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8 Simple Rules to Avoid Plagiarism

Working Paper · April 2016

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.33702.93766

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8 Simple Rules to Avoid Plagiarism

https://www.ediqo.com/blog/8-simple-rules-to-avoid-plagiarism/

Stealing another’s expression of an idea or work without permission and/or proper

attribution is considered plagiarism. This specifically includes copying large parts or the
entirety of someone else’s work while pretending that it is one’s own work, copying small
parts of someone else’s work under fair use without proper attribution (that is, missing
quotation marks and missing, misleading or wrong citation), grossly copying ideas or the
narrative of another work without attributing the origin of the ideas or narrative, re-
using images or photos without permission, etc.

Plagiarism has real legal implications. While ideas themselves are not copyrightable, the
artistic expression of an idea (the “work“) automatically falls under copyright when it is
created. Under fair use, small parts may be copied without the permission from the
copyright holder. However, even under fair use, you must attribute the original source.
What is considered fair use is rather subjective and can vary from country to country.
See, for instance, here [http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/]
for a short introduction on fair use in the USA.

To avoid the plagiarism trap, here are 8 simple rules each researcher should follow:

Cite while you write

To avoid missing citations, make sure to insert citations while you are writing your
paper. If you put your paper aside for a few days, you may forget where you found a
particular piece of information or from where you copied a quote.

Avoid copy-pasting

Avoid copy-pasting from other papers. It is better you reproduce someone else’s idea in
your own words (so called “paraphrasing”) and provide a citation to the original source.
Alternatively, if you specifically want to quote the original author, immediately insert the
quotation marks around text you copy-pasted, followed by the citation.
Use short quotations

Make sure you don’t quote entire paragraphs. Limit quotations to one or two key
sentences. Further, limit the total number of quotations in your paper to just a few. Lots
of quotations make your text harder to read.

Ask for permission from the copyright holder

If you are copying small parts of a work for transformative use, such as a short quote or
a comment, and you are not sure if this falls under fair use, it is better to ask the
copyright holder for a written permission.

Copying images and photos is also plagiarism

Images and photos (or videos) are also copyrighted. If you wish to re-use someone else’s
imagery in your own paper (for instance, in a review paper or in the methods section of
a research paper), make sure you obtain written permission from the copyright holder.
Many copyright holders will allow you to re-use given imagery if you properly cite and
attribute the original source of the images, sometimes with a small fee. Follow the
guidance of the copyright holder regarding the best wording to use for attribution.

Apply the same standards when copying from open access journals or the public
domain

If you re-use images or photos from open access journals, make sure to include the
citation, and preferably reproduce the licensing terms (as in: Image reproduced from
[citation], available under the CC-BY 3.0 license.) If you quote from works that are
available under an open access license or in the public domain (such as quoting from an
author that is long deceased), you still have to use quotation marks and use a proper
citation. While it would not be a copyright infringement to reproduce a work which is in
the public domain, most will still consider it deceitful if you do not properly attribute the
original author/work.

Inform your co-authors and students

As the head of a lab or research group, you may have several students and associates
involved in writing a paper. Make sure that all your co-workers are familiar with best
practices to avoid plagiarism. If in doubt, have your paper checked by a plagiarism
detection software before submitting to a journal.
 Avoid self-plagiarism

If you re-use your own previous work or imagery in new papers, this often leads to self-
plagiarism. Usually, you give up copyright when transferring your work to a publisher so
that self-plagiarism often constitutes a copyright infringement. In addition to possible
copyright infringement, it is not good practice to re-publish material that is already
available elsewhere.

Plagiarism Toolbox

Here a few valuable resources on plagiarism & copyright.

 Plagiarism definition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism

 Plagiarism 101: http://www.plagiarism.org/plagiarism-101/overview/
 Copyright FAQs: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/faqs/
 Free plagiarism checker: https://www.plagtracker.com/upload/
 iThenticate plagiarism checker: http://www.ithenticate.com/ (more advanced
but you need to buy credits to use it)

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