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Medical Journal Armed Forces India

Date: April 2018

Research article Get rights and content

Original Article

Wishing away Plagiarism in Scientific Publications! Will it work? A situational analysis of

Plagiarism policy of journals in PubMed

Col Jyotindu Debnath , Col M.P. Cariappa Show more

Add to Mendeley 10.1016/j.mjafi.2017.09.003

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Abstract

Background

Plagiarism remains a scourge for the modern academia. There are inconsistencies in the

plagiarism policy scientific journals. The aims of this study was to analyze types of published

articles on ‘Plagiarism’ available on PubMed over last two decades against a backdrop of the

plagiarism policy of the journals publishing such articles.

Methods

A literature search on PubMed (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed ) was made using the

search term “plagiarism” from 01 January 1997 till 29 March 17. All publications having

‘plagiarism’ in the title formed the study group. The following were noted: types of articles

published, ethical and plagiarism policy of the journal as available in the Instructions to authors

and or in the journal home page.

Results

A total of 582 publications from 320 journals were studied. Editorials (165, 28.3%) and Letters to

the Editor (159, 27.3%) formed the bulk. Research articles (56, 9.6%), Review articles (51, 8.7%) and

Commentaries (47, 8%) formed the remainder. Detailed ethical guidelines were present in 221

(69%). Outline ethical guidelines only were present in 15 (4.7%) journals. 49 (15.3%) journals did

not have any ethical guidelines. Detailed description of the policy on plagiarism was found in 80

(25%) journals. Only an outline description was found in 29 (9%) journals while a plagiarism

policy/statement was totally absent in 176 (55%) journals.

Conclusion

There is a need to have a well defined plagiarism policy/statement for all scholarly journals easily

visible on their home pages on the internet and also in their Instructions to Authors.

Keywords

Plagiarism policy; Scientific Journals; PubMed

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Abstract

Introduction

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References (8)

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Introduction

Healthcare research and scientific publications emerging therefrom, are evocative of the

development and progress of medical knowledge for the benefit of humankind over the past two

centuries. Integrity in conduct of research and ethical practices in publication of the outcomes of

such research, have aided in the propagation of knowledge and the adoption of newer modalities

of medical management of myriad diseases by medical practitioners across the globe. In the past,

anecdotal instances of scientific misconduct rarely came to light, however now, disturbingly;

more scientific misdemeanour is being uncovered. Blaming it simplistically on the all pervasive

internet and its tools, and the constant harsh scrutiny in the public domain, would be avoiding

reality.

To “plagiarize” means :

• to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own

• to use (another's production) without crediting the source

• to commit literary theft

• to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing

source

The groves of academia are being thronged it may seem, by many researchers who are wont to be

obsessed with the maxim of ‘Publish or Perish’, leading to proliferation of journals of unknown

and unascertainable repute and standards. A simple guide to researchers to insulate themselves

from this risk is given at http://thinkchecksubmit.org/Increasing instances of research and

publication misconduct are being reported on a regular basis across not just medical literature but

even the popular mass media, as these impact populations globally, such as the recent expose on

the HPV vaccine trials. While unethical research is at one end of the spectrum of misconduct,

plagiarism is rearing its ugly Hydra head, in its various forms constituting a major threat to the

sanctity of the printed/published word. Seemingly, all stakeholders in the scientific publication

arena are aware and concerned about the scourge of plagiarism in medical literature. There is a

growing number of Editorials, Research/Review articles, Commentaries and Letters to the Editor,

focussing on various aspects of plagiarism. For journal editors, although emphasizing on relevant

issues of plagiarism from time to time would be essential, it is imperative for an unambiguous

policy on plagiarism to be promulgated and uniformly implemented, to serve as an effective

deterrent for those who indulge in the scientific sin of plagiarism.

Our study is aimed at analysing the types of published articles on ‘Plagiarism’ available on

PubMed over the last twenty years against a backdrop of the plagiarism policy of the journals

publishing such articles, in the public domain.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

We undertook a literature search on PubMed (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed ) using the

search term “plagiarism” with a specified time frame from 01 January 1997 till 29 March 17.

Articles containing the term ‘plagiarism’ in the title formed the study group. We further

categorized the type of such articles published on plagiarism from the search data and explored

the publishing Journal websites to determine the Ethics and Plagiarism policy of these Journals as

available in the public domain. …

8/18/26, 2:26 PM Wishing away Plagiarism in Scientific Publications! Will it work? A situational analysis of Plagiarism policy of journals in PubMed - S…

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0377123717311486?via%3Dihub 2/5

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377123717311437

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377123717311504

http://thinkchecksubmit.org/Increasing

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed

Results

A total of 1289 documents were obtained in the PubMed search for the 20-year period. Year wise

publication trends have been shown in Fig. 1. Publications on ‘plagiarism’ showed an upward

trend from 2001 onwards with a peak in 2012. After 2012, there has been a slight decline in the

number of such publications till date. From 320 journals (including 25 journals from India), 582

publications contained the term ‘plagiarism’ in the title of the publication and formed our ‘study

group’. We took only …

Discussion

In the modern era, journal editors would continue to face the challenge of preventing, minimizing

and eventually eradicating the menace of plagiarism in scholarly publications. Reasons,

recognition and remedies for plagiarism at various stakeholder levels have been described.

Conscious awareness of the need to adhere to integrity and honesty at all levels remains a key

factor in limiting the propagation of this scientific misdemeanour. The vexatious issues of

plagiarism are an important …

Limitations of the study

The present study is limited by the fact that only those articles available in PubMed were studied.

Therefore, the findings may not be extrapolated for other repository/archives. …

Conclusion

There is a need to have a well defined plagiarism policy/statement for all scholarly journals easily

visible on their home pages on the internet and also in their Instructions to Authors. There must

be linkages with author education resources and plagiarism prevention tutorials too, which can

be standardized and need not necessarily be journal specific. We infer from our study, that the

downward trend of publications on plagiarism over the last five years, is indicative of a decline in

academic …

Conflicts of interest

The authors have none to declare. …

Acknowledgement

The authors acknowledge the contribution of Miss Debjani Debnath, a student of Class XI, Army

Public School, Pune for her help in tabulating the data. …

References (8)

J. Debnath

Plagiarism: a silent epidemic in scientific writing – reasons, recognition and remedies

Med J Armed Forces India (2016)

N. Sarojini et al.

Trials and tribulations: an expose of the HPV vaccine trials by the 72nd Parliamentary

Standing Committee Report

Indian J Med Ethics (2013)

Plagiarism

Merriam-Webster.com

(2017)

Publishing Ethics. https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/publishing-ethics

Accessed…

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