research topics about plagiarism

110 Plagiarism Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on plagiarism, 🌶️ hot plagiarism essay topics, 🎓 most interesting plagiarism research titles, 💡 simple plagiarism essay ideas, ❓ research questions about plagiarism.

• Plagiarism and Its Adverse Effects
• An Issue of Plagiarism
• Academic Integrity, Misconduct and Plagiarism
• Plagiarism and the Ways to Avoid Plagiarism
• Plagiarism, Its Reasons and Solutions
• Academic Honesty: Cheating & Plagiarism
• Turnitin and Grammarly as Plagiarism Checkers
• Plagiarism: Chamberlain Academic Integrity Tutorial One of the examples of plagiarism mentioned in the Chamberlain Academic Integrity Tutorial was the word-for-word copying of passages from an original source.
• Franklin University: Plagiarism Issue This paper will define what plagiarism is and highlight the problems in regard to the increasing incidents of the practice which is becoming increasingly difficult to deal with.
• Consequences of Plagiarism: Punishments and Reduction of Plagiarism This paper seeks to explore the negative consequences of plagiarism in order to show that severe punishments and the resulting reduction in plagiarism have a beneficial effect on education.
• Plagiarism in Neims’s vs. Goldsmith’s Views Neither Neims nor Goldsmith denies the fact that plagiarism levels should be reduced in academia. However, they offer a new mindset that seems to be rather effective.
• Plagiarism and Proposed Strategy for Improvement Plagiarism is an act of representing another person’s intellectual property as belonging to oneself. This paper considers the case of a student, who unwittingly plagiarizes.
• Plagiarism in Academic Writing and Scholarly World It is very important for students to write using their own words because this makes a positive contribution to the scholarly world.
• High Plagiarism Rate in Chinese Universities This research paper views the role played by culture in increasing the rate of plagiarism in most Asian universities and especially in China.
• The Issue of Plagiarism: Copying, Downloading, or Self-Plagiarism Plagiarism is a type of cheating when a person uses someone else’s ideas for their research. It presupposes such actions as direct copying, downloading, or self-plagiarism.
• Issues With Plagiarism in Education Plagiarism is a serious academic violation that has been a center of attention for many universities and colleges. Nursing is a profession that requires high ethical standards.
• Plagiarism Prevention in Nursing Education Plagiarism is an essential issue in the academic field, especially for nursing students. The problem is severe as the profession is associated with high ethical standards.
• Reasons for Plagiarism Avoiding, Ways of Fighting Plagiarism The methods of plagiarism avoidance are considered to be basic regulations introduced in the academic system, where this phenomenon is the most frequently met.
• Writing Clarity: Paraphrasing Without Plagiarism To be understood, the very best writing needs to be utterly clear, simple, and short. This takes skill and discipline to persist until one has things absolutely right.
• Plagiarism: Definition and Plagiarism Ethics This paper discusses a personal unethical experience that is so common these days that this issue is bound to hit many people every day – the issue of “plagiarism”.
• Academic Integrity Tutorial on Plagiarism It is considered plagiarism when a student takes information from textbooks or websites, paraphrases it, and never adds any information about the resources from which it was taken.
• Plagiarism in the Research Work Plagiarism is wrong on many levels. Everyone must know the rules of using someone else’s works, and make an honest effort in learning and understanding the concepts of other people.
• Avoiding Plagiarism: Definition and Problems of Plagiarism This paper attempts to develop understanding of plagiarism by defining the violation and outlining some issues that may make students to plagiarize their work irrespective of intention.
• Plagiarism Avoiding: The Methods a Student Can Use to Avoid Plagiarism Using the MLA Citation Style This paper is an in-depth exploration of the methods a student can use to avoid plagiarism using the MLA citation style.
• Plagiarism and Copyright Principles Within Visual Culture
• Best Online Tool for Plagiarism Detection
• Plagiarism and Other Unfair Practices Are a Problem for International Students
• Hip Hop and Its Relation to Lyrical and Musical Plagiarism and Copyright Laws
• Plagiarism: Computers Technology Cheating
• Penalties for Plagiarism and Collusion Management
• Plagiarism and the Red Badge of the Great Gatsby
• The Pros and Cons of Plagiarism in College
• Should Plagiarism Prevent Admission to the Bar?
• Plagiarism, Paraphrasing, and Citing Sources
• Plagiarism: The Illegal Recycling of Information
• Misconceptions and Different Forms of Plagiarism
• Plagiarism and Its Effect on the Academic Assessment System
• Academic Plagiarism Types Factors and Plagiarism Detection
• Plagiarism and Intellectual Property of the Academia
• Three Main Reasons Why One Commits Plagiarism
• Plagiarism and Its Impact on the Economics Profession
• Schools and Education Understanding the Rise in Apathy, Cheating, and Plagiarism
• Plagiarism Controversy Among High Schools and Colleges
• The Reasons for and the Prevention of Plagiarism
• Plagiarism and the Intellectual Property of Others
• The Different Between Originality and Plagiarism
• Plagiarism and the Culture of Multilingual Students
• The Reasons for Student Plagiarism and Ways to Avoid It
• Plagiarism and Why the Problem Is Considered to Be a Serious
• The Benefits and Issues of Plagiarism in Students
• Plagiarism and the Deterioration of Ethical Values
• Source Code Plagiarism Detection for PHP Language
• Plagiarism and Its Consequences of Academic Dishonesty
• Reasons Why Individuals Commit Plagiarism
• Plagiarism: Adjusting the Consequence
• Academic Plagiarism and Ethical Considerations
• Plagiarism, the Most Common Form of Academic Dishonesty
• Music: Which Cultures Are Known for Plagiarism
• Plagiarism and Cheating Are Major Problems of the Educational
• How Can Teachers Prevent Plagiarism?
• Plagiarism and the Age of Ubiquitous Technology by Berlin Fang
• Guidelines for Identifying and Explaining Plagiarism
• Plagiarism Among South-African Writers: Analyzing Stephan Watson’s Accusations Against Antjie Krog
• Intellectual Property Rights and Student Plagiarism, and the Impact of the Cyberspace Era
• Stopping Plagiarism Starts Within Ourselves
• Misconduct Apology Letter-Plagiarism
• Plagiarism: Ethical and Professional
• Nationalism and Unintentional Plagiarism
• Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism in Academic College Work
• Plagiarism and Its Effect on Academic Integrity Assignment
• Plagiarism Problems for Educators
• How Could Plagiarism Harm Your Academics or Career?
• Plagiarism and Moral Development
• Ethical and Moral Issues of Plagiarism and the Ways to Avoid It
• Plagiarism and Its Impact on the Academic Works
• The Prevalence and Negative Impact of Plagiarism in the Literary World
• Plagiarism and the Discourse Community
• Attachment Disorder Plagiarism and Moral Development
• Plagiarism and the World of Music, Movies, and Multimedia
• Intentional and Unintentional Plagiarism
• Cheating and Plagiarism Among Students
• Plagiarism and How the American Educational System Is Declining
• Indiana Online Academy Cheating and Plagiarism Policy
• Plagiarism Detection and Prevention
• What Methods for Helping Students Avoid Plagiarism Are There?
• What Are the Differences Between Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct?
• What Challenges in Addressing Plagiarism in Education Are There?
• What Are University Students’ Perceptions of Plagiarism?
• What Strategy to Reduce Plagiarism in an Undergraduate Course Is the Mot Successful?
• What Is Awareness Level About Plagiarism Amongst University Students in Pakistan?
• How Well Do Students Really Understand Plagiarism?
• What Is the Main Purpose of Plagiarism Detection Software?
• What Is an Algorithmic Approach to the Detection and Prevention of Plagiarism?
• Was Shakespeare’s Plagiarism of “The Spanish Tragedy” Is Rumour or Truth?
• What Is the Landscape and Impact of Android Application Plagiarism?
• What Factors Are Associated With Student Plagiarism in a Post‐1992 University?
• Does Culture Influence Understanding and Perceived Seriousness of Plagiarism?
• What Is the Role of Cultural Values in Plagiarism in Higher Education?
• Can Paraphrasing Practice Help Students Define Plagiarism?
• Why Do Postgraduate Students Commit Plagiarism?
• How to Reduce Plagiarism Through Academic Misconduct Education?
• What Methods for Cross-Language Plagiarism Detection Are There?
• What Are the Psychological Causes and Correlates of Plagiarism?
• Are College Cheating and Plagiarism Related to Academic Procrastination?
• What Is the Influence of Text Pre-processing on Plagiarism Detection?
• What Are the Instructional Challenges of Student Plagiarism?
• How Students and Teachers Can Avoid and Prevent Plagiarism?
• What Is the Relationship Between Intellectual Property Rights and Student Plagiarism?
• What Are Some Misconceptions and Different Forms of Plagiarism?
• What Are the Three Main Reasons Why One Committs Plagiarism?

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StudyCorgi. (2022, March 1). 110 Plagiarism Essay Topics. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/plagiarism-essay-topics/

"110 Plagiarism Essay Topics." StudyCorgi , 1 Mar. 2022, studycorgi.com/ideas/plagiarism-essay-topics/.

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StudyCorgi . "110 Plagiarism Essay Topics." March 1, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/plagiarism-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2022. "110 Plagiarism Essay Topics." March 1, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/plagiarism-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Plagiarism were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on December 28, 2023 .

90 Plagiarism Topics, Ideas & Examples

🏆 best research titles about plagiarism, 👍 good plagiarism essay titles, ❓ research questions about plagiarism.

• Tips on Avoiding Plagiarism At the end of the quotation, credit to the source should be given either in the form of in-text citation or in a footnote.
• Plagiarism and Academic Integrity In other instances, the local students in to adventure and having fun may easily influence international students and since they are new to the environment, they may have fun at the expense of the assignment […] We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
• What Is Plagiarism and Why Is It Wrong? Now using the same paper but adding information to it and revising the content of the paper would not be considered self plagiarism because the paper will change in content in focus.
• Plagiarism Effects and Strategies The failure to recognize the contributions of other scholars in one’s work is generally referred to as plagiarism. Also, the paper recommends strategies that may be adopted by educators and learners to address the problem […]
• Plagiarism in the Real World: Jayson Blair and the New York Times One of the notorious cases of plagiarism is the Jason Blair scandal that happened in 2003. Another example of real-world plagiarism is Melania Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention in 2016.
• Academic Integrity: Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty Some of the most significant issues he highlights include the following: The quality of information on the web varies significantly While internet search may help to narrow down on a topic, it may erode the […]
• Plagiarism Is Morally Reprehensible Thus, to discuss the ethical component of plagiarism, it is necessary to pay attention to the definition of the concept and its meaning in relation to the idea of academic integrity.
• Plagiarism: What It Is and How to Avoid It The focus is then shifted to the future of plagiarism in contemporary society and the effect of information technologies. The expropriation of the work of another person and presentation of it like your own is […]
• Plagiarism and How to Avoid It Also, the source of the information is not reflected in the text. One should be relaxed and bending the body slightly forward to show interest in the person and the conversation.
• Plagiarism: For and Against Therefore, the argument against plagiarism is based on the loss of the perpetrator in terms of the shame of the act and the loss of the original author.
• Plagiarism Detection, Penalties and Consequences The most common form of plagiarism is copying information and using it as part of one’s assignment or essay, without acknowledging the original source of information Sometimes, students are dumbfounded by the amount of work […]
• Avoiding Plagiarism With Paraphrasing There are several strategies for avoiding plagiarism, among them competent citation of sources with the mention of the author’s name and words in quotation marks and paraphrasing the source’s content are.
• Plagiarism and Originality in Personal Understanding However, the price is to be paid; original people differ from the rest and often experience loneliness and feel that they are misunderstood.
• Plagiarism in Professional Writing It is also called institutionalized plagiarism, and it is reasonable because the knowledge of such documents is common. The rules of it can and need to be respected to observe copyright.
• Plagiarism in Nurse Academic Papers Copyright infringement and plagiarism detection in the work of a future medical officer is a breach of trust and can significantly affect a nurse’s future work.
• Lawyer Plagiarism as Ethical Violation Plagiarism can be termed referred to as the act of directly copying an individual’s work and presenting it as one’s own.
• Plagiarism and Its Effects on Nursing Students Plagiarism is a widespread issue that affects the papers of nearly all students. This damage can further prevent students from publishing their academic papers in the future due to inadvertent plagiarism that might stem from […]
• Copyright and Plagiarism: Expectations in Context It is clear that he could have interpreted Bob Dylan’s quote to his understanding and given credit for using his materials in the book Imagine: How Creativity Works.
• Plagiarism in Nursing Education When dealing with the following problem in the context of nursing, there are various types of plagiarism the students are not even aware of, meaning they sometimes plagiarize the thoughts and ideas of other people […]
• The Problem of Plagiarism in the World The question that we should answer appropriately is that is it not the right time we re-think about the quality and the originality of our written works or are we less intelligent and lazier than […]
• Plagiarism: Recognizing and Avoiding This is because the student has only left out some words from the original passage and has used the same words that were in the source.
• Law and Policy Against Plagiarism Currently, the renowned form of corruption that degrades the efforts of man in the search and quest to discover novel things and innovatively new ideas is plagiarism.
• Maintaining Academic Integrity by Avoiding Plagiarism Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s work and failure to acknowledge the original author correctly. Paraphrasing and synthesizing support future nursing practice because they enable students to understand arguments in each source while matching […]
• Plagiarism: The Act of Copying Someone Else’s Words or Ideas The Wharton County Junior College plagiarism policy states that their students are expected to submit their original work, and plagiarism is prohibited.
• How to Avoid Plagiarism Description The bottom line is that all materials used in a piece of writing that does not belong to your original production or creativity should be given credit accordingly.
• Analyzing Scholarly Writing: Plagiarism and Parahrasing This paper provides the general analysis of the provided articles and the detailed evaluation of the academic quality of the selected material.
• Causes and Effects of Plagiarism Writing is a daily activity that every person has to indulge in, and this is especially significant in the case of students who pursue academic degrees.
• Copyright Law and the University Policy on Plagiarism Comparison It also covers the act of using part of a literary plot, motion picture, poem, musical presentation, or other forms of art without the consent of the owner of the work.
• Plagiarism: Negative Aspects and Consequences There should be a checking done of the paraphrasing in one’s work to ensure that the same words and phrases from the text are not used in one’s work.
• Importance of Plagiarism Strategies in Writing Regarding a number of writing requirements and the possibility to be blamed for plagiarism, it is hard for many students to start writing their papers without any fears and doubts about the quality and originality […]
• Recognizing and Avoiding Plagiarism Using the phrase “conflict of interest” has amounted to a plagiarism report as this is a big percentage of the sentence The rest of the errors were in the last sentence where borrowing the words […]
• Embedding Plagiarism Education in the Assessment Process The authors of this study argue that the use of electronic detection tools can help students better understand the correct methods of citing sources and avoiding plagiarism.
• Plagiarism Among International Students: Omnibus Report In essence, therefore, the credibility of the whole report is built upon the concise details provided in the cover letter, and which include: identifying what plagiarism constitutes in the context of the United States; providing […]
• Plagiarism and Facebook Use in Students Despite the view that the current generation of students is somewhat neglecting the seriousness of plagiarism, it is still viewed that originality must be emphasized and not to allow digital technology to violate principles of […]
• Plagiarism From a Cross-Cultural Perspective Individualism presupposes respect for the authors whose ideas a person is going to borrow while direct communication as a cultural value implies open access to standards and codes of behavior, which is likely to minimize […]
• Plagiarism Elimination in Academic Writing This type of plagiarism is the easiest to detect, as it involves directly copying large swaths of text from other works without alterations or citations. It is more difficult to detect than direct plagiarism and […]
• The Price of the Plagiarism Plagiarism is considered a global problem of contemporary science and education as well as in the spheres of literature and music. The violation of copyright legislation is considered a crime and can lead to a […]
• Academic Integrity and Plagiarism It is both Mike’s and Todd’s fault Mike’s is that he does not know the content and asks Todd to show the answers, Todd’s is that he agrees.
• Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism It is a requirement that students and other individuals using electronic materials in their research use the various citation methods in acknowledging the owners of the legal rights of any electronic materials.
• Plagiarism in Graduate Students’ Applied Research The problem addressed in this study is the methods of dealing with the issue of plagiarism in applied research papers amid graduate students, which threatens to weaken the quality of academic research.
• Plagiarism Knowledge: Assessment and Improvement In this case, I failed in one of the questions I had answered correctly in the previous test. Nonetheless, it was also important that I managed to answer all the questions I had failed in […]
• Cheating and Plagiarism in Academic Settings Their main task is to show that the main objective of learning is to gain knowledge and skills, and that education cannot be reduced only to good grades and recognition of other people. This is […]
• Graphic Design and Plagiarism in Saudi Arabia The sites act as sources of inspiration for graphic designers; however, the challenge is the transitioning of the source of inspiration to the aid for plagiarism.
• The Problem of Plagiarism The problem of plagiarism is of great concern to many teachers who want to ensure that learners can acquire knowledge and skills.
• Helping Chinese Students Avoid Plagiarism As such, a lot of explanation is needed to convince Chinese students to accept and appreciate the requirement for referencing the sources used in order to avoid plagiarism.
• Plagiarism Definition and Explaining The aim of the report is to provide a working definition of plagiarism and explain the problem of plagiarism as faced by international students when studying in the U.S.
• Plagiarism Problem in Higher Education There is an immense devaluation of the learning encounter of the learners and the quality of the graduates. The consciousness of plagiarism is essential in deciphering if an imitative behavior is deliberate.
• Plagiarism Problem in Writing This is actually because the author of the original material is not able to enjoy the advantages of the good work that he or she has produced.
• Academic Honesty and Plagiarism While rather efficient and working in most cases, the approach in question, though, is not to be considered the silver bullet of detecting plagiarism in an academic setting either, for the individual psychological qualities of […]
• Plagiarism and Paraphrasing Sometimes the cheat notes might not be relevant to the test, and in such cases such students underperform. In conclusion, honest students are stress-free and have a smooth academic life and perform to the best […]
• Academic Integrity: Cheating and Plagiarism Instructors need to understand their students to find out what drives them to cheat in exams. Administrators and other stakeholders in educational institutions, need to discourage their students from cheating, to ensure they maintain high […]
• Peculiarities of Plagiarism Many students copy the sentences or the ideas of the researchers or other students without marking it as the citation. Simple paraphrasing and the use of quotation marks will help to solve the problem.
• Plagiarism Effects in Academic Institutions and Workplace In such cases, students work is found to have been plagiarized, years after the attainment of the degree/ certification, the institutions can revoke it.
• Plagiarism as a Form of Theft What is of importance in the realm of ideas is not the ownership of the rights to a certain piece of work but the originality[6].
• Why Chinese Culture Leads to High Plagiarism Rate in Chinese Universities The issue of plagiarism in China and other Asian countries has worried scholars from the west and the rest of the world for centuries. The research paper will be expected to expose the magnitude of […]
• Paper Analysis: Instructional Document about Plagiarism and the Internet By using these colors in the instructional document, the audience is reminded of the gravity of the matter and the danger that can arise from engaging in plagiarism.
• Cheating Plagiarism Issues Cheating in exams and assignments among college and university students is in the rise due to the access of the internet and poor culture where integrity is not a key aspect.
• Plagiarism Definition and Effects In addition to that, there is a vast amount of software that helps you to correctly cite your sources and check for plagiarism.
• Paraphrasing and Plagiarism A majority of the students fails to realize that they need to give credit to the original author even when they have paraphrased their work.
• Spotlight on Plagiarism Phenomenon A plagiarism policy in the University of Sydney states that “Where an Examiner detects or is made aware of alleged Plagiarism or Academic Dishonesty by a student; the Examiner must report the alleged Plagiarism or […]
• How Much of a Concern Is Online Plagiarism in Online Education?
• Who Is a Famous Person Who Plagiarized?
• What Are the Consequences of Plagiarism in High School?
• What Is the Best Software for Plagiarism?
• What Constitutes Plagiarism or Cheating?
• How Plagiarism Will Affect the Quality of the Research Paper?
• What Are the Consequences or Punishments if a Student Is Caught Plagiarizing?
• Can You Be Criminally Charged for Plagiarism?
• How Will You Avoid Plagiarism Commerce?
• How Does Plagiarism Affect a Person’s Reputation?
• What Is the Relationship Between Intellectual Property Rights and Plagiarism?
• Is It Plagiarism if You Copy and Paste but Cite the Source?
• What Is the Difference Between Plagiarism and Citation?
• Why Are Laws on Plagiarism and Copyrights Important?
• Why Is It Necessary to Check the Plagiarism in Any Research Report?
• Why Is Plagiarism a Violation?
• How Can Plagiarism Damage Ethical Standards?
• How Can College Essay Plagiarism Checker Help You in Your Studying?
• What Are the Consequences and Penalties for Plagiarism?
• What Are the Differences Between Plagiarism Copyright Infringement and Piracy?
• Who Was the First Person to Plagiarize?
• How Does the University of Phoenix Work to Combat Plagiarism?
• How Could Plagiarism Harm Your Academics or Career?
• Can PDF Be Checked for Plagiarism?
• How Does Moral Law Relate to Plagiarism?
• How Can Teachers Prevent Plagiarism?
• How Important Are Copyright Fair Use and Plagiarism in Intellectual Property?
• Does Plagiarism Violate Copyright?
• How Do Technology and the Internet Make Plagiarism Easier?
• What Plagiarism Software Do Universities Use?
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Taking over the ideas, methods, or written words of another, without acknowledgment and with the intention that they be taken as the work of the deceiver.

As the above quotation shows, plagiarism has been traditionally defined as the taking of words, images, processes, structure and design elements, ideas, etc. of others and presenting them as one’s own. It is often associated with phrases such as kidnapping of words, kidnapping of ideas, fraud, and literary theft. Plagiarism can manifest itself in a variety of ways and is not just confined to student papers or published articles or books. For example, consider a scientist who makes a presentation at a conference and discusses at length an idea or concept that had already been proposed by someone else yet not considered common knowledge. During his presentation, he fails to fully acknowledge the specific source of the idea and, consequently, misleads the audience into believing that he was the originator of that idea. This, too, may constitute an instance of plagiarism. The fact is that plagiarism manifests itself in a variety of situations and the following examples are just a small sample of the many ways in which it occurs and of the types of consequences that can follow as a result.

• A historian resigns from the Pulitzer board after allegations that she had appropriated text from other sources in one of her books.
• A writer for a newspaper who was found to have plagiarized material for some of his articles ended up resigning his position.  
• A biochemist resigns from a prestigious clinic after accusations that a book he wrote contained appropriated portions of text from a National Academy of Sciences report.
• A famous musician is found guilty of unconscious plagiarism by including elements of another musical group’s previously recorded song in one of his new songs which then becomes a hit. The musician is forced to pay compensation for the infraction.
• A college president is forced to resign after allegations that he failed to attribute the source of material that was part of a college convocation speech.
•  A U.S. Senator has his Master’s degree rescinded after findings of plagiarism in one of this academic papers; he withdraws from the Senate race.
• An education minister resigns her government position after a university rescinds her doctoral degree for plagiarism.
• A psychologist has his doctoral degree rescinded after the university finds that portions of his doctoral dissertation had been plagiarized.

In sum, plagiarism can be a very serious form of ethical misconduct. For this reason, the concept of plagiarism is universally addressed in all scholarly, artistic, and scientific disciplines. In the humanities and the sciences, for example, a plethora of writing guides for students and professionals exist to provide guidance to authors on discipline-specific procedures for acknowledging the contributions of others.

While instruction on proper attribution, a key concept in avoiding plagiarism, is almost always provided, coverage of this important topic often fails to go beyond the most common forms: plagiarism of ideas and plagiarism of text.

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Plagiarism FAQs: 10 Most Commonly Asked Questions on Plagiarism in Research Answered

Table of Contents

Plagiarism is a hot topic in academia as authors are expected to present authentic ideas and original papers. Unfortunately, now and again, articles are identified as plagiarized, leading to accusations, loss of integrity, and bad press. This is why you must know how to write your papers with minimal plagiarized content.

In reality, many people are unsure what plagiarism means or how to avoid it. To help you minimize plagiarism and keep originality, we've compiled the ten most frequently asked questions about plagiarism and research and offered practical answers to each.

Before we start, let us first understand what plagiarism means from a research perspective.

What is Plagiarism?

According to established academic publishers, plagiarism occurs when one author uses another author's work without permission, credit, or acknowledgment. Plagiarism takes different forms, from literal copying of text to paraphrasing another author's work.

If you want to learn more about plagiarism, we suggest you check out our comprehensive guide about plagiarism . It will help you gain an in-depth understanding of the topic.

Here are the most commonly asked questions on plagiarism.

Q1 - Why is plagiarism a problem in research?

In academic writing, plagiarism leads to false or misleading findings. Often when an author copies someone else's work, the learning process involved would not have been complete. Since they are concluding without thoroughly studying the topic or considering the premise, it leads to incorrect conclusions and the propagation of falsehoods.

Plagiarism is frowned upon in academic circles as it undermines academic ethics. By not citing sources or giving credit, you are not only ignoring contributions made by others but also blatantly stealing the recognition they deserve. It leads to a loss of credibility and integrity for the author, their research, and any affiliated institutions. Worse, plagiarizing authors could face legal action, jeopardizing their career prospects.

Q2 - How much plagiarism is allowed in a research paper?

The short answer is not much. The amount of plagiarism allowed in a research paper depends on different publishers. Publication giant Springer specifies that up to 15% of similarity is permitted. For a chapter in a book, this limit is about 5%, and in a thesis, less than 10% is accepted. The best practice is to check plagiarism before submitting it to publications. There are many free plagiarism checkers available online that you can use to detect plagiarism.

Q3 - What is the best way to prevent plagiarism and fraud in research?

According to a study , one in every 100,000 US scientists is involved in plagiarism and other malpractices. The same study also reveals that Biomedical search engine PubMed had to retract around 0.02% of submissions from the library due to misconduct.

Academic publishers recommend that to avoid plagiarism and other related malpractices, you should:

• Review and check plagiarism related guidelines set by the journal publisher or your institution before you start writing your content.
• Get in touch with the reviewers or the editors if you have any questions.
• Use footnotes or endnotes labeled explicitly as coming from a specific co-author
• Links and URLs to relevant sources used by a co-author must be added within the main body of your text.
• Use hyperlinks to display additional information about a topic written by someone else.

Use plagiarism detection tools and software to detect plagiarism and eliminate “copy and paste” content. They can help you detect text copied from other sources and paraphrased text that has been slightly altered to avoid detection of plagiarism.

There are many free plagiarism checkers online. Aside from those, some of the best tools to check plagiarism are:

• Turnitin's iThenticate
• ProWritingAid
• Plagiarism CheckerX (Free version is available)

Q4 - How can plagiarism be removed from thesis?

Firstly, it is vital to understand that academic writings and essays almost always involve using and discussing material written by others. It helps you develop your argument by explaining its foundation and prove its validity or relevance. Careful attribution and referencing ensure this text is not considered plagiarized content. When you quote or cite someone else's work in your own, it's a good idea to make this clear both in the footnotes and in the body of your text.

On top of that, you can use the Scispace Write tool , which helps you check plagiarism in your manuscript while giving you access to more than 40,000 journal templates to make it submission ready.

Q5 - Do peer reviewed journals do a plagiarism check?

Yes, peer-reviewed journals will definitely perform a plagiarism check to detect plagiarism. This is because the journal is looking to ensure the quality of the research being published within its pages.

If you are submitting your work to a peer-reviewed journal, ensure you've maintained originality in your content and included appropriate citations. Many journals have a plagiarism policy that instructs and guides authors to avoid plagiarising their work. You can find it online in the Instructions for Authors section on the journal's website.

An example of the plagiarism policy of Springer is illustrated below:

Q6 - How can you avoid unintentional plagiarism when revising your draft?

According to the Modern Language Association (MLA), about 60% of all students admit to having committed unintentional plagiarism in their academic careers. People often commit these missteps due to insufficient knowledge of citation and paraphrasing conventions.

Keep these points in mind to avoid unintentional plagiarisms:

• Every discipline has its writing style and citation norms, so familiarize yourself with content reuse best practices before you start writing your content.
• Get permission to use images as there are several kinds of rights associated with their usage in academic articles, presentations, or other assignments.
• In most disciplines, you are expected to use the style guide from either APA or MLA when citing and referencing sources. The rules for these two styles are different and must be followed precisely for each source.
• Check the ‘PhD by publication’ rules at your affiliated institution to determine whether you can reuse a PhD thesis.

Q7 - What happens if you get caught plagiarizing your dissertation?

Plagiarism is a serious offense. Getting caught could lead to expulsion from the program and even the university. You will also be barred from any future admission to that institution. You may also face criminal charges in some jurisdictions, depending on how severe your offense was and how many people were affected by it.

A few expected consequences of Plagiarism include:

• Damage to your professional and academic reputation
• Damage to the credibility of the affiliated institution
• Legal repercussions
• Monetary repercussions
• Plagiarised research affects society

Q8 - What must be done to avoid plagiarism when including direct quotes in research paper?

The first thing to do is ensure you're quoting a reliable source. If it comes from an unreliable source (such as an unverified Twitter handle), try not to use it in your paper. Next, make sure that each time you use a quote, you cite it accordingly. The three ways in which you can include direct quotes in your paper without plagiarism are:

• Direct quotation: Direct quotations can be used when the author's exact words are necessary to convey their meaning. Use phrases like "stated," "mentioned that," or "in the words of." To avoid plagiarism, always use quotation marks when quoting another author's words.
• Indirect quotation: An indirect quotation is when you use the text with minor grammatical changes. Such quotes do not require quotation marks.
• Paraphrasing: Paraphrasing involves rewriting the text completely using your own words.

Q9 - What are the three methods to provide in text citations in your research paper and avoid plagiarism?

There are three methods to provide in-text citations in your research paper:

• Footnotes: Footnotes provide additional information about a specific piece that appears in your body text. Footnotes should be placed at the bottom of the page. Each footnote should include the author's last name and the page number.
• Endnotes: Endnotes are similar footnotes but should be placed at the end of your document after the conclusion section (or after any appendices).
• Parenthetical citations: Parenthetical citations should be placed within parentheses next to the relevant sentence or paragraph (no punctuation before the parenthetical citation).

Q10 - How to take careful notes while conducting research to avoid the possibility of plagiarism?

When conducting research, it is essential to take careful notes for two reasons: you want to be able to remember what you read, and you don't want to plagiarize someone else's work accidentally.

If you find it difficult to remember what you've read, try taking notes immediately instead of waiting until the end of your research session. You can also take down all the keywords related to the topic so that they're easy for you to find later on.

Finally, make sure that when writing your final draft of the paper, everything has been cited correctly and included in an appropriate bibliography style (i.e., MLA or APA).

Plagiarism is a global problem that is rising along with the use of the internet and digital technology. But you can still protect your work by following some basic rules. We believe that the information in this blog post clarifies the topic of plagiarism and research.

If you think anything is missing or feel we could have answered an FAQ better, please feel free to leave a comment!

For more such informative resources, don't forget to check out the SciSpace Resources Page .

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Mimesis and Plagiarism

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International postgraduate students’ experiences of plagiarism education in the UK:

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Detect, Deter, and Disappear:

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• Utility Menu

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A publication of the harvard college writing program.

Harvard Guide to Using Sources 

• The Honor Code
• What Constitutes Plagiarism?

In academic writing, it is considered plagiarism to draw any idea or any language from someone else without adequately crediting that source in your paper. It doesn't matter whether the source is a published author, another student, a website without clear authorship, a website that sells academic papers, or any other person: Taking credit for anyone else's work is stealing, and it is unacceptable in all academic situations, whether you do it intentionally or by accident.

The ease with which you can find information of all kinds online means that you need to be extra vigilant about keeping track of where you are getting information and ideas and about giving proper credit to the authors of the sources you use. If you cut and paste from an electronic document into your notes and forget to clearly label the document in your notes, or if you draw information from a series of websites without taking careful notes, you may end up taking credit for ideas that aren't yours, whether you mean to or not.

It's important to remember that every website is a document with an author, and therefore every website must be cited properly in your paper. For example, while it may seem obvious to you that an idea drawn from Professor Steven Pinker's book The Language Instinct should only appear in your paper if you include a clear citation, it might be less clear that information you glean about language acquisition from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy website warrants a similar citation. Even though the authorship of this encyclopedia entry is less obvious than it might be if it were a print article (you need to scroll down the page to see the author's name, and if you don't do so you might mistakenly think an author isn't listed), you are still responsible for citing this material correctly. Similarly, if you consult a website that has no clear authorship, you are still responsible for citing the website as a source for your paper. The kind of source you use, or the absence of an author linked to that source, does not change the fact that you always need to cite your sources (see Evaluating Web Sources ).

Verbatim Plagiarism

If you copy language word for word from another source and use that language in your paper, you are plagiarizing verbatim . Even if you write down your own ideas in your own words and place them around text that you've drawn directly from a source, you must give credit to the author of the source material, either by placing the source material in quotation marks and providing a clear citation, or by paraphrasing the source material and providing a clear citation.

The passage below comes from Ellora Derenoncourt’s article, “Can You Move to Opportunity? Evidence from the Great Migration.”

Here is the article citation in APA style:

Derenoncourt, E. (2022). Can you move to opportunity? Evidence from the Great Migration. The American Economic Review , 112(2), 369–408. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20200002

Source material

Why did urban Black populations in the North increase so dramatically between 1940 and 1970? After a period of reduced mobility during the Great Depression, Black out-migration from the South resumed at an accelerated pace after 1940. Wartime jobs in the defense industry and in naval shipyards led to substantial Black migration to California and other Pacific states for the first time since the Migration began. Migration continued apace to midwestern cities in the 1950s and1960s, as the booming automobile industry attracted millions more Black southerners to the North, particularly to cities like Detroit or Cleveland. Of the six million Black migrants who left the South during the Great Migration, four million of them migrated between 1940 and 1970 alone.

Plagiarized version

While this student has written her own sentence introducing the topic, she has copied the italicized sentences directly from the source material. She has left out two sentences from Derenoncourt’s paragraph, but has reproduced the rest verbatim:

But things changed mid-century. After a period of reduced mobility during the Great Depression, Black out-migration from the South resumed at an accelerated pace after 1940. Wartime jobs in the defense industry and in naval shipyards led to substantial Black migration to California and other Pacific states for the first time since the Migration began. Migration continued apace to midwestern cities in the 1950s and1960s, as the booming automobile industry attracted millions more Black southerners to the North, particularly to cities like Detroit or Cleveland.

Acceptable version #1: Paraphrase with citation

In this version the student has paraphrased Derenoncourt’s passage, making it clear that these ideas come from a source by introducing the section with a clear signal phrase ("as Derenoncourt explains…") and citing the publication date, as APA style requires.

But things changed mid-century. In fact, as Derenoncourt (2022) explains, the wartime increase in jobs in both defense and naval shipyards marked the first time during the Great Migration that Black southerners went to California and other west coast states. After the war, the increase in jobs in the car industry led to Black southerners choosing cities in the midwest, including Detroit and Cleveland.

Acceptable version #2 : Direct quotation with citation or direct quotation and paraphrase with citation

If you quote directly from an author and cite the quoted material, you are giving credit to the author. But you should keep in mind that quoting long passages of text is only the best option if the particular language used by the author is important to your paper. Social scientists and STEM scholars rarely quote in their writing, paraphrasing their sources instead. If you are writing in the humanities, you should make sure that you only quote directly when you think it is important for your readers to see the original language.

In the example below, the student quotes part of the passage and paraphrases the rest.

But things changed mid-century. In fact, as Derenoncourt (2022) explains, “after a period of reduced mobility during the Great Depression, Black out-migration from the South resumed at an accelerated pace after 1940” (p. 379). Derenoncourt notes that after the war, the increase in jobs in the car industry led to Black southerners choosing cities in the midwest, including Detroit and Cleveland.

Mosaic Plagiarism

If you copy bits and pieces from a source (or several sources), changing a few words here and there without either adequately paraphrasing or quoting directly, the result is mosaic plagiarism . Even if you don't intend to copy the source, you may end up with this type of plagiarism as a result of careless note-taking and confusion over where your source's ideas end and your own ideas begin. You may think that you've paraphrased sufficiently or quoted relevant passages, but if you haven't taken careful notes along the way, or if you've cut and pasted from your sources, you can lose track of the boundaries between your own ideas and those of your sources. It's not enough to have good intentions and to cite some of the material you use. You are responsible for making clear distinctions between your ideas and the ideas of the scholars who have informed your work. If you keep track of the ideas that come from your sources and have a clear understanding of how your own ideas differ from those ideas, and you follow the correct citation style, you will avoid mosaic plagiarism.

Indeed, of the more than 3500 hours of instruction during medical school, an average of less than 60 hours are devoted to all of bioethics, health law and health economics combined . Most of the instruction is during the preclinical courses, leaving very little instructional time when students are experiencing bioethical or legal challenges during their hands-on, clinical training. More than 60 percent of the instructors in bioethics, health law, and health economics have not published since 1990 on the topic they are teaching.

--Persad, G.C., Elder, L., Sedig,L., Flores, L., & Emanuel, E. (2008). The current state of medical school education in bioethics, health law, and health economics. Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics 36 , 89-94.

Students can absorb the educational messages in medical dramas when they view them for entertainment. In fact, even though they were not created specifically for education, these programs can be seen as an entertainment-education tool [43, 44]. In entertainment-education shows, viewers are exposed to educational content in entertainment contexts, using visual language that is easy to understand and triggers emotional engagement [45]. The enhanced emotional engagement and cognitive development [5] and moral imagination make students more sensitive to training [22].

--Cambra-Badii, I., Moyano, E., Ortega, I., Josep-E Baños, & Sentí, M. (2021). TV medical dramas: Health sciences students’ viewing habits and potential for teaching issues related to bioethics and professionalism. BMC Medical Education, 21 , 1-11. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-021-02947-7

Paragraph #1.

All of the ideas in this paragraph after the first sentence are drawn directly from Persad. But because the student has placed the citation mid-paragraph, the final two sentences wrongly appear to be the student’s own idea:

In order to advocate for the use of medical television shows in the medical education system, it is also important to look at the current bioethical curriculum. In the more than 3500 hours of training that students undergo in medical school, only about 60 hours are focused on bioethics, health law, and health economics (Persad et al, 2008). It is also problematic that students receive this training before they actually have spent time treating patients in the clinical setting. Most of these hours are taught by instructors without current publications in the field.

Paragraph #2.

All of the italicized ideas in this paragraph are either paraphrased or taken verbatim from Cambra-Badii, et al., but the student does not cite the source at all. As a result, readers will assume that the student has come up with these ideas himself:

Students can absorb the educational messages in medical dramas when they view them for entertainment. It doesn’t matter if the shows were designed for medical students; they can still be a tool for education. In these hybrid entertainment-education shows, viewers are exposed to educational content that triggers an emotional reaction. By allowing for this emotional, cognitive, and moral engagement, the shows make students more sensitive to training . There may be further applications to this type of education: the role of entertainment as a way of encouraging students to consider ethical situations could be extended to other professions, including law or even education.

The student has come up with the final idea in the paragraph (that this type of ethical training could apply to other professions), but because nothing in the paragraph is cited, it reads as if it is part of a whole paragraph of his own ideas, rather than the point that he is building to after using the ideas from the article without crediting the authors.

Acceptable version

In the first paragraph, the student uses signal phrases in nearly every sentence to reference the authors (“According to Persad et al.,” “As the researchers argue,” “They also note”), which makes it clear throughout the paragraph that all of the paragraph’s information has been drawn from Persad et al. The student also uses a clear APA in-text citation to point the reader to the original article. In the second paragraph, the student paraphrases and cites the source’s ideas and creates a clear boundary behind those ideas and his own, which appear in the final paragraph.

In order to advocate for the use of medical television shows in the medical education system, it is also important to look at the current bioethical curriculum. According to Persad et al. (2008), only about one percent of teaching time throughout the four years of medical school is spent on ethics. As the researchers argue, this presents a problem because the students are being taught about ethical issues before they have a chance to experience those issues themselves. They also note that more than sixty percent of instructors teaching bioethics to medical students have no recent publications in the subject.

The research suggests that medical dramas may be a promising source for discussions of medical ethics. Cambra-Badii et al. (2021) explain that even when watched for entertainment, medical shows can help viewers engage emotionally with the characters and may prime them to be more receptive to training in medical ethics. There may be further applications to this type of education: the role of entertainment as a way of encouraging students to consider ethical situations could be extended to other professions, including law or even education.

Inadequate Paraphrase

When you paraphrase, your task is to distill the source's ideas in your own words. It's not enough to change a few words here and there and leave the rest; instead, you must completely restate the ideas in the passage in your own words. If your own language is too close to the original, then you are plagiarizing, even if you do provide a citation.

In order to make sure that you are using your own words, it's a good idea to put away the source material while you write your paraphrase of it. This way, you will force yourself to distill the point you think the author is making and articulate it in a new way. Once you have done this, you should look back at the original and make sure that you have represented the source’s ideas accurately and that you have not used the same words or sentence structure. If you do want to use some of the author's words for emphasis or clarity, you must put those words in quotation marks and provide a citation.

The passage below comes from Michael Sandel’s article, “The Case Against Perfection.” Here’s the article citation in MLA style:

Sandel, Michael. “The Case Against Perfection.” The Atlantic , April 2004, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/04/the-case-against-pe... .

Though there is much to be said for this argument, I do not think the main problem with enhancement and genetic engineering is that they undermine effort and erode human agency. The deeper danger is that they represent a kind of hyperagency—a Promethean aspiration to remake nature, including human nature, to serve our purposes and satisfy our desires. The problem is not the drift to mechanism but the drive to mastery. And what the drive to mastery misses and may even destroy is an appreciation of the gifted character of human powers and achievements.

The version below is an inadequate paraphrase because the student has only cut or replaced a few words: “I do not think the main problem” became “the main problem is not”; “deeper danger” became “bigger problem”; “aspiration” became “desire”; “the gifted character of human powers and achievements” became “the gifts that make our achievements possible.”

The main problem with enhancement and genetic engineering is not that they undermine effort and erode human agency. The bigger problem is that they represent a kind of hyperagency—a Promethean desire to remake nature, including human nature, to serve our purposes and satisfy our desires. The problem is not the drift to mechanism but the drive to mastery. And what the drive to mastery misses and may even destroy is an appreciation of the gifts that make our achievements possible (Sandel).

Acceptable version #1: Adequate paraphrase with citation

In this version, the student communicates Sandel’s ideas but does not borrow language from Sandel. Because the student uses Sandel’s name in the first sentence and has consulted an online version of the article without page numbers, there is no need for a parenthetical citation.

Michael Sandel disagrees with the argument that genetic engineering is a problem because it replaces the need for humans to work hard and make their own choices. Instead, he argues that we should be more concerned that the decision to use genetic enhancement is motivated by a desire to take control of nature and bend it to our will instead of appreciating its gifts.

Acceptable version #2: Direct quotation with citation

In this version, the student uses Sandel’s words in quotation marks and provides a clear MLA in-text citation. In cases where you are going to talk about the exact language that an author uses, it is acceptable to quote longer passages of text. If you are not going to discuss the exact language, you should paraphrase rather than quoting extensively.

The author argues that “the main problem with enhancement and genetic engineering is not that they undermine effort and erode human agency,” but, rather that “they represent a kind of hyperagency—a Promethean desire to remake nature, including human nature, to serve our purposes and satisfy our desires. The problem is not the drift to mechanism but the drive to mastery. And what the drive to mastery misses and may even destroy is an appreciation of the gifts that make our achievements possible” (Sandel).

Uncited Paraphrase

When you use your own language to describe someone else's idea, that idea still belongs to the author of the original material. Therefore, it's not enough to paraphrase the source material responsibly; you also need to cite the source, even if you have changed the wording significantly. As with quoting, when you paraphrase you are offering your reader a glimpse of someone else's work on your chosen topic, and you should also provide enough information for your reader to trace that work back to its original form. The rule of thumb here is simple: Whenever you use ideas that you did not think up yourself, you need to give credit to the source in which you found them, whether you quote directly from that material or provide a responsible paraphrase.

The passage below comes from C. Thi Nguyen’s article, “Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles.”

Here’s the citation for the article, in APA style:

Nguyen, C. (2020). Echo chambers and epistemic bubbles. Episteme, 17 (2), 141-161. doi:10.1017/epi.2018.32

Epistemic bubbles can easily form accidentally. But the most plausible explanation for the particular features of echo chambers is something more malicious. Echo chambers are excellent tools to maintain, reinforce, and expand power through epistemic control. Thus, it is likely (though not necessary) that echo chambers are set up intentionally, or at least maintained, for this functionality (Nguyen, 2020).

The student who wrote the paraphrase below has drawn these ideas directly from Nguyen’s article but has not credited the author. Although she paraphrased adequately, she is still responsible for citing Nguyen as the source of this information.

Echo chambers and epistemic bubbles have different origins. While epistemic bubbles can be created organically, it’s more likely that echo chambers will be formed by those who wish to keep or even grow their control over the information that people hear and understand.

In this version, the student eliminates any possible ambiguity about the source of the ideas in the paragraph. By using a signal phrase to name the author whenever the source of the ideas could be unclear, the student clearly attributes these ideas to Nguyen.

According to Nguyen (2020), echo chambers and epistemic bubbles have different origins. Nguyen argues that while epistemic bubbles can be created organically, it’s more likely that echo chambers will be formed by those who wish to keep or even grow their control over the information that people hear and understand.

Uncited Quotation

When you put source material in quotation marks in your essay, you are telling your reader that you have drawn that material from somewhere else. But it's not enough to indicate that the material in quotation marks is not the product of your own thinking or experimentation: You must also credit the author of that material and provide a trail for your reader to follow back to the original document. This way, your reader will know who did the original work and will also be able to go back and consult that work if they are interested in learning more about the topic. Citations should always go directly after quotations.

The passage below comes from Deirdre Mask’s nonfiction book, The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power.

Here is the MLA citation for the book:

Mask, Deirdre. The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2021.

In New York, even addresses are for sale. The city allows a developer, for the bargain price of $11,000 (as of 2019), to apply to change the street address to something more attractive.

It’s not enough for the student to indicate that these words come from a source; the source must be cited:

After all, “in New York, even addresses are for sale. The city allows a developer, for the bargain price of $11,000 (as of 2019), to apply to change the street address to something more attractive.”

Here, the student has cited the source of the quotation using an MLA in-text citation:

After all, “in New York, even addresses are for sale. The city allows a developer, for the bargain price of $11,000 (as of 2019), to apply to change the street address to something more attractive” (Mask 229).

Using Material from Another Student's Work

In some courses you will be allowed or encouraged to form study groups, to work together in class generating ideas, or to collaborate on your thinking in other ways. Even in those cases, it's imperative that you understand whether all of your writing must be done independently, or whether group authorship is permitted. Most often, even in courses that allow some collaborative discussion, the writing or calculations that you do must be your own. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't collect feedback on your writing from a classmate or a writing tutor; rather, it means that the argument you make (and the ideas you rely on to make it) should either be your own or you should give credit to the source of those ideas.

So what does this mean for the ideas that emerge from class discussion or peer review exercises? Unlike the ideas that your professor offers in lecture (you should always cite these), ideas that come up in the course of class discussion or peer review are collaborative, and often not just the product of one individual's thinking. If, however, you see a clear moment in discussion when a particular student comes up with an idea, you should cite that student. In any case, when your work is informed by class discussions, it's courteous and collegial to include a discursive footnote in your paper that lets your readers know about that discussion. So, for example, if you were writing a paper about the narrator in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried and you came up with your idea during a discussion in class, you might place a footnote in your paper that states the following: "I am indebted to the members of my Expos 20 section for sparking my thoughts about the role of the narrator as Greek Chorus in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried ."

It is important to note that collaboration policies can vary by course, even within the same department, and you are responsible for familiarizing yourself with each course's expectation about collaboration. Collaboration policies are often stated in the syllabus, but if you are not sure whether it is appropriate to collaborate on work for any course, you should always consult your instructor.

• The Exception: Common Knowledge
• Other Scenarios to Avoid
• Why Does it Matter if You Plagiarize?
• How to Avoid Plagiarism
• Harvard University Plagiarism Policy

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Plagiarism, Cheating and Research Integrity: Case Studies from a Masters Program in Peru

Andres m. carnero.

1 School of Public Health and Administration, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru

Percy Mayta-Tristan

2 School of Medicine, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas, Lima, Peru

Kelika A. Konda

3 David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Edward Mezones-Holguin

Antonio bernabe-ortiz.

4 CRONICAS, Center of Excellence in Chronic Diseases, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru

German F. Alvarado

Carlos canelo-aybar, jorge l. maguiña.

5 Department of Parasitology, U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 6 (NAMRU-6), Lima, Peru

Eddy R. Segura

Antonio m. quispe.

6 Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

Edward S. Smith

7 School of Medicine, Universidad San Martin de Porres, Lima, Peru

Angela M. Bayer

Andres g. lescano.

Plagiarism is a serious, yet widespread type of research misconduct, and is often neglected in developing countries. Despite its far-reaching implications, plagiarism is poorly acknowledged and discussed in the academic setting, and insufficient evidence exists in Latin America and developing countries to inform the development of preventive strategies. In this context, we present a longitudinal case study of seven instances of plagiarism and cheating arising in four consecutive classes (2011–2014) of an Epidemiology Masters program in Lima, Peru, and describes the implementation and outcomes of a multifaceted, “zero-tolerance” policy aimed at introducing research integrity. Two cases involved cheating in graded assignments, and five cases correspond to plagiarism in the thesis protocol. Cases revealed poor awareness of high tolerance to plagiarism, poor academic performance, and widespread writing deficiencies, compensated with patchwriting and copy-pasting. Depending on the events’ severity, penalties included course failure (6/7) and separation from the program (3/7). Students at fault did not engage in further plagiarism. Between 2011 and 2013, the Masters program sequentially introduced a preventive policy consisting of: (i) intensified research integrity and scientific writing education, (ii) a stepwise, cumulative writing process; (iii) honor codes; (iv) active search for plagiarism in all academic products; and (v) a “zero-tolerance” policy in response to documented cases. No cases were detected in 2014. In conclusion, plagiarism seems to be widespread in resource-limited settings and a greater response with educational and zero-tolerance components is needed to prevent it.

Science aims at expanding knowledge through systematic generation and testing of hypotheses, which can then be used for the benefit of humanity. To achieve this goal, science is guided by several values, including objectivity, honesty and unselfishness ( Allchin 1999 ; Committee on Science Engineering and Public Policy et al. 2009 ). Disregard to these values can result in research misconduct ( Steneck 2006 ; Committee on Science Engineering and Public Policy et al. 2009 ), which distorts the scientific record, wastes resources, and undermines the trust of society in science ( Steneck 2006 ). Plagiarism, the misappropriation of other’s intellectual contribution, is a serious form of research misconduct, and probably one of the most frequently reported type of research misconduct ( Smith 2000 ). Despite the challenges in ascertaining the true frequency of plagiarism, recent estimates (around 2 %) suggest that it is much more common than previously thought ( Pupovac and Fanelli 2015 ). However, this high frequency compared to other forms of research misconduct may partially result from enhanced detection by electronic methods.

Plagiarism can occur at any point in the career of a researcher, but it is more frequently reported in the early stages ( Martinson et al. 2005 ), and relatively few studies have explored its origins during undergraduate and early post-graduate research ( Swazey et al. 1993 ; Wadja-Johnston et al. 2001 ; Krstic 2015 ). Early training stages may constitute a critical period to prevent plagiarism, when students begin to actively engage in research. If uncorrected, plagiarism and cheating may continue throughout the researcher’s career, and can potentially lead to other misconduct ( Lovett-Hopper et al. 2007 ; Park 2003 ). During training, plagiarism can become part of a broader set of dishonest behaviors aimed at obtaining undeserved academic advantage (such as copying in an exam, taking credit for another’s work, and prohibited collaboration between students), which are collectively termed “cheating” ( Park 2003 ).

Plagiarism is a global problem, yet evidence of its occurrence comes almost exclusively from developed countries ( Ana et al. 2013 ). Studies exploring plagiarism in developing countries are critically needed ( Ana et al. 2013 ), given that cultural and economic factors may affect the perception of and engagement in plagiarism ( Davis 2003 ; Martin 2012 ). In developing countries, several unique factors may enable plagiarism such as: (i) lack of training in the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) ( Rodriguez and Lolas 2011 ; Davis 2003 ; Vasconcelos et al. 2009 ; Cameron et al. 2012 ); (ii) poor development of writing skills ( Heitman and Litewka 2011 ; Vasconcelos et al. 2009 ; Cameron et al. 2012 ); (iii) tolerance to misconduct during education and professional activities ( Heitman and Litewka 2011 ; Vasconcelos et al. 2009 ); (iv) lack of institutional policies and oversight of academic centers and journals ( Rodriguez and Lolas 2011 ; Heitman and Litewka 2011 ; Vasconcelos et al. 2009 ); (v) differing perceptions of intellectual property and misconduct ( Heitman and Litewka 2011 ; Davis 2003 ; Cameron et al. 2012 ); (vi) the pervasive effect of corruption ( Heitman and Litewka 2011 ); and (vii) cultural differences in values ( Rodriguez and Lolas 2011 ; Heitman and Litewka 2011 ; Davis 2003 ; Vasconcelos et al. 2009 ; Cameron et al. 2012 ). Discussing plagiarism in Latin America is an important issue, given the dramatic growth of research activities in the region in the last two decades ( Van Noorden 2014 ; Catanzaro et al. 2014 ). In particular, sporadic reports have highlighted the occurrence of plagiarism in research conducted in Latin America ( Vasconcelos et al. 2009 ; Alfaro-Tolosa et al. 2013 ), and the reaction of scientific journals ( Alfaro-Tolosa et al. 2013 ; Almeida et al. 2015 ). In addition, Latin American countries share many cultural features, arising from their common colonial history, that may affect how plagiarism and cheating are perceived ( Martin 2012 ; Salter and Guffey 2001 ), including collectivism, high uncertainty avoidance, high power distance, high indulgence, and a short-term orientation ( Hofstede 2011 ). Finally, the fact that Latin American countries share a common language (mainly Spanish, but also Portuguese, which are closely related) and culture may facilitate the development of effective control strategies with the potential to reach >10 % of the world’s population. Despite its importance, plagiarism has not been systematically studied in Latin America ( Vasconcelos et al. 2009 ; Alfaro-Tolosa et al. 2013 ), and little evidence exists on its frequency, determinants, and consequences in the Latin American setting. In particular, there is a lack of evidence about the implementation of effective, affordable, and context-specific interventions targeted at preventing plagiarism and promoting research and academic integrity among research students in Latin America ( Vasconcelos et al. 2009 ).

In this article, we present a case study of seven instances of plagiarism and cheating detected between 2011 and 2014 in our Masters program in Epidemiologic Research in Lima, Peru, that receives students from a broad range of countries in Latin America. We also describe the implementation and outcomes of a feasible, low-cost, “zero tolerance” policy tailored to promote research integrity among postgraduate research students in Latin America.

The Program

The Masters in Epidemiologic Research of Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia is a postgraduate program offered annually since 2007 in Peru. The program aims at training epidemiologists capable of designing and executing high-quality research and publishing in top-tier peer-reviewed international journals. It was created jointly by Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH), the leading university in biomedical research in Peru ( SCImago Research Group 2015 ), and the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 6 (NAMRU-6), and was created with funding from the Fogarty International Center (grant 2D43 TW007393). The courses are structured in four 10-week terms, and an overall coursework of 10 months. It is coordinated and taught almost entirely by young scientists with international graduate training, many of them doctorates from U.S. and European universities. The core coursework includes three series of courses taught in each of the four terms of the program, progressively advancing into more complex topics: Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Methods. Additional compulsory courses address complementary research topics: Outbreak investigation (Term 1), Epidemiologic surveillance (Term 2), Validation of instruments (Term 2), Health situation analysis (Term 3), Qualitative research (Term 3), Program evaluation (Term 4), and Writing research proposals (Term 4). Topics on career-advancement are discussed as part of the Research Methods I-IV courses. Since 2013, the program is offered by the UPCH School of Public Health and Administration, whereas past editions were offered by the School of Medicine (2007–2009) and the School of Postgraduate Studies (2010–2012). Academic and research misconduct are critically important issues, and lectures addressing RCR, research ethics, and scientific writing have been part of the program since its inception. Students also complete the CITI research ethics course early in the program ( Braunschweiger and Goodman 2007 ; Litewka et al. 2008 ). Contents on research integrity have evolved in time, expanding the discussion of plagiarism, responsible authorship, and adequate referencing as needed ( Table 1 ). Each class has 20–30 students, usually junior researchers with a biomedical background from local research groups, governmental agencies and clinical/medical centers. Since 2011, the program has received an increasing number of international students from countries in South and Central America and the Caribbean.

Summary of RCR and scientific writing contents in the Masters in Epidemiologic Research Program curriculum (2011–2013), Lima, Peru

CITI Collaborative institutional training initiative ( www.citiprogram.org ), IRB institutional review board

Case Studies

We present here all seven cases of plagiarism and cheating discovered between the fourth (2011) and seventh (2014) classes of the Masters program, although other cases probably remained undetected because of limited surveillance, particularly before 2011. The information presented is based on the experiences of faculty directly handling the cases. All conversations with the students at fault took place in private settings, and class discussions about the events preserved their anonymity. All cases are described as male here to further support anonymity. Figure 1 summarizes key information of the cases and the response measures implemented by our program.

Timeline of cases of academic misconduct in the Masters in Epidemiologic Research Program (2011–2013), Lima, Peru

Cheating Case 1: Epidemiology I Course, April 2011

During the first term Epidemiology course, students were asked to complete a brief individual take-home assignment consisting of short-answer questions, and e-mail their responses to the teaching assistant (TA). Explicit instructions regarding the individual nature of the assignment were given and no discussion was allowed between students. One hour before the deadline, the TA received an e-mail with a student’s homework attached, which had been shared with the rest of the class:

Hi guys! Continuing with the love chain!!!! Hahahaha. I’m sending Epi’s exercise 2, for those of you that are on a tight schedule … please let me know if you find anything wrong!:) ….

The student’s behavior violated the standards of conduct by sharing individual work and requesting review of an individual assignment by other students. The event was immediately communicated to the course and program coordinators, and was discussed with the class 3 h later, preserving the anonymity of the student involved in the case. During the discussion, the class tried to minimize the importance of the event, and faculty required substantial effort to explain that the incident constituted severe academic misconduct and would not be tolerated. Coordinators evaluated potential sanctions to both the student who shared the assignment and the whole class, given that no student reported the incident. Finally, the coordinators decided jointly to fail the student on the assignment, and initiate disciplinary probation for the rest of the academic year. Penalty to the class was waived, given the short time students had to report the event (3 h). Additional sessions to discuss plagiarism and research integrity were added to the curricula. Given that the incident occurred early in the academic year, no information exists regarding the student’s academic performance prior to the incident. The student completed all the required coursework that year under close supervision and intensive counseling, maintaining a low academic performance (ranked 18 of 22), without any evidence of further misconduct.

Plagiarism Case 1: Research Methods I Course, May 2011

A student’s final assignment (first draft of the thesis proposal) exhibited highly heterogeneous writing, with clear and well-written sections interspersed with less-developed sections and poorly presented arguments. In addition, some of the cited material was unrelated to the sources quoted, and the text included uncommon terminology (e.g. general practitioners were referred as “generalist physicians”). The coordinator searched the suspiciously-written sections in Google ® , as described by Rojas-Revoredo et al. (2007) . Several paragraphs were found to be unacknowledged verbatim fragments of published articles. The next day, the course and program coordinator met at the student’s workplace to discuss the incident with the student in private. After initial denial, the student finally accepted committing plagiarism, and was failed in the course and separated from the program for the rest of the year. The university authorities were informed and a misconduct report was filed in the student’s permanent academic record. In addition, the student was warned that consideration of future readmission was conditional on preparing an RCR guide for future students. The incident was discussed with the class at the beginning of the second term and substantial knowledge gaps and ambivalence towards plagiarism were noted. Plagiarism was thoroughly discussed, and five writing workshops were added to each term, at the class’ request. The student contacted the program coordinator in 2012 and was readmitted to the program after completing the required material. Prior to the event, the student had poor performance (ranked 29 of 30). After readmission, the student completed all the required courses under close monitoring and intensive counselling, exhibiting average performance (ranked 16 of 30), and without evidence of any further incidents. After this incident, a paragraph describing plagiarism and its potential sanctions (including course failure) was added to the syllabi of all courses.

Plagiarism Cases 2 and 3: Research Methods II Course, July 2011

The final assignment (final draft of the thesis proposal) of two separate students presented evidence highly suggestive of plagiarism. One case exhibited partial use of quotation marks, while the other presented evidence of self-plagiarism. After searching for the suspicious fragments in the web, plagiarism and self-plagiarism were confirmed. Upon confrontation, both students initially denied the events, but eventually one accepted the misconduct, while the student who committed self-plagiarism did not accept having engaged in any misbehavior. Both students were failed in the course, separated from the program for the rest of the year, and the event was notified to the School of Postgraduate Studies. Two weeks later, the student who did not admit fault contacted the university authorities to start legal action. The authorities from the School of Postgraduate Studies discussed the case in depth with the program coordinator and endorsed program’s decision. Finally, the student desisted from taking legal action, and contacted the program in early 2013 to inquire about readmission, but did not complete the re-admission process. Both students had low academic performance in the program (ranked 26 out of 27). The other student was readmitted in 2012 but exhibited poor performance (ranked 26 of 26), and has not completed all the required coursework yet. The event was discussed with the class, and some students argued that throughout their education they repeatedly witnessed and resorted to similar behavior without any indication that it constituted a dishonest practice. One student even mentioned that a mentor in medical residency once said: “all has been written already, (publishing) only requires putting the pieces together”, which seemed to be an invitation to plagiarize. Starting the following year, all students were required to sign an integrity agreement accepting to avoid plagiarism, disclose any misconduct cases witnessed (whistle-blowing) and acknowledge that failure to do so would make them accomplices. The document also specified the potential sanctions for such behaviors. Finally, content on RCR, responsible authorship, plagiarism and adequate referencing was thoroughly enhanced in the first term Research Methods course.

Cheating Case 2: Biostatistics I Course, April 2012

On April 2012, during an individual quiz, two students turned in identical solutions, even with the same variable names and Stata ® code. The next day, the TA and course coordinator interviewed both students, one of which admitted having requested repeatedly the exam to the other student, whom eventually shared the answers. One day later, the program coordinator received an e-mail from the student apologizing for the misconduct, accepting all the responsibility for the incident, relieving the other student from any liability, and resigning from the program. The e-mail was promptly answered with the indication that resignation from the program was not possible, as the student was going to be expelled from the program. The School of Postgraduate Studies was then notified about this event, and the student was expelled from the program. After extensive discussion among the coordinators, the student that shared the exam was failed in the exam with a grade of zero, and was allowed to continue in the program at the end of the term. As the program had just started, no evidence is available on the academic performance of the two students prior to this event. The student that shared the exam eventually failed the Research Methods IV course, nearly failing the program due to low academic performance (ranked 19 of 20). No evidence exists of involvement in further events. An 8-week Research Integrity course was added to the first term’s curriculum the following year, addressing extensively research integrity, RCR, plagiarism and appropriate referencing, among other topics.

Plagiarism Case 4: Research Methods III Course, October 2013

The introduction section of a thesis proposal contained passages highly suggestive of plagiarism. After searching for these sections in Google ® , literal plagiarism from research articles and the web was confirmed. Upon questioning by the course and program coordinator, the student admitted committing plagiarism, albeit without realizing that it constituted misconduct. The student was failed in the course, and the incident was discussed anonymously with the rest of the class, reiterating the severity of plagiarism and how to avoid it. Also, students were warned that any further plagiarism cases would be expelled from the program. Until the event occurred, the student had very low academic performance (ranked 26 of 26). The student completed the rest of the program’s coursework under close monitoring and intensive counseling, with low performance (ranked 25 of 25), and was not involved in other misconduct incidents.

Plagiarism Case 5: Research Methods III Course, October 2013

One week after the class discussion of the previous case of plagiarism, the final assignment of a student (full thesis proposal) had several sections strongly suggestive of literal plagiarism. A Google ® search evidenced that these paragraphs were identical to the content of several websites, including Wikipedia ® . The program and course coordinator discussed the incident with the student, and after a long explanation of the definition of plagiarism, the student recognized having plagiarized inadvertently. Given the thorough discussion of plagiarism in the Research Integrity course, writing workshops, and the previous plagiarism case a week before, the student was failed in the course and separated from the program for the rest of the year. The event was reported to the university, and a misconduct report was filed in the student’s permanent academic record. When given the opportunity to address the class, the student described the case, accepted all responsibility for having plagiarized, and warned the class about the severity and importance of preventing plagiarism. The class recognized the severity of the event, but unanimously asked for a more lenient sanction, arguing that the student may have missed prior warnings. Despite accepting misconduct, the student argued the sanction was too harsh and presented a notarized letter requesting a formal decision. The student’s work supervisors contacted the program coordinator in coordination with the student, inquiring about the incident and the program’s response, and full details were provided. The university confirmed the sanction imposed by the program and the student recently contacted the program to try to finish the coursework. Prior to the event, the student had a low performance (ranked 24 of 26).

Most of the cases of plagiarism and cheating detected involved students with a record of suboptimal academic performance in the program. Indeed, 20 % of students in the lowest quartile of their class were involved in plagiarism and cheating compared to only 2 % of students in higher grade quartiles (risk ratio = 12.2; 95 % confidence interval: 2.5–60.2, Fisher’s exact p value = 0.008). Also, none of the four cases described above who actually completed their coursework later had successfully defended their dissertations. No cases were detected in the 2014 class, which suggests a very strong impact of the policy implemented, despite the fact that the reduction in the incidence of plagiarism and cheating is only marginally significant (Fisher’s exact p value = 0.187).

Discussion In three consecutive annual classes of our Epidemiology Masters in Peru, we detected five cases of plagiarism and two cases of cheating, including literal plagiarism, self-plagiarism, inappropriate sharing of work, and appropriation of other students’ work. We believe that these are not isolated events, but rather the manifestation of a widespread and frequent misconduct that has probably gone undetected beyond our program. This is consistent with the high rates of cheating and plagiarism reported worldwide among high school and undergraduate students ( McCabe 2005 ; McCabe et al. 2001 ), including students of medical and allied health sciences ( Rennie and Crosby 2001 ; Taradi et al. 2010 ). It is likely that plagiarism and cheating may originate in high school and undergraduate education, and continue to graduate education. Thus, the widespread occurrence of plagiarism at all levels of education suggests that prevention, detection and response to plagiarism should hold a much higher priority in academic institutions in contexts like Peru and Latin America.

Students committing plagiarism and cheating shared several predisposing characteristics, including poor awareness of research integrity and plagiarism, widespread deficiencies in writing and referencing skills, poor academic performance, and a high tolerance to plagiarism. However, a significant portion of the rest of the class also shared a limited awareness of research integrity and tolerance to plagiarism, and many students had difficulty in grasping research integrity concepts. This is consistent with previous reports evidencing insufficient knowledge of RCR and plagiarism in graduate students in the U.S., particularly among international graduates ( Heitman et al. 2007 ; Ryan et al. 2009 ). These knowledge gaps may be particularly severe in Latin America, where shortcomings in higher education neglect the discussion of plagiarism and academic and research integrity. In addition, lack of development of analytic and writing skills may lead some students to use plagiarism as a maladaptive, compensatory writing strategy. The situation is further complicated by a widespread tolerance to plagiarism throughout the education system in Latin America ( Vasconcelos et al. 2009 ; Heitman and Litewka 2011 ). In Peru, for example, the National Assembly of Rectors reduced the sanction of two undergraduate law students guilty of literal plagiarism from a semester suspension to a simple reprimand, arguing that “copying without indicating the source is a natural behavior in students” ( Tantaleán Odar 2014 ), and that “teaching consists fundamentally in a constant repetition of external ideas, often omitting the sources for brevity” ( Tantaleán Odar 2014 ). Furthermore, several authors have reported that a large proportion of undergraduate research and approved theses contain plagiarism ( Saldana-Gastulo et al. 2010 ; Huamani et al. 2008 ). The synergic effect of limited awareness of plagiarism, RCR, and scientific writing, and the widespread tolerance to plagiarism highlights the need to couple intensive anti-plagiarism education with stronger response policies.

Any attempt to expunge plagiarism is unlikely to succeed without institutional commitment with scientific integrity ( Whitley and Keith-Spiegel 2001 ; Park 2004 ). Institutions should have a transparent, comprehensive and uniformly applied policy that is embedded in a context of promotion of academic integrity. UPCH has an established institutional policy against academic misconduct, which is supplemented by the regulations of each school ( Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia 2009 ). However, such a framework focuses almost exclusively on punitive aspects, neglecting preventive and detection strategies. Additionally, regulations have not been widely disseminated and/or discussed across the university’s academic programs, and their application seems inconsistent across programs. Nevertheless, our findings are probably not an isolated case, as lack of comprehensive policies against and widespread tolerance to plagiarism appear to be nearly universal in educational institutions in countries such as Peru. Thus, the institutions’ commitment and proactivity to address plagiarism is critical for the implementation of any effective and sustainable intervention against cases of plagiarism in the future. As a program, we are disappointed to see our students falling due to misconduct, but are not embarrassed to admit we had these issues. We believe many other programs face the same challenges and should come forward to admit it openly and therefore create greater awareness and response.

In this complex scenario, we adopted a “zero tolerance” policy against plagiarism ( Titus et al. 2008 ), in which we actively searched for potential research misconduct and all suspected cases are reported, investigated and sanctioned as dictated by the severity of the case. Although there is no current consensus worldwide on the best way to respond to plagiarism findings, we believe that a zero tolerance approach is the most acceptable alternative, as it results in a clear, strong message that plagiarism and other forms of research misconduct are wrong and can never be justified. In low-resource settings, resource constraints and dependence on external funding may discourage investigating apparently “mild” cases to avoid the associated costs and potential damages in reputation. However, the long term adverse consequences of tolerating plagiarism and therefore graduating student with poor RCR knowledge, outweigh any of these short term apparent benefits. None of the students who committed/attempted plagiarism were known to engage in further events during the program and no additional misconduct events have been detected in the 2014 class.

Our “zero tolerance” policy was actively complemented by intensive education on research integrity and scientific writing. Also, policies were reinforced through discussion sessions, written statements describing the policy in all course syllabi, and a modified honor code in the form of a signed agreement to maintain research and academic integrity and report any observed cases. Honor codes constitute a simple, low-cost strategy that has been shown to prevent academic misconduct ( McCabe et al. 2001 ). However, our experience collaborating with several Latin American educational institutions, has led us to believe that honor codes are not frequently used in Latin America. Furthermore, we feel that although many Latin American educational institutions may have codes of conduct, these are probably not discussed with students, faculty and researchers. We feel that signing a short but very clear and explicit honor code may be a more effective alternative for preventing misconduct by directly engaging students and all the academic and scientific community.

Education in the RCR is a critical pillar for maintaining research integrity and preventing plagiarism ( Steneck and Bulger 2007 ; Kalichman 2007 ), and comprised the medullar aspect of our policy. Seminars on plagiarism and scientific writing were upgraded into an obligatory course on research integrity. Short online research integrity courses were used as additional activities, including both the required CITI basic RCR course for biomedical researchers ( Braunschweiger and Goodman 2007 ; Litewka et al. 2008 ), as well as the optional, free, online RCR course recently created by UPCH and NAMRU-6 ( http://www.cri.andeanquipu.org/index.php/es/ ). The definition, forms, implications and case studies of plagiarism were thoroughly discussed, and practical advice was given on preventing plagiarism ( Roig 2009 ; Fischer and Zigmond 2011 ). Frequent maladaptive forms of writing, such as “patchwriting”, in which original and borrowed text are intermixed ( Cameron et al. 2012 ), and “copy/paste” were thoroughly discussed, emphasizing their intimate relation to plagiarism. Students were advised to express ideas taken from external sources in their own words, always linking each idea to its original source, and never to copy and paste. Other educative interventions implemented included: (i) breaking down extensive written assignments into multiple, smaller assignments, to allow the incremental development of writing skills ( Fischer and Zigmond 2011 ); (ii) provision of templates, so that students have a clear idea of what is expected for each assignment ( Fischer and Zigmond 2011 ); (iii) review of progress in an increased number of writing workshops, to provide detailed and timely guidance, allow early detection and correction of maladaptive writing strategies ( Fischer and Zigmond 2011 ); and, (iv) requirement of more student-advisor meetings, in order to increase the oversight of the students’ work, and promote mentoring, an important strategy for maintaining research integrity ( Anderson et al. 2007 ).

As a complement to educative interventions, we now screen academic products for plagiarism ( Barret et al. 2003 ; McKeever 2006 ) using widely-available search engines (e.g. Google ® ) ( McKeever 2006 ). Searching actively for plagiarism allowed close monitoring the policy’s efficacy, and early identification and guidance of students with inadequate referencing skills ( Barret et al. 2003 ; McKeever 2006 ). This measure closely parallels the routine screening of submissions that has been increasingly implemented by scientific journals ( Butler 2010 ). In Peru, NAMRU-6 requires that the final version of all articles reporting research conducted at the institution is checked for plagiarism before being submitted using iThenticate ® (Andres G. Lescano personal communication, April 2015). In our program, plagiarism is evaluated on a case-by-case basis, after investigation and discussion among all coordinators and the faculty involved in the case. Penalties were also defined individually, following the program and university’s policy, and were complemented with rehabilitative measures ( Whitley and Keith-Spiegel 2001 ), such as intensive counseling by an experienced faculty and remedial educative activities.

The case study approach we adopted does not allow a formal evaluation of the efficacy of our program’s policy against plagiarism and cheating, but it may expand the extant literature in Latin America. Our experience delivered several important learning points. First, plagiarism seems to be widespread, likely involving all stages of the educative system. Second, it is possible to implement a “zero tolerance” plagiarism prevention policy with a strong educational component in postgraduate research programs. We implemented a promising, feasible, low-cost policy tailored for postgraduate research students in Latin America, with the aim to offer educators and researchers practical alternatives to prevent and address plagiarism that they could continue to evaluate in their practice. Third, key features associated with plagiarism in Latin America that should be considered when discussing plagiarism in the classroom include the unawareness of plagiarism and its implications, the pervasiveness of poorly-developed writing skills, and the extensive use of “patchwriting” and “copy/paste”. Fourth, students with low academic performance may be at higher risk of committing plagiarism, and implement personalized tutoring and close surveillance to prevent them from plagiarizing. Given that our experience pertains a taught Masters program that receives students from several Latin American countries, we believe that our findings are applicable to postgraduate research students in Latin America. However, we emphasize that our findings may also be useful for educators and postgraduate research programs in other resource-limited, non-English speaking settings after critical assessment and a context-sensitive adaptation. Finally, it is urgent that educative institutions at all levels recognize the frequent occurrence of academic and research misconduct and integrity as an active, institutional duty. Furthermore, as the methods for engaging in dishonesty have expanded in the Internet era, preventive approaches coupled with zero tolerance for plagiarism and cheating will have a major role for controlling academic and research misconduct, even in low resource settings ( Grieger 2007 ).

Plagiarism and cheating appear to be a frequent problem in research training programs in resource-limited settings, such as Peru. These instances of misconduct should be addressed at institutional and programmatic levels through policies that prioritize preventive strategies, instead of purely punitive actions. Educational activities and mentoring should be complemented with strict, active detection and zero tolerance to misconduct.

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the training Grant 2D43 TW007393-06 awarded to AGL by the Fogarty International Center of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Copyright Statement One author of this manuscript is an employee of the U.S. Government. This work was prepared as part of his duties. Title 17 U.S.C. § 105 provides that ‘Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government.’ Title 17 U.S.C. § 101 defines a U.S. Government work as a work prepared by a military service member or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties. The Corresponding Author has the right to grant on behalf of all authors and does grant on behalf of all authors, a worldwide license to the Publishers and its licensees in perpetuity, in all forms, formats and media (whether known now or created in the future), to (i) publish, reproduce, distribute, display and store the Contribution, (ii) translate the Contribution into other languages, create adaptations, reprints, include within collections and create summaries, extracts and/or, abstracts of the Contribution, (iii) create any other derivative work(s) based on the Contribution, (iv) to exploit all subsidiary rights in the Contribution, (v) the inclusion of electronic links from the Contribution to third party material wherever it may be located; and, (vi) license any third party to do any or all of the above.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Conflict of interest All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf and declare: all authors had financial support from the NIH Fogarty International Center for the submitted work; all authors had paid teaching positions at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in the previous 3 years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Disclaimer The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense, nor the U.S. Government.

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More From Forbes

Harvard honesty researcher accused of plagiarism.

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Another day, another academic researcher is being accused of dishonesty. In this case, it is Francesca Gino, recently the Tandon Family professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. The particular kind of dishonesty in question is plagiarism.

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Two things about this story make it especially noteworthy. The first is that Gino has for several decades been one of the leading researchers in the world on the topic of honesty . For instance, she has examined the relationship between cheating and variables like psychological closeness, creativity, and self-image. Some of her published papers include “Evil Genius? How Dishonesty Can Lead to Greater Creativity” and “Sweeping Dishonesty Under the Rug: How Unethical Actions Lead to Forgetting of Moral Rules.” Now this honesty researcher is being accused of dishonesty herself.

The other noteworthy aspect of this story is that it follows closely on the heels of other dishonesty allegations against Gino. A 2023 internal report by Harvard Business School found that Gino “committed research misconduct intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly” with respect to four of her published papers. Research investigators with Data Colada had found evidence which, in their view, suggested that data was being manipulated or falsified in Gino’s research, prompting Harvard to investigate. Subsequently, Gino reacted by filing a $25 million lawsuit against Harvard and Data Colada.

What about these new charges of plagiarism? Professor Gino’s attorney, Andrew T. Miltenberg, has replied to The Harvard Crimson that “we will continue to fiercely defend Professor Gino’s integrity against what appears to be an ongoing attempt to slander her reputation. History has shown the peril of premature judgment, particularly within the scientific community, where reputations can be irreparably tarnished. Professor Gino is steadfast in her commitment to uncovering the truth in each instance, responding decisively and correcting the record if necessary.”

Over the years, I have reached out to Professor Gino to be a part of some of the activities for the Honesty Project , which I directed (she declined). I have invited her to reply directly to the allegations, and will update this article if a reply is received.

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As far as the substance of the plagiarism allegations is concerned, is this just a case of one sloppy citation here and there? According to investigative work by Science , one of the leading research journals, there are numerous instances of plagiarism in multiple works by Gino. This includes a co-authored book chapter with 10 unacknowledged sources for particular passages. It also includes the two books Gino has written, in which Science was able to find “at least 15 additional passages of borrowed text.” Strikingly, according to Science , the source “used most extensively” by Gino without proper acknowledgment is an undergraduate senior thesis completed in 2014 at Tilburg University by Jasper Beijneveld, who today is not even an academic.

To give one illustration of what Science found, compare a passage from an article in this very publication, Forbes , with a passage from Gino’s 2013 book, Sidetracked:

2011 Forbes Article :

“Consider Ken Olsen, the giant who pioneered the minicomputer sector as a co-founder of Digital Equipment Corporation in 1957. For the next decade, DEC dominated the scientific and engineering workstation market, especially through its leading position in universities. By the late 1970s, Olsen led the company’s development of a unified hardware architecture and operating system…”

Gino’s 2013 Book Sidetracked (p. 25):

“Or consider the story of Ken Olsen, a leader in the minicomputer sector as a cofounder of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) back in 1957. During the following two decades, DEC dominated the scientific and engineering workstation market and, by the late 1970s, was number two in the computer industry under Olsen’s leadership, thanks to the company’s development of a unified hardware architecture and operating system.”

There appears to be too much overlap here between the two texts for this to be merely coincidental. According to Science , there is no citation by Gino to the original Forbes article.

It is hard not to note some of the potential ironies here. A prominent honesty researcher has now been accused of not one, but two major forms of academic dishonesty. She in turn is alleging that her accusers are being less than honest in their claims about her alleged dishonesty in her research on dishonesty. Her accusers in turn deny this. On and on it goes.

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• Starting the research process

A Beginner's Guide to Starting the Research Process

When you have to write a thesis or dissertation , it can be hard to know where to begin, but there are some clear steps you can follow.

The research process often begins with a very broad idea for a topic you’d like to know more about. You do some preliminary research to identify a  problem . After refining your research questions , you can lay out the foundations of your research design , leading to a proposal that outlines your ideas and plans.

This article takes you through the first steps of the research process, helping you narrow down your ideas and build up a strong foundation for your research project.

Table of contents

Step 1: choose your topic, step 2: identify a problem, step 3: formulate research questions, step 4: create a research design, step 5: write a research proposal, other interesting articles.

First you have to come up with some ideas. Your thesis or dissertation topic can start out very broad. Think about the general area or field you’re interested in—maybe you already have specific research interests based on classes you’ve taken, or maybe you had to consider your topic when applying to graduate school and writing a statement of purpose .

Even if you already have a good sense of your topic, you’ll need to read widely to build background knowledge and begin narrowing down your ideas. Conduct an initial literature review to begin gathering relevant sources. As you read, take notes and try to identify problems, questions, debates, contradictions and gaps. Your aim is to narrow down from a broad area of interest to a specific niche.

Make sure to consider the practicalities: the requirements of your programme, the amount of time you have to complete the research, and how difficult it will be to access sources and data on the topic. Before moving onto the next stage, it’s a good idea to discuss the topic with your thesis supervisor.

>>Read more about narrowing down a research topic

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So you’ve settled on a topic and found a niche—but what exactly will your research investigate, and why does it matter? To give your project focus and purpose, you have to define a research problem .

The problem might be a practical issue—for example, a process or practice that isn’t working well, an area of concern in an organization’s performance, or a difficulty faced by a specific group of people in society.

Alternatively, you might choose to investigate a theoretical problem—for example, an underexplored phenomenon or relationship, a contradiction between different models or theories, or an unresolved debate among scholars.

To put the problem in context and set your objectives, you can write a problem statement . This describes who the problem affects, why research is needed, and how your research project will contribute to solving it.

>>Read more about defining a research problem

Next, based on the problem statement, you need to write one or more research questions . These target exactly what you want to find out. They might focus on describing, comparing, evaluating, or explaining the research problem.

A strong research question should be specific enough that you can answer it thoroughly using appropriate qualitative or quantitative research methods. It should also be complex enough to require in-depth investigation, analysis, and argument. Questions that can be answered with “yes/no” or with easily available facts are not complex enough for a thesis or dissertation.

In some types of research, at this stage you might also have to develop a conceptual framework and testable hypotheses .

>>See research question examples

The research design is a practical framework for answering your research questions. It involves making decisions about the type of data you need, the methods you’ll use to collect and analyze it, and the location and timescale of your research.

There are often many possible paths you can take to answering your questions. The decisions you make will partly be based on your priorities. For example, do you want to determine causes and effects, draw generalizable conclusions, or understand the details of a specific context?

You need to decide whether you will use primary or secondary data and qualitative or quantitative methods . You also need to determine the specific tools, procedures, and materials you’ll use to collect and analyze your data, as well as your criteria for selecting participants or sources.

>>Read more about creating a research design

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Finally, after completing these steps, you are ready to complete a research proposal . The proposal outlines the context, relevance, purpose, and plan of your research.

As well as outlining the background, problem statement, and research questions, the proposal should also include a literature review that shows how your project will fit into existing work on the topic. The research design section describes your approach and explains exactly what you will do.

You might have to get the proposal approved by your supervisor before you get started, and it will guide the process of writing your thesis or dissertation.

>>Read more about writing a research proposal

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Methodology

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

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