Plagiarism in Academic Writing: Detection and Prevention

This essay discusses the concept of plagiarism, ways to detect and prevent it in academic writing. It sheds light on the factors contributing to plagiarism and the consequences of plagiarism. It also highlights the importance of acknowledging practices in the field of academics to attain success in publishing journals.

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Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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Introduction
Plagiarism is a well-recognized and increasing issue in the academic world. It is expected
to constitute a significant part of the total number of critical deviations from good academic
observation practice. Carnero et al. (2017) have noted that for some journals, plagiarism is
indeed a critical issue with up to a third of the published papers containing plagiarism. Moreover,
considering that plagiarism is viewed as a considerable problem for research community,
spelling out in some detail which statements are required to count as plagiarism is regarded as a
serious matter of concern. The technical development of software for efficiently detecting
plagiarism further raises questions: What scale of overlapping comprises plagiarism and if
overlapping is all that matters? The following essay will mainly explicate the concept of
plagiarism and ways in which academicians will detect and circumvent plagiarism and further
produce plagiarism free work.
Discussion
In this age of information technology, the Internet has brought several advancements and
developments to academic and research domain. Studies of McGrail and McGrail (2015) noted
that in the academic world, although academic fraudulence is not identified as a new
phenomenon, it is broadly acknowledged that access to online information has reduced its
complexity and raised the inclination of copying or quoting other’s original work without proper
credit or attribution. Thus, it is essential to discuss about plagiarism as is viewed as utmost
dishonesty and a form of cheating thus leading to inability of attaining academic success or
dismissal from submitting for promotions in certain departments where academicians are
interested to publish their work (Masic, 2014). Plagiarism being derived from Latin word

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“plagiarius” indicates kidnapping of children. Thus, as in the academic field, research is about
efficiently producing original work and further develops good writing and research abilities, it is
highly essential for students to obtain adequate knowledge and awareness of factors which
plagiarism entails (Dhammi & Ul Haq, 2016).
Considering the various factors of plagiarism, various perception of plagiarism can be
perplexing to a section of academicians especially clinicians and international students.
Meanwhile, in other societies, information is primarily shared and presupposed to be owned by
the whole society. Thus, it is acceptable to use other words without providing proper credibility.
According to Kumar et al. (2014), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) has defined
plagiarism as an act which extends from unreferenced usage of other scholars’ published as well
as unpublished ideas and concepts. These ideas primarily entail research grant applications to
submission under new ownership of complex paper in varied language. Such plagiarism work
can have its occurrence at any stage of planning, research, documenting and publication it
applies to digital and electronic versions. Furthermore, Yip, Han and Sng (2016) have stated over
than 80% of all scholastic dishonesty cases related to plagiarism has involved non-native
speakers who exhibit lesser degree of sincerity in comparison to native speakers. However, in its
most critical cases, specifically when it is deliberate, plagiarism is viewed as a critical offence.
According to Al-JunDi & SAkkA (2016), any author can be found guilty of plagiarism the article
will be retracted. At this juncture, according to Bruton and Rachal (2015), journal’s editorial
board may issue publication restriction on the author. Moreover, the final rejection or approval of
any journal or article primarily relies on the editor or reviewer of the publication house. Kumar
et al. (2014) have claimed that even if a manuscript has been passed by the reviewer, the editor
has the authority to reject in finding any areas detected plagiarised.

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At this juncture, Dhammi and Ul Haq (2016) have shed light on articles which have the
propensity to show high degree of plagiarism or at certain points being wholly copied such
resulting to complete plagiarism. However, such retraction is indefinite in clinical research.
Carnero et al. (2017) have provided evidence of manuscript that had been withdrawn from the
issue of Anaesthesia and Analgesia on April 2010 when it was found to have been plagiarized
from five other published manuscripts. At such cases of high plagiarism, editor-in-chief of
concerned journal is required to publish Notice of Retraction of particular issue number of the
journal by expressing regret due to lack of inefficiency in detecting plagiarism during review
process. In these cases, authors have noted the importance of scholars in attaining adequate ideas
and consideration of accurate use of citing manuals and comprehend fundamental factors
covered in the idea of plagiarism. Several researches have explicated a significant lack of
agreement to reasons related to prevalence of plagiarism among clinicians and academicians
(Helgesson & Eriksson, 2015). Several factors have been identified as potential factors which
decisively contribute to the rise in plagiarism. Factors related to ignorance concerning plagiarism
or failure to comprehend the implications of unaccredited writing is an ethical act in addition to
frustration with the writing process caused by discrepancy in citation style manuals causes.
Even though plagiarism is a recent phenomenon, its high elevation has developed it into a
critical subject of concern in majority of learning and educational institutes. However, academic
publications such as the Indian Journal of Orthopaedics typically receive several journals from
China, South Korea and Turkey rather than their own nation, reviewers of such publications have
been highly proactive in identifying ways to successfully deter plagiarised work among its
clientele (Juyal, Thawani & Thaledi, 2015). McGrail and McGrail (2015) have noted that even
though there has been identified a lack of statistical information in order to exemplify the degree

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to which plagiarism is identified as a critical issue, reviewers have been showing great
inclination in disseminating ideas and information on ethical use of information from manuals.
Reviewers engaged to any clinician or other academic research has been proficient advocates for
information literacy as well as constant knowledge development among constituencies.
However, as per the view of authors, the subject of plagiarism has remained a critical area of
concern. Thus, in order to assist in reducing frequencies and occurrences of plagiarism,
reviewers have instigated wide range of plagiarism intensive course and training series for
clinicians and academicians (Masic, 2014). These courses and knowledge development have
been initially organized by taking into account scholars and clinicians who have immense desire
in publishing work on indexed journal.
However, Mohammed et al. (2015) have shed light on the elevating level of plagiarism
occurring in various biomedical journals coming from Asian countries. Juyal, Thawani and
Thaledi (2015)have claimed that several Asian journals and papers must primarily aim to attain
comprehensive global expectations and further conform to the essentiality of most effective best
practices in relation to the policies, regulations and guidelines fixed by publication house on
plagiarism. This takes account of using text identical software to identify or detect plagiarism
and severance in manuscripts which have been submitted. Carnero et al. (2017) have claimed
that such stringent review procedure not only generates credibility but further aid in successfully
verifying the authenticity of work which have been submitted for publish. On the other hand, this
software has the competence to deter reduced practices. However, although text matching
software aims to function as an useful screening tool, editors or reviewers should not wholly rely
on the Overall similarity index (OSI) on its own. Furthermore, Kumar et al. (2014) emphasizing
on elevated similarity score noted that universities and publication agencies should generate

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comprehensive review by proficient editor, but the opportunity of counterfeit positives and false
negatives should always be considered. Meanwhile, it is imperative to note that plagiarism is
comprehensively established in the academic community. Al-JunDi and Sakka (2016) have noted
that plagiarism tends to initiate with the seminar presentations which students make at an early
stage during their professional studies. Most theses or dissertations submitted by clinicians and
medical students are extracted from manuscripts or from formerly published material. Reports of
Bruton and Rachal (2015) have exposed that more than 90% of clinicians or medical students
have been involved in submitting plagiarized work when asked to write essays on given topics.
In addition to this, other studies of authors have found that one in 20 medical residency
applications showed plagiarised content.
Conclusion
Thus, as a student, I have comprehended ways in avoiding writing various separate
articles if it can present significantly intricate study in a cohesive manner in a single article.
Furthermore, students or academicians should submit a cover letter to the editor along with
proper manuscript, evidently stating any instances of collaborating insights from previous
publications and seek for advice. Lastly, if any scholar unintentionally has been involved in
extracting insights from manuscripts of other scholars without appropriate referencing,
academicians must efficiently write to the editor of the journal for advice. It has been noted that
acknowledgment of any practices in the field of academics is vital responsibility to attain success
in publishing journal. The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines have stated that
reviewers, editorial personnel or other editors have the authority to take stringent actions against
any scholar who have been assumed to be involved in any forms of misconduct. This
responsibility broadens to both published and unpublished papers. Reviewers are obligated to

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view a response from the accused. However, if the reviewers show any lack of contentment with
the response, they have the authority to enquire employers of the authors, reviewers, or editors in
addition to certain suitable agency to inspect and take apposite action.

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References
Al-JunDi, A., & SAkkA, S. (2016). Protocol writing in clinical research. Journal of clinical and
diagnostic research: JCDR, 10(11), ZE10.
Bruton, S. V., & Rachal, J. R. (2015). Education journal editors’ perspectives on self-
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Carnero, A. M., Mayta-Tristan, P., Konda, K. A., Mezones-Holguin, E., Bernabe-Ortiz, A.,
Alvarado, G. F., ... & Smith, E. S. (2017). Plagiarism, cheating and research integrity:
case studies from a masters program in Peru. Science and engineering ethics, 23(4),
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Dhammi, I., & Ul Haq, R. (2016). What is plagiarism and how to avoid it?. Retrieved from
http://www.ijoonline.com/temp/IndianJOrthop506581-8458062_232940.pdf
Helgesson, G., & Eriksson, S. (2015). Plagiarism in research. Medicine, Health Care and
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Juyal, D., Thawani, V., & Thaledi, S. (2015). Plagiarism: an egregious form of
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Masic, I., Hodzic, A., & Mulic, S. (2014). Ethics in medical research and
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Mohammed, R. A., Shaaban, O. M., Mahran, D. G., Attellawy, H. N., Makhlof, A., & Albasri,
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