Understanding plagiarism

Abstract

Plagiarism is copying ideas, thoughts, and others’ work and presenting them as one’s own without acknowledgment which is akin to intellectual property theft. A meta-analysis found that the researchers admitting to plagiarism or other forms of scientific misconduct is at 2.9 percent.1 While people are hesitant to admit themselves indulged in plagiarism and other scientific misconduct, they are upfront in pointing out at others. This has been shown in one of the studies where 1.7 percent have admitted to plagiarism while the witness to plagiarism is at 30 percent.1 The next most prevalent form of plagiarism is stealing others’ ideas and passing them on as their own without acknowledging them. A meta-analysis revealed that 15.5% of researchers witnessed others who had  ommitted at least one Research Misconduct, while 39.7% were aware of others who had used at least one Questionable Research Practice.