iThenticate Examines "The Ethics of Self-Plagiarism" in New White Paper

New study examines the growing problem of republishing and repurposing content in scholarly research

OAKLAND, Calif., Aug. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- iParadigms, the leader in plagiarism prevention software, today announced a new study titled "The Ethics of Self-Plagiarism," an area of growing concern in the world of scholarly research.  This study offers a definition of self-plagiarism and how the reuse and repurposing of research by its originator can run afoul of copyright guidelines and fair use provisions.

To download this free white paper, visit: http://www.ithenticate.com/self-plagiarism-free-white-paper.

"Self-plagiarism is one of the most potentially dangerous forms of misconduct in scholarly research due to the lack of understanding of the ethics involved in repurposing one's own work," said Robert Creutz, general manager of iThenticate, iParadigms' plagiarism checking software for scholarly publishers and researchers. "This white paper offers a clear definition of self-plagiarism and how authors and publishers can avoid this issue and the costly retractions associated it."

The pressure to publish, combined with an ever-growing body of scholarly research, makes it difficult for publishers and institutions to investigate and prevent cases of self-plagiarism. The issue continues to be a major source of misconduct and cause for retractions in scholarly research. Most recently, a noted Brazilian entomologist was forced to retract a paper for self-plagiarism.  

According to the report, "self-plagiarism is defined as a type of plagiarism in which the writer republishes a work in its entirety or reuses portions of a previously written text while authoring a new work. Writers often maintain that because they are the authors, they can use the work again as they wish; they can't really plagiarize themselves because they are not taking any words or ideas from someone else. But while the discussion continues on whether self-plagiarism is possible, the ethical issue of self-plagiarism is significant, especially because self-plagiarism can infringe upon a publisher's copyright. Traditional definitions of plagiarism do not account for self-plagiarism, so writers may be unaware of the ethics and laws involved in reusing or repurposing texts."

iThenticate helps publishers and granting agencies reduce all types of plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, by comparing manuscripts against one of the world's largest comparison databases. iThenticate indexes and searches more than 14 billion web pages, more than 30 million published research articles from 150 leading science, technical and medical (STM) publishers, as well as 80,000 major newspapers, magazines and scholarly journals. Close to 500 publishers, research institutions and government agencies rely on iThenticate to ensure research integrity.

About iParadigms, LLC and iThenticate
iParadigms, LLC is the world's leading provider of web-based solutions for plagiarism prevention. The company's products include Turnitin, used by educators worldwide to check students' papers for originality, to enable web-based peer review and for digital grading of student work. iParadigms' iThenticate solution enables publishers, research facilities, government agencies, financial institutions, legal firms and now authors and researchers to reliably check submitted materials for originality before publication. The company's solutions check millions of documents each month and are used in over 100 countries. iParadigms is headquartered in Oakland, CA with an international office located in Newcastle, United Kingdom. iParadigms is backed by Warburg Pincus.  http://www.iparadigms.com and http://www.ithenticate.com.

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SOURCE iParadigms, LLC