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How to deal with suspected plagiarism
Sao Paolo, Nov 2012
Sabine Kleinert
Senior Executive Editor, The Lancet
Don’t go just by percentage if screening
No cut-offs
Editorial judgement needed
Depends on extent, place in paper, attempts
to deceive…
COPE’s flowchart on plagiarism in
submitted paper
COPE’s flowchart on plagiarism in
submitted paper
It helps if you have clear definitions in instructions
to authors and state your policy on plagiarism
Consider sending your Cross-check report
COPE’s flowchart on plagiarism in
submitted paper
COPE’s flowchart on plagiarism in
submitted paper
Educate authors!
COPE’s flowchart on plagiarism in
a published paper
COPE’s flowchart on plagiarism in
a published paper
As before…..
COPE’s flowchart on plagiarism in
a published paper
You as editors are the guardians
of the scientific record
• You as editors are the guardians
• of the scientific record
COPE’s flowchart on plagiarism in
a published paper
You as editors are the guardians
of the scientific record
The problems with plagiarism
For discussion
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How much is too much?
Difficult to detect plagiarism of ideas
Plagiarism from grant proposals
Plagiarism by reviewers
Plagiarised paper might be published BEFORE original source
Method section might be ok
In review papers of non-native English speakers
When should institutions be informed and with which aim?
?sanctions by editors