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Case 2b :

Plagiarism—Self Plagiarism aka Duplicate Publication

Sheena is stomping down the hallway in a fit of rage!

She thinks,

"How many ways can I possibly re-state that I swabbed their cheeks, used the same standard method to render the DNA as everyone has seen on CSI, and then sequenced the genes I was told to find? Did they really miss the information on such a boring part of this paper?"

The truth is, though, Sheena is angrier at herself than at the editor.

Last week, Sheena excitedly submitted her third article in three weeks. Having completed all of the analyses and write up for her PhD defense, which is in two weeks, Sheena did what her advisor told her to do. Sheena condensed the material in each chapter into an article length submission and "borrowed" the text from her thesis abstract and the data and methods chapter to fill in the material at the beginning of the article.

This morning, the editor from the third journal returned her manuscript to her with a rejection and a curt note informing her that,

"Following a standard check of submissions using iThenticate plagiarism detection software, we discovered that major portions of your article are already published or under review elsewhere. This journal does not accept plagiarized material or duplicate submissions for review".

Sheena was furious that the editor accused her of plagiarism. She wrote the material!

"What, am I supposed to cite myself now?"

The worst part is, Sheena believes she should let her supervisor know about this incident. Her supervisor and the editor are friends and she fears that the editor has already informed her supervisor too.

• Is this a case of plagiarism?
• What type of plagiarism?
• Is this a case of copyright infringement?
   

Imagine you are Sheena and you are on your way to your supervisor's office, how could you answer the following questions:

• Is self-plagiarism "plagiarism"?
• How ought we credit our own work that is not published yet?
• What is so wrong with reusing the "boring" text of the data and methods section?
• What ought Sheena do now?