- Case
Potential plagiarism
In 2003, Journal A published an original article. In 2006, the editor received a complaint of plagiarism relating to a case report published by Journal B in 2000. The introduction of both articles had one identical paragraph and some paragraphs in the discussion were similar. The article published by Journal A did not reference Journal B, despite: (a) being easy to find on… - Case
Plagiarism in a systematic review
…re-written, the editors would not be interested in sending this paper out for peer review as there would not be enough new material to represent a sufficient advance beyond the previously published review. However, the editors wanted to ensure that the authors are aware of the seriousness of plagiarism and that the paper is not published in its current form in another journal. - CaseCase Closed
Plagiarism case
Journal X was contacted by Author A, who claimed that a paper published in that journal ten years previously (by Author B) was plagiarised from Author A’s article in Journal Y published approximately ten years prior to that. Author A requested the retraction of Author B’s paper. Journal X has run plagiarism software on both papers to see the degree of text replication and it is not… - Case
Wholesale plagiarism
…a specified time limit. - The editor should contact the authors’ institutions and request an investigation. The editor should inform the authors of his intentions. - The editor should notify Journal B’s editor and request that the original authors also be notified of the possible plagiarism.… - Case
Possible plagiarism in a cross over, double blind placebo controlled study
…the reviewers, however, felt that the two studies were “almost identical” raising the possibility of plagiarism. The editor sent the manuscript and the two reviews to a third reviewer to arbitrate, and in particular, to examine whether concerns should be raised about the similarities of the two papers. What should the editor do next?… - Case
Dispute over plagiarism
- Author A’s withdrawal did indicate problems with the paper, but it was difficult to know what to do without any evidence. - Plagiarism is generally discovered by reviewers and readers, and the editor of Journal X could also be seen as having information which should be investigated. - It was also unclear whether the editors of journals Y and Z knew about the plagiarism. - The editor of… - Case
Plagiarism in a case report
The whole discussion section of a submitted case report was almost identical to the discussion section of a previously reported, similar case written up by another group of authors in another journal. The only difference lay in the patient details. While the other paper had been referenced in the case report, the authors of this case report had not indicated that the whole discussion was identi… - CaseCase Closed
Suspected plagiarism
…the percentage similarity that should raise concerns? This varies widely—by discipline, even by editors within the same discipline. The similarity index needs to be reviewed carefully, and experienced editors will look at all aspects of the article and the sources when deciding if there is significant overlap. Is there a minimum cut-off score below which there is no need to check for plagiarism? One… - Case
Possible plagiarism
A Middle Eastern author submitted four papers on different subjects at around the same time (two single author, two with other authors). During in-house assessment, it was noted that two of the papers were very similar to previously published papers. Fuller inspection of the complete papers indicated unequivocally that plagiarism had taken place—in one of the papers even the figures have been… - Case
Potential case of plagiarism
One of the referees of our journal has brought to our attention a potential case of plagiarism. The referee feels that the a manuscript submitted to our journal, representing a retrospective study of a cohort of patients with a particular condition, plagiarises an article published in another journal in 2003. The authors are from an institute in a middle-eastern country. The… - Case
Plagiarism in a review article
…the alleged plagiarism. The identity of the peer reviewer was not revealed, but the editors assumed that the authors would have known as s/he was the sole author of the teaching syllabus. The authors were very apologetic: They confessed that they had used the teaching syllabus in part because English is not their first language and that this was an innocent error. They claimed that they did not… - CaseCase Closed
Plagiarism of reviewer's work
…that the first author was contrite, and they advised the reviewer to tell the journal what had happened and seek our advice;4) this reviewer also supplied a helpful, constructive and positive review of the article (as, meanwhile, did another reviewer and subsequently did a third, as we felt unable to use the first reviewer’s review).We replied saying we took plagiarism very seriously and… - CaseOn-going
Plagiarism in a book title
We received a complaint of plagiarism by Dr A concerning a book that has just been published. This case is ongoing since January 2012. Authors B and C published a new, very extended edition (+1000 pages), on a topic that previously was covered in part in an English book by author B (published in 2006). Part of this book was based on a German book published back in 1993 by Dr A and… - Case
Suspected plagiarism
We had a case of suspected plagiarism recently on one of our journals, on which I would appreciate COPE’s advice. The case has been resolved, so this is not in the least urgent, but I would be interested to hear your views. Very briefly, at review stage the editor spotted substantial similarities between a paper submitted to our journal and a review published recently in a related… - Case
Attempted plagiarism of a published report
A review paper covering the prevention of a certain type of infection was submitted to Journal A. One of the reviewers identified that the paper was based word for word on a report that had published guidelines on the same area. The authors of both pieces are different. The only significant differences between the submission and the original paper were in the introduction and conclusion. The ed… - CaseCase Closed
Serial plagiarism by an experienced author
…about the paper that had already been published. The editor of the journal in which two of the key sources had been published kindly provided copies and the published paper was checked by hand against these two earlier papers. This check established that the iThenticate report was reasonably accurate. It appeared that one of the plagiarized papers had been used as a means to improve the quality… - CaseCase Closed
Plagiarism of a PhD thesis
We received a complaint from an author claiming that her PhD thesis had been plagiarized in a journal article. After many discussions, the editorial office decided that the authors should resolve this issue among themselves, as it was an author dispute.After further correspondence, the editorial office is now also saying that because the thesis is not published anywhere, there is no need… - CaseCase Closed
Is it plagiarism to use text verbatim from a manuscript review?
A commentary was reviewed by journal A and rejected. The paper was then submitted and accepted at journal B. Journal B published the commentary. After publication, a reviewer from journal A wrote to journal B with a complaint of plagiarism. Text from his/her review was used in the commentary published in journal B Question(s) for the COPE Forum• How should the editor of… - Case
A severe case of plagiarism?
…submitted manuscript with the publications provided by the reviewer and concluded that the submission presents a severe case of plagiarism with multiple copy-and-paste examples throughout the entire manuscript. The editor contacted the corresponding author by email and requested an explanation within a week. The corresponding author replied within the deadline but the editor did not find the… - Case
Plagiarism in a case report
…either an expression of concern about plagiarism or a letter of apology from the author. The Forum suggested finding out if one or both of the authors were involved in the plagiarism. The Forum noted that it is important that the published paper, if genuine, is linked to some form of formal correction, which could be either an expression of concern of a letter of apology.…