How do I interpret the similarity score?

Please consult your university or journal for details on the acceptable similarity threshold. This tool presents similarity as a percentage between 0% to 100%.

Zero similarity means that your text is completely unique with no similarity to other sources. Note that it’s not unusual to have some similarity; most assignments require citations to other sources as evidence or validation for one’s own work. Most journals consider similarity higher than 20% to be a red flag, particularly if similarity to a single source is greater than 5%. A high similarity score means that a large portion of your text is similar to other sources, which may indicate that very little of your paper is your own writing.