Plagiarism and honesty
Imposing risks
Risking plagiarism can result in an imposed temporary ban on researching. The incidence of scientific misconduct has warranted routine pre-publication checks to ensure appropriate reporting of figures and image alterations (Kwon, 2017).
Action against those committing plagiarism includes the enforcing administrative policy to write an apology letter and withdraw the published article. In some circumstances, criminal charges are applied to suspensions and prosecution proceedings.
Higgins, Lin and Evans (2016) studied the incidence of plagiarism in submitted manuscripts and found:
- 17 % unacceptable levels of plagiarism
- 82 % from applicants with English not an official language.
Some of the issues contributing to the increase are internet availability, copy-and-paste function and time deficiency for literary creativity.
Advice and assistance
Respect the American Psychological Association (APA) style for consistency, protection from plagiarism and the identification of it as publication preference, The style is known for its clarity and accessibility for acquiring information.
Keep records of sources when writing. Allow time to include websites and page numbers for efficiency. Endnote is a popular choice of citation manager that enables organised, shareable, styled and accessible citations.
Use multiple sources of citations to ensure diversity of content, validation of argument and reliability of objective information.
Paraphrase by first comprehending the intention of the author, use synonyms, reduce information and finally judge the results. Remember the outcome should incorporate the aspect of academic honesty.
Avoid self-plagiarism by going back to the sources of your previous work, write new notes, cite from previous work and incorporate thinking time to allow for new ideas.
Software like Quetext and Grammarly enable free checks, however, the scope of the privacy policy identifies sole responsibilities, licences to copy and information obtained from cookies.
For precision, quotation reference other peoples content, paraphrase, avoid self-plagiarism and acquire relevant permission.
References
Higgins, J. R., Lin, F. C., & Evans, J. P. (2016). Plagiarism in submitted manuscripts: incidence, characteristics and optimisation of screening—Case study in a major specialty medical journal. Retrieved from https://researchintegrityjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s41073-016-0021-8
Kwon D. (2017). How journals treat papers from researchers who committed misconduct. Retrieved from http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/50124/title/How-Journals-Treat-Papers-from-Researchers-Who-Committed-Misconduct/
