How the JSA plagiarism check works for your thesis in Poland

What JSA is and why the check is compulsory

Under the Law on Higher Education and Science (Prawo o szkolnictwie wyższym i nauce), Polish universities have been required since 2019 to check theses in JSA before the egzamin dyplomowy (final diploma examination). The system is provided by the state, so it is the same at every university. Some universities also use other anti-plagiarism software, but the JSA check is compulsory.

What your thesis is compared against

JSA compares your text against several databases, including:

• ORPPD — the Ogólnopolskie Repozytorium Pisemnych Prac Dyplomowych, the national repository of theses defended at Polish universities;
• online sources;
• databases of legal acts and other sources available to the system.

This means the system can find matches not only with published articles but also with other students’ theses, including those from previous years.

How the JSA check works, step by step

The exact procedure depends on the university, but the general sequence is usually as follows:

1. Your promotor accepts the final version of the thesis.
2. You upload the file — often via USOS (the university student information system) or APD (Archiwum Prac Dyplomowych, the thesis archive) — together with the metadata: title, streszczenie (abstract) and słowa kluczowe (keywords).
3. The thesis is sent to JSA, either automatically or at your promotor’s request.
4. The system generates a similarity report (raport podobieństwa).
5. Your promotor analyses the report and decides whether to admit the thesis to the defence.

Once the file has been sent to JSA, it usually cannot be changed without repeating the procedure, so upload only the final, proofread version.

What the similarity report contains

The JSA report includes several types of information:

Who interprets the figures, and how

The report itself does not decide whether the thesis contains plagiarism. That judgement is made by your promotor. They can see which fragments matched and may conclude that these are correctly formatted quotations, names of laws, established terms or bibliographic entries. Matches like these are a normal part of any academic text.

The thresholds above which a thesis needs further analysis are set by each university. There is no single “acceptable” figure for the whole of Poland. To find out which rules apply to you, look for the anti-plagiarism procedure (procedura antyplagiatowa) on your university’s website or ask your promotor.

A note on technical manipulation

The warnings in the report exist precisely to detect attempts to lower the similarity score artificially: replacing letters with look-alike characters from other alphabets, white text, unusual spaces. The system picks up these tricks, and the university may treat them as a breach of academic integrity. The only reliable way to pass the check is a text with honest, complete references.

How to prepare your thesis for JSA: quotations, przypisy and paraphrase

The aim is to make every borrowing visible and properly attributed. When it is, even noticeable matches are easy for your promotor to explain.

Quote correctly

A word-for-word quotation goes in quotation marks and is followed by a reference to the source, including the page number. In some styles, long quotations are set out as a separate block. Remember that your thesis should not consist of quotations: they should illustrate your argument, not replace it.

Format your przypisy correctly

Footnotes (przypisy dolne) are very common at Polish universities. Each footnote should point to a specific source and, where necessary, a page. Other departments use APA or other author–date styles. Which one you use is set by your department’s guidelines — read more in our guide to thesis formatting requirements in Poland.

Paraphrase with a reference

To paraphrase is to express someone else’s idea in your own words. But it is still someone else’s idea, so a reference is required. A good paraphrase:

• is based on understanding the source, not on rearranging the words in a sentence;
• is shorter or better structured than the original;
• combines the author’s idea with your own comment or comparison;
• always cites the author and the work.

A useful technique: read the passage, close the source, write down the main idea in your own words, then compare it with the original and add the reference.

Keep your bibliography from the start

The most common cause of problems in the report is not deliberate copying but lost sources. A student copies a paragraph into their notes and a month later no longer remembers that it is not their own text. Record the source as soon as you make a note, and put verbatim passages in quotation marks in your notes.

Do not reuse your own work without saying so

If you reuse passages from your own earlier coursework or a bachelor’s thesis that is already in ORPPD, the system may flag a match. Discuss with your promotor in advance whether this is acceptable and how to indicate it.

Why an honestly written thesis still shows matches

Even a thesis written entirely on your own almost never scores zero. Matches appear for perfectly natural reasons:

• correctly formatted quotations;
• names of laws, institutions and standards;
• established terms and definitions;
• bibliographic entries;
• standard wording from university templates, for example in declarations.

Your promotor can see these fragments and knows what they are. Aim for every substantive match to have a reference, rather than for zero matches.

What happens if the JSA report shows many matches

A high score does not in itself mean plagiarism. Your promotor can review the highlighted fragments and accept them as legitimate. If they feel certain passages need more work, at most universities the thesis is returned to the student for corrections and then checked again.

In that situation:

1. ask your promotor to specify which fragments raise concerns;
2. add any missing references and quotation marks, and develop your own analysis where the text is too close to the source;
3. check that all the sources used in the corrected passages are in the bibliography;
4. upload the new version following your university’s procedure.

The point of the corrections is to show clearly where your ideas end and those of the authors you cite begin; the figure follows from that.

Checking your thesis before the official JSA check

Before submission, check your thesis yourself or with help, looking for passages without references, incomplete source entries and quotations without quotation marks. We offer a plagiarism check with a report that shows which passages need references or correct formatting, as well as help with your thesis bibliography and referencing. This is not a substitute for JSA, but a way to spot gaps in referencing before the official check. If you need the whole text proofread, see our thesis proofreading and editing service.