Development of a guideline to approach plagiarism in Indian scenario.

What was known?

There is a lack of a comprehensive and widely-accepted characterization of the definition, classification, basic educational principles, various types of plagiarism and its preventive measures and penalties in the area of publication ethics.

Introduction

Today, plagiarism is of utmost importance in academic societies and its increasing trend and magnitude has proposed a big challenge to researchers in the medical field.[1] Indian journal of Dermatology maintains a strict principle of absolute zero tolerance in matters related to plagiarism.[2] I am writing this editorial to discuss the definitions, classifications, basic educational principles, various types, preventive measures and penalties in the area of publication ethics and future perspectives to tackle plagiarism at grass root level. The basic protocol to be adhered by the authors to report plagiarism in the published articles was ascertained.[3] Experiences regarding plagiarism and serious concerns regarding plagiarism in medical journals are documented.[456]

An important and debatable issue in regard of plagiarism is the lack of a comprehensive and widely-accepted characterization of its definition, classification, basic educational principles, various types, preventive measures, and penalties in the area of publication ethics.

Definitions for plagiarism

“Unattributed use or copying of another person's data or finding and resubmission of an entire publication under another author's name”. (http://publicationethics.org/files/COPE_plagiarism_discussion_%20doc_26%20Apr%2011.pdf last accessed March 3, 2014)

“Use of others’ published and unpublished ideas or words (or other intellectual property) without attribution or permission, and presenting them as new and original rather than derived from an existing source" (http://www.wame.org/resources/ethics-resources/publication-ethics-policies-for-medical-journals/last accessed March 3, 2014)

“Theft or misappropriation of intellectual property and the substantial unattributed textual copying of another's work”. (http://ori.hhs.gov/ori-policy-plagiarism last accessed March 3, 2014)

“To steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own, use (another's production) without crediting the source, to commit literary theft, present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source. Plagiarism is an act of fraud”. (http://ori.hhs.gov/ori-policy-plagiarism last accessed March 3, 2014)

“Deliberated uses of someone else's language, ideas, or other original (not common knowledge) material without acknowledging its source”.(http://wpacouncil.org/node/9 last accessed March 3, 2014)

“Unaccredited use (both intentional and unintentional) of another person's words or ideas and presenting another person's original thoughts or ideas as your own and using another's exact words without proper citation”. (http://owl.waol.org/last accessed March 3, 2014)

“The practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own”. (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/plagiarism last accessed March 3, 2014)

“Submitting as one's own works, irrespective of intent to deceive, that which derives in part or in its entirety from the work of others without due acknowledgement”.(http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/plagiarism/students/statement.html last accessed March 3, 2014).

Classifications for plagiarism

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (http://publicationethics.org/files/COPE_plagiarism_discussion_%20doc_26%20Apr%2011.pdf last accessed March 3, 2014)

Extent: (A few words, a few sentences, whole paragraph, several paragraphs, whole paper)

Originality of copied material: (Widely-used phrase or idea, phrase or idea used by a small number of authors, original phrase or idea)

Position/context type of material: (Standard methods, describing another worker's findings, data and findings)

Referencing/attribution: (Source fully and clearly referenced, source partially/inaccurately referenced, unreferenced)

Intention: (No intention to deceive, intention to deceive).

National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.[7]

Direct plagiarism: (Word-for-word)

Mosaic plagiarism

Plagiarism of ideas.

Department of Physics and Astronomy Valdosta State University (http://www.valdosta.edu/~cbarnbau/personal/teaching_MISC/plagiarism.htm last accessed March 3, 2014)

Word switch

Metaphor

Idea.

PlagiarismSearch.com (http://www.plagiarismsearch.com/blog/plagiarism-types/last accessed March 3, 2014)

Minimal plagiarism

Substantial plagiarism

Complete plagiarism.

College of the Liberal Arts, The Pennsylvania State University (http://laus.la.psu.edu/current-students/academic-integrity/resources-for-students/TypesofPlagiarism.pdf last accessed March 3, 2014)

Word-for-word plagiarizing

Mosaic plagiarism

Plagiarizing by paraphrasing.

University of Michigan, Shapiro Undergraduate Library (http://www.lib.umich.edu/shapiro-undergraduate-library/types-plagiarism last accessed March 3, 2014)

Intentional

Unintentional.

The known reasons for plagiarism

(http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/library/q24598_3.pdf, http://upetd.up.ac.za/authors/create/plagiarism/causes.htm, http://wpacouncil.org/node/9, http://www.canisius.edu/dotAsset/d075b853-0f52-44dd-a3ad-6503ef73fdd0.pdf, http://guides.library.ualberta.ca/content.php?pid = 62200andsid = 3013167 last accessed March 3, 2014)

Lack of perceived consequences

Lack of knowledge about what plagiarism is.

Lack of intellectual investment

Lack of research skills

Lack of time and procrastination

Having difficulty with citing/referencing

Poor language skills

Problems evaluating Internet sources: (Many students do not know how to critically evaluate Internet sources and this can impact on the research process and the student's writing)

Intent to deceive

College instructors may not support students

Lack of interest

Fear of failure.

Strategies to prevent plagiarism

(http://www.pointloma.edu/experience/academics/centers-institutes/center-teaching-learning/faculty-resources/academic-honesty/18-ways-prevent-plagiarism-student- papers, http://writing.byu.edu/static/documents/org/193.pdf, http://ips.um.edu.my/images/ips/doc/rules_regulations/How_To_Avoid_Plagiarism_A_HandbookFor_Postgraduate_Students.pdf, http://www.duplichecker.com/blog/preventingplagiarism.php, http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" href="http://wpacouncil.org/node/9, http://valenciacollege.edu/library/east/services/preventing_plagiarism.cfm http://wpacouncil.org/node/9, http://valenciacollege.edu/library/east/services/preventing_plagiarism.cfm http://wpacouncil.org/node/9, http://valenciacollege.edu/library/east/services/preventing_plagiarism.cfm last accessed March 3, 2014)

Make the penalties clear

Make the assignment clear

Have students and researchers include an annotated bibliography

Require oral reports of student papers or create assignments that have an oral presentation component.

Discussing problems students may encounter in documenting and analyzing sources, and offer strategies for avoiding or solving those problems.

Require most references to be up-to-date.

In-class writing methods: Have the students respond to an article, express their opinions or critically analyze a topic in class, as opposed to an outside writing assignment.

Developing a basic educational plan as an educational course before entering university (during high school)

Developing an educational plan as a university academic course

Developing an educational plan as a journal club

Offering continuous educational programs as workshop and awarding “certificate of completion” in the corresponding workshops for conducting research projects

Role modeling: Person who serves an example whose behavior is emulated by others.

Approaches to screen plagiarism in manuscripts submitted to journals

(http://publicationethics.org/files/COPE_plagiarism_discussion_%20doc_26%20Apr%2011.pdf last accessed March 3, 2014)

Screening all manuscripts on receipt

Screening manuscripts that are sent out for external peer review

Screening manuscripts that are provisionally accepted

Screening a random sample of manuscripts

Screening when plagiarism is suspected.

The best methods for detecting plagiarism

(http://www.ithenticate.com/plagiarism-detection-blog/bid/52974/Plagiarism-Punishment, http://www.buzzle.com/articles/detecting-plagiarism-on-the-internet.html, http://www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm last accessed March 3, 2014)

Using the comments of the reviewers and referees for detecting plagiarism

Tracking the sources of the papers

Searching for the paper online

Using a plagiarism detector or plagiarism detection software.

The proposed course of action for detected cases of plagiarism

(http://www.ldu.leeds.ac.uk/plagiarism/penalties.php, http://www.ehow.com/about_5371475_penaltyplagiarism.html, http://www.ysu.edu/maag/find/FAQ_plag.html last accessed March 3, 2014)

Explaining the unethical nature of the action and demanding correction

Fast rejection

Rejection of all future submission of the offender (s)

Providing reports to official organizations and ethics institutions to blacklist the offender (s)

Providing reports to organizations/institutions with which the offender (s) is affiliated

Lowering the grade on the assignment

Giving them a failing grade on the assignment

Lowering the overall course grade

Giving them a failing grade in the course

Reprimand: Official warning in writing that continuation or repetition of violation or inappropriate behavior may result in a more severe sanction.

Loss of Privilege: Offenders may be sanctioned and prohibited from the use of certain college facilities, i.e. Skills Laboratory, Learning Resources Center, etc.

Restitution: Offender's misconduct may require reimbursement or otherwise compensate another for damage or loss of property.

Probation: Offenders may receive a formal written warning that the conduct is in violation of college policies and the student's standing as a student is in jeopardy.

Suspension: Offenders status may be terminated at the college for no less than the remainder of the semester.

Dismissal: Offenders status may be terminated at the college permanently or for an indefinite period of time.

Future directions

From the Indian perspective, a consortium of editors and reviewers of indexed medicals journals should formulate a guideline to approach plagiarism by doing a survey and workshop which will address the above attributes related to plagiarism. I hope Indian journal of Dermatology will take initiative to organize a survey or workshop to discuss the various attributes such as definitions for plagiarism, classifications for plagiarism, the known reasons for plagiarism, strategies to prevent plagiarism, approaches to screen plagiarism in manuscripts submitted to journals, the best methods for detecting plagiarism and the proposed course of action for detected cases of plagiarism in the Indian scenario. Indian Journal of Dermatology has to be congratulated for implementing following guidelines mandatory for authors (a) STROBE statement for authors of epidemiologic studies, (b) CONSORT statement for authors of randomized control trials and (c) all trial studies have to be pre-registered at a designated trial registration site prior to being submitted for publication.[2]

What is new?

Development of a guideline to approach plagiarism in Indian scenario by forming a consortium of editors and reviewers of indexed medical journals.