

1. Definition of plagiarism: Plagiarism is defined as the practice of using someone else’s work or ideas without proper citation or acknowledgement, presenting it as one’s own.
2. Similarity index: The UGC regulation recommends that all manuscripts should be checked for similarity using appropriate software, and the similarity index should be reported in the manuscript.
3. Acceptable level of similarity: The acceptable level of similarity in academic publications is up to 10% for research articles and up to 15% for reviews and other types of publications. However its advised to go through Plagiarism Policy of UGC.
4. Consequences of plagiarism: If plagiarism is detected in a submitted manuscript, the manuscript should be rejected, and the authors should be notified. The authors may be prohibited from submitting to the journal in the future.
5. Ethical considerations: Academic institutions and journals should ensure that ethical standards and principles of academic publishing are followed, and any instances of academic misconduct, including plagiarism, should be taken seriously and addressed appropriately.
6. Self-plagiarism: Authors should not submit manuscripts that have been previously published, either in whole or in part. Authors should ensure that their manuscripts are original and have not been submitted to any other journal

NOTE: When submitting plagiarism reports, especially in academic contexts, it's essential to use reputable plagiarism detection software like iThenticate, Turnitin, Ouriginal, Urkund, or DrillBit. These tools are widely recognized and accepted within educational institutions and scholarly communities for checking the originality of written work.