Broad Perspective on Plagiarism

In the recent past, plagiarism has been in the professional news. Several scientists have had their Ph.D. degrees rescinded due to acts of plagiarism. A German science minister had to resign from her position because of plagiarism 30 years prior. In another case, an academic department in the United States was rocked by multiple incidents of graduate student plagiarism in their theses. Others have lost their positions and their reputations as a result of plagiarism. An interim U.S. senator had to step down from the election process because plagiarized material was found in his master’s thesis. Plagiarism can have serious consequences to many, including those who publish in technical journals. At the prerogative of a professional journal, a person may lose the right to publish in the journal for a period of years including forever. Some publishers use electronic flags in the paper management systems to identify the names of authors who have appeared to have plagiarized, with the flag used to alert the publishers to more closely scrutinize subsequent paper submittals. These examples illustrate that the consequences of plagiarism can range from embarrassment to career-threatening situations, and of course add to inefficiency in the publishing process. When discussing plagiarism, the viewpoints of the stakeholders must be recognized. From the perspective of the originator of the material, plagiarism is viewed as stealing. If published materials are plagiarized, the publisher who expended resources to publish the original material may then lose the distinction of being the publisher of the new ideas. This could have effects such as reducing the impact factor of the journal in which the ideas were originally published. Also, the reputation of the journal can be tarnished because of association with a case of plagiarism. The employer and maybe the peers of the plagiarizer may also feel embarrassed. Yet, the damage to the professional reputation of the plagiarizer can be the most serious consequence. Plagiarism is often simplistically viewed as the failure to use quotation marks when using material penned by others. This view of plagiarism, which originates in precollege education, is really much too narrow from a professional perspective. To understand plagiarism from a professional perspective, a simplified definition may be of use to begin the discussion, but more so to set the stage for gaining a broader perspective on the issue. To use someone else’s writings or ideas without appropriate acknowledgment. This definition assumes that the output of another individual is the sole focus. Plagiarism is much broader than this. The previously mentioned definition avoids a more common form of plagiarism, namely forms of self-plagiarism. Therefore, it may be worthwhile considering the different types of plagiarism, as follows: • Failure-to-cite plagiarism: The author uses material, either words or original ideas, from another published source without citing the source. The connection between this practice and the previously mentioned definition is obvious, but the implications may not be so obvious. Specifically, the original author of the material may lose priority of publication as people reference the new plagiarized work rather than the original work. Also, it can hurt the impact factor of the journal that published the original paper. • Dual-submission plagiarism: Submitting the same paper to two or more journals and allowing both to be published. This uses the resources of two publishers and the time of two sets of reviewers. Again, the reputation of both journals can be negatively affected. • Redundant plagiarism: Submitting significant parts of one paper as the foundation for another article with the only difference being a new set of data or new case study. This can disperse the number of citations for both publishers, thus reducing the impact factors of both journals. Also, the total publishing cost is inflated relative to the knowledge disseminated to the profession. • Fragmented plagiarism: A form of self-plagiarism where the author divides the research output into two or more publications which dilutes the significance of the work. While this may not be viewed as an unethical practice, the consequence of the act can influence the status of a journal. • Boiler-plate plagiarism: A form of self-plagiarism where the author uses small sections of one paper word-for-word in a new paper, usually background information or a site description. This has commonly been done with noncopyrighted material and is not infrequently carried over to journal papers, which are copyrighted. In the past, this form was not considered detrimental to the transfer of knowledge. • Ghost authorship: A form of plagiarism in a broad sense where an individual allows their name to appear as an author of a paper even though the individual did not make a sufficiently significant contribution to the underlying research; this can be viewed as plagiarizing since the person’s name appears as an author of material that was not their original work, much like plagiarizing by the omission of either quotation marks or proper citation. It should be evident that the lines between these types of plagiarism are not totally objective, which contributes to the vagueness of interpretation. Aspects such as the length of the common material or the extent of the paraphrasing are responsible for the subjectivity of decisions about plagiarism. Also, the significance of the alternatives to the dissemination of knowledge is quite different, but each can have a significant effect on the publication process. If plagiarism is evaluated from the perspective of a publisher of technical material, the publisher legitimately wants a return on the investment that was made to publish the material. While economics is part of the return on investment, the reputation of both the journal and the publishing organization are also principal factors. Very often, a case of plagiarism is referred to by the name of the journal in which the case occurred rather than the name of the plagiarizer. Instances of plagiarism can damage the reputation of a journal.