The journal’s editor, Graham Parker, cites retracting the July 8th article due to several paragraphs having been copied from a previous 2007 publication.   The research team leader, Karim Nayernia, claims that a post-doc had mistakenly left in sections from an older version of the paper and published it online before catching the error.

The Newcastle University administration stood behind its researchers, releasing a statement that said they had reviewed the journal and not ‘raised any questions’ in regards to the paper.

It is still somewhat unclear about who was actually at fault, but the fact of the matter is at some point plagiarism did occur.  Someone’s work was utilized in the paper and not properly attributed with credit.  The real problem at hand here is not who needs to be blamed, but how this situation could have been prevented, and the impact similar events have had on scientific progress.

Scientific progress partially depends on concrete evidence and communication between researchers.  Researchers publish their findings in journals so that others can build on them (and properly cite whose research they are using).  If researchers become weary of publishing their studies due to plagiarism concerns, the entire scientific process can break down. Eventually, this could mean slowing the rate of scientific advancement.

Not only does plagiarism affect progress, but it also has the possibility to distort actual research.  ScienceNews.org recently published an article that describes how plagiarized research in the biomedical field could lead to ‘bogus’ data and create the possibility of adversely affecting patients.

From the ScienceNews.org article “Dangers of Biomedical Plagiarism” :

“The second paper, in this instance a plagiarized report based on the first journal article (but containing bogus data), not only would lend credence to the initial finding, but also raise the drug treatment’s statistical strength, since it was now successful in a far larger population.”

Clearly it is in our advantage to detect and prevent plagiarism before it occurs.   New cutting-edge plagiarism checker software enables research institutions to check for duplicate content ahead of submission.  By the time the content is published, the team can feel confident that the copy has not appeared elsewhere.

Utilizing plagiarism prevention and detection technology will both cut down in cases of accidental and intentional plagiarism.  In the end, this process will benefit scientific progress as a whole.

Citations:

Olmos, David. “Study on Sperm Made From Stem Cells Retracted for Plagiarism .”  Bloomberg.com. 30 Jul. 2009
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=aHqYdUDWxcWU

Vogel, Gretchen.  “Update: University Backs Author of Retracted Stem Cell Paper.”  Science Insider. 30 Jul. 2009. http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/07/update-universi.html

Raloff, Janet. “Dangers of biomedical plagiarism.”  Science News. 8 Mar. 2009. http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/41466/title/Science_%2B_the_Public__Dangers_of_biomedical_plagiarism

It wasn’t until college that the word ‘plagiarism’ took center stage:  big, bold and red in my university’s student guideline pamphlet.   It quickly became apparent in a university setting that a person’s intellectual property was legally protected and the repercussions for infringing on these protections were to be harsh.   Beyond college, out in the ‘real world,’ plagiarism continued to show up, from the terms-and-conditions of a legal contract to a breaking New York Times’ headline.

Just as the word plagiarism tends to evolve in a person’s eyes as they grow up,  it also takes on new meaning throughout the lens of history.  The Merriam-Webster dictionary’s definition of plagiarizing is  “ to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own : use (another’s production) without crediting the source.”

Although this definition specifically mentions ‘ideas or words’ it applies to all forms of expression.  Drawings, sculptures, stories, songs, poems, technological inventions and scientific innovations have all been the products of human creativity. Just as there have always been laws and regulations to prevent the theft of another person’s physical property, there also have been laws to prevent stealing ideas.

In the past, enforcing these laws and spotting  plagiarism was fairly simple; the world was smaller and there were  fewer ideas in circulation.  Today, we face a new challenge: the internet.  The internet has been the greatest breeding ground for creativity in human history, acting as the medium through which a unfathomable number of new works are published every day; from the shortest and most informal ‘tweets’ to 1000 page USPTO patents.  Although this boom in creative work has been a blessing, it also has created a large problem in detecting and preventing plagiarism.

It’s as easy as copying and pasting another person’s words or downloading and re-branding their imagery, video or audio files. Unfortunately, plagiarism has become rampant online and is harder than ever to locate and prevent.  Plagiarism  appears across various industries, including the publishing, media, scientific and financial sectors.    Businesses invest millions of dollars to protect their intellectual property, only to have their money squandered through duplicate content nodes across the web.

Luckily, just as the internet has fed plagiarism, it also provides the technological means to prevent it.  Cutting-edge plagiarism checker software and plagiarism detection tools have been developed to locate duplicate content and protect proprietary information.    This sort of technology has saved countless works and ideas from being duplicated and dispersed across the internet by locating instances before they spread.

The future of plagiarism and its prevention will rely heavily on the technology that each side embraces.  Just as some people will break the law to copy the best ideas out there, we must also utilize any possible means to prevent this from happening.

Please feel free to put your two cents in on any posts.  What will make this blog successful is healthy discussion (and even argument) about how to combat plagiarism.

Thanks for visiting, and I look forward to seeing you around.