Plagiarism : Time For Introspection
Year : 2017 | Volume : 45 | Issue : 0 | Page : 3
MJWI.2017/3
Neela Aundhakar ,
Date of Web Publication 14-Jun-2017
Plagiarism : Time For IntrospectionNeela AundhakarProfessor of Physiology, B.J.G.M.C & S.G.H. Pune.Plagiarism is becoming a serious problem in schools, colleges, institutes and universities. Presence of a number of websites and an easy access to them through internet gives everyone availability to a wide range of materials. It is aggravated by “cut and paste “strategy in computers.Plagiarius—is a Latin word meaning kidnapper, derived from Greek word plagium meaning kidnapping.†To plagiarize is to steal and pass off [the ideas or words of another] as one's own without crediting the source or to commit literary theft and present it as new and original idea or product derived from existing source.â€â€™Plagiarism is the†wrongful appropriation†and “stealing and publication of another author's language, thoughts, ideas or expressions†and representation of them as one's own original work.†It is a practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.â€â€™ Plagiarism is considered an academic theft or dishonesty. It is considered as disciplinary offence and one who commits such offence is liable to disciplinary action.Cases of Plagiarism are increasing due to changes in government resolutions about number of publications by a teacher in Medical colleges required for increments in salary, promotions to higher posts and MCI requirements. If we refer to “Uniform requirements for biomedical journal†“ it clearly mentions the rules and regulations for publication of a research paper. When a paper is sent for publication an undertaking is needed by all authors stating that this paper is not sent for publication to other journal .The sequence of authors is given indicating contribution of each author for that paper. Now a tug of war has started in sequencing the names as only first two authors or an author and corresponding author is taken into consideration for real publication. If it is a dissertation only post graduate guide and student can be accommodated. If head of department is a guide both are safe. But it may so happen that even though student has done most of the work the guide and head of department may insist on putting their name first. If a guide is transferred someone else mayomit his or her name for publishing. When a student leaves the institute after passing , post graduation guide may omit his or her name. This is the beginning of kidnapping each other's work.Plagiarism may be unintentional or intentional.Unintentional PlagiarismParaphrasing poorly: changing a few words without changing the sentence structure of the original or changing the sentence structure but not the wordsQuoting poorly: putting quotation marks around part of a quotation but not around all of it or putting quotation marks around a passage that is partly paraphrased and partly quoted.Citing poorly: omitting an occasional citation or citing inaccurately.Intentional PlagiarismPassing offas one's own pre-written papers from the Internet or other sources.Copying an essay or article from the Internet, on-line source, or electronic database without quoting or giving credit.Cutting and pasting from more than one source to create a paper without quoting or giving citation.Borrowing words or ideas from other students or sources without giving credit.Types of Plagiarism: depend on the degree to which copying is done.â€Direct Plagiarism (Ghost writer): Plagiarism of WordsThe use of another's exact words without citing the author. A significant portion of the text from a single source is copied by the writer without doing any alteration. When a word to word transcription of a section of someone else's work is done without attribution and without quotation marks it is direct plagiarism. We can call it as a Ghost writer. This deliberate plagiarism of someone else's work isAundhakar :Plagiarism : Time For Introspectionunethical and academically dishonest. It can lead to disciplinary actions including expulsion.Recently a case of stolen thesis came to the notice in the institute. Dissertation was sent to an external examiner outside state for evaluation , by the University. Using this data, even without changing values, the examiner prepared a paper on this dissertation and published it in an indexed journal. The candidate was not aware of the stolen things and came to know about it while searching on internet.Plagiarism of StructureWhen a person uses someone else's ideas in his own words it is restatement or paraphrase. In a paraphrasing a person has to change both words and sentence structure without changing the content. If keeping the content proper citation is not given it is plagiarism of structure.It is advantageous to highlight the fact that other sources support your own ideas. Good paraphrasing makes the ideas of original source fit smoothly into the paper.Plagiarism of IdeasPresenting another's ideas as your own without giving credit to the person.Submitting a paper without citing or incorrectly citing another's idea.Plagiarism of SelfWhen a person submits his or her own previous work by changing the title, to maybe two or more different journals or mixes parts of previous work without permission from all others involved in that project ,it is self plagiarism.Plagiarism of authorshipWhen replication of another's work is done, when one submits a paper that is downloaded from internet or from a friend and is presented as his own.An author is someone who had made substantial intellectual contribution to the study. “ Authorship should be based on:Substantial contribution to concept, design, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data.Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content.Final approval of the version to be published When alarge group has concluded the work, the group should identify the individual who accepts direct responsibility for the manuscript.Corresponding author should clearly indicate preferred citation and should clearly identify all authors.Name other members in acknowledgements. All contributors who don't meet criteria for authorship should be in acknowledgement section. e.g. pure technical work, writing assistance ,departmental head who provided only general support ,financial support. A written permission is needed for acknowledgment.How much plagiarism is plagiarism?This question is similar to asking how much I steal would constitute theft? Even lifting a sentence without acknowledgement constitutes plagiarism. In July2002, vice chancellor of a leading University in Australia resigned because it was revealed that he lifted several passages from other academics without acknowledgement in his book.Legal aspects of plagiarism in Indiaâ€Section 57 of Indian copyright Act 1957, gives authors the right to claim “authorship†of their works among other things. Section 63 of Indian Copyright Act considers infringement as criminal offence and awards some punishment for both i.e. violation of section 57 and copyright infringement. Plagiarism is an offence under section 63 of Indian copyright act and the culprit can be put behind bars. a person can be imprisoned from six months up to three years. The issue was raised in the governing body chaired by Union minister of health and family welfare.J.P.Nadda on October 13 last year. A report of institute's ethics committee was cited to probe the allegations.Shimna Kanwar from timesgroup.com has reported recently: 3 senior doctors have been chargesheeted for plagiarism and data manipulation in PGMIER Chandigarh. This comes at a time when the prestigious medical —cum —research institute framed its guidelines on plagiarism.PLAGIARISM LAWColleges, universities, professional entities certainly have the authority to punish plagiarists in various ways. For example- a marking —giving zero, fail in exam, suspension from work, expulsion from college,Aundhakar :Plagiarism : Time For Introspectionextending the term, giving a letter of warning , all these come under legal issue.PLAGIARISM LAW in USAâ€Copyright law: the owner of copyright (true author) could sue a plagiarist in federal court for violation.SOPA (STOP ONLINE POLICY ACT) PIPA (PROTECT INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ACT)In USA SOPA is to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property. Provisions include requesting of court orders to bar advertising networks and payment facilities from conducting business with infringing websites and search engines from linking to the sites and court orders requiring internet service provider to block access to the sites. The law could expand existing criminal laws to include unauthorized streaming of copyright material imposing a maximum penalty of 5 years prison.How to avoid Plagiarism?â€When you plan to write a research paper, prepare an outline of your paper. Do not copy at all.Try to learn what is written, digest it and explain in your own wordsWhen you are unsure always ask your guide. He or she is more than happy to answer your questions.Focus on difference between different authors on the same topic; evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their arguments.Take through notes from all sources, organize the information that is collected and avoid doing writing of your research at the last minuteWriting, rewriting takes a longer time for good research.Identify the quote, provide the sourceCopied passages must not form substantial portion of your work.Proper acknowledgement is required if you borrow idea from othersGet in the habit of marking page numbers and make sure you record bibliographic information or web addresses for every source right away.Medical Journal of Western India| August 2017 | Vol 45 | No. 2Prevention of plagiarism ©Develop a topic based on previously written material but write something new and original.Rely on opinion of experts on a topic but improve upon their opinionsGive credit to researchers while making your own contributionFollow a standard documentation method e.g. MLA, APA formatDeteriorating condition of the educational system occurs due to plagiarism. The exclusive rights to reproduce .adapt, translate and publish their work or allow others to do so are collectively called copyright. It grants the authors “special right†to be attributed to their work. It is a moral right. Self plagiarism is not considered as an offence in Indian copyright Act 1957 as the author who is the owner of copyright has all the rights for reproduction of the words.â€Internet makes plagiarism easier but it also makes detection of plagiarism easier. Softwares are available free of cost to check plagiarism online"""â€. You can feed the paper and check plagiarism. It is not difficult to detect it by an experienced teacher. You cannot deceive yourself. It involves a matter of honesty, integrity. Stay away from it.Referenceshttps://en.oxforddictionary.com/definition/plagiarismhttps://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ plagiarismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/plagiarism 4. www.icmje.orghttp://owl.waol.org/www.centralia.edu/academics /writing center/indexhtmlhtpp://wwe.theguardian.com>Education>Higher educationhttp://blog.ipleadersin>Generalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/protestsagainstSOPAand PIPAwww.rss.jku.hk/plagiarism/page2s.htmhttp://www.checkplagirism.nethttp://www.plagiarismsoftware.net
