Research Integrity: Ethic & Plagiarism Jennifer Yong Consultant, igroup/ Innovative Education Services November 2015
The definition of research integrity Research integrity can be defined as the trustworthiness of research due to the soundness of its methods and the honesty and accuracy of its presentation Source: Singapore Statement on Research Integrity, drafted for the 2 nd World Conference on Research Integrity on 21-24 July 2010 at Singapore
Research pressure Individuals Publish or perish Research ISI publications Peer pressure Funding Promotion Publication Communication to peers Universities & Institutions Funding University ranking Evaluation Citation Reputation Source: Linda Butler, Explaining Australia s increased share of ISI publications the effects of a funding formula based on publication counts, Research Policy, 32 (2003) 143-155 Countries ROI of taxpayers money Nobel Laureates
What are the challenges of a user? Identify the objectives Write the interpretation Review the literatures Analyze & interpret Specify the purpose Collect data Where to begin? Are there any research best practices? What are the pitfalls of scholarly communication?
What is plagiarism? Text similarity (from single language to translated) Data manipulation Data fabrication Doctored or fake images
How to define the level of plagiarism? Feature Least severe Most severe Extent A few words A few sentences Whole paragraph Originality of copied material Position/type of material Referencing/attri bution Intention Widely-used phrase/idea Standard method Source fully and clearly referenced No intention to deceive Phrase/idea used by a few authors Describing another s work Source partially/inaccura tely referenced Several paragraphs Original phrase/idea Data/findings Unreferenced Intention to deceive Whole paper Source: Elizabeth Wager, How should editors respond to plagiarism? COPE Discussion Paper, 26 April 2011, http://publicationethics.org/resources/discussion-documents
Ignorance Ignorance versus self-deception Self-deception
Was it truly plagiarism? Overlapping or text similarity is not unusual in the ocean of information even across disciplines There is a need of originality check while work are in-progress Source: Bill Steele, Text overlap clutters scientific papers, arxiv analysis finds, Cornell Chronicle, February 2014 http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2014/12/text-overlapclutters-scientific-papers-arxiv-analysis-finds
Intentional and unintentional plagiarism Plagiarism Intentional or unintentional? Self plagiarism (e.g. duplicate publication) & self citation Salami slicing Publishing everything versus selective publishing Source: Marcel A. L. M. van Assen et al, Why publishing everything is more effective than selective publishing of statistically significant results, journals.plos.org Highly intentional Ghost authorship Fraud
To be original through text similarity check Concept of text similarity check WIP Submission Platform 30% 50% 70% Similarity Reporting Full-texts Matched Documents
To be original through citation index search Concept of citation indexing Cited References 2013 Times Cited 2015 2014 2013 Abstract, Index & Bibliography 2014 2008 2009 2010 2012 Abstract, Index & Bibliography Core paper Citing Related Records 2014 2015 2015 2014 Abstract, Index & Bibliography
The best practices of research 1. Authoring 2. Publishing 3. Marketing Smart discovery Originality check Networking Reference management Level of interdisciplinarity Publishing strategy Writing the manuscript Conferences Collaboration Use of technology
Research platform integrated with best practices Write http://wizfolio.com Integrated authoring platform Embed all the essential research best practices onto a single authoring platform Reference management Community platform Citation index search Originality check Encourage the usage of peerreviewed articles from both Open Access and non-open Access Peer review process Dissemination http://www.turnitin.com + From plagiarism check to originality check for better ideas: knowledge iteration http://www.crossref.org
Listen to the feedbacks! Feedbacks to improve the ideas Identify the objectives Write the interpretation Review the literatures Peer-to-peer community Analyze & interpret Specify the purpose Collect data Peer reviews to validate the work Publication
Plagiarism myths Myth 1: Plagiarism Checkers Can Spot Plagiarism Myth 2: Plagiarism is All About the Percentage Myth 3: If You Rewrite, It s Not Plagiarism Myth 4: You Can t Plagiarize Things Not in Copyright Myth 5: The Rules of Plagiarism are Universal Source: Jonathan Bailey, 5 plagiarism myths many still believe February 23, 2015, PlagiarismToday https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2015/02/23/5-plagiarism-myths-many-stillbelieve/
Research integrity matters Research integrity policies: ORI http://ori.hhs.gov ESF http://www.esf.org Training initiatives: CITI Japan http://www.shinshu-u.ac.jp/project/cjp/ CITI at the University of Miami https://www.citiprogram.org It s all about people!
A thought provocative quote. If you copy from one author, it s plagiarism. But, if you copy from many, it s research!
Thank YOU Jennifer.yong@igroupnet.com