What is self-plagiarism?
Plagiarism is claiming as your own something that is actually not your own. In the context of scholarly publishing, that something is usually blocks of text, illustrations, photographs, equations, etc. Self-plagiarism is used for situations in which that claim refers to such matter that might have belonged to you once but you are now claiming – either in ignorance or with intention – as fresh and original and never used before.
Self-plagiarism explained with examples
Consider a laboratory procedure that you developed at one time and described as part of a published paper that you wrote. To save the time and effort, you simply copy the original description and paste it into another paper which you are currently writing. Now, if you remember to place that text within quotation marks and provide a citation to your previous paper, all is well and you cannot be accused of plagiarism. However, if the copied text gives no indication that it has been published before, you are guilty of self-plagiarism.
“But I wrote that description of the procedure myself. I am not copying somebody else’s writing and passing it off as my own,” I hear you saying. True, but you have already used it once—and you are hiding that fact by skipping the quotation marks and the accompanying citation. And that is the crux of the matter: in effect, you are doing readers a disservice. Take another example: you wrote a grant application and then used part of the text as introduction to a research paper. Does that constitute self-plagiarism? It does, although less blatantly.
Self-plagiarism defined
As the Office of Research Integrity, part of the United States Dept. of Health & Human Services, puts it, “Self-plagiarism is often described in the context of several distinct practices in which some or all elements of a previous publication (e.g., text, data, and images) are reused in a new publication with ambiguous acknowledgement or no acknowledgement at all as to their prior dissemination.”
Self-plagiarism is often referred to as text-recycling. As you can see in the following definition of text recycling, the two concepts overlap:
Text recycling is the reuse of textual material (prose, visuals, or equations) in a new document where (1) the material in the new document is identical to that of the source (or substantively equivalent in both form and content), (2) the material is not presented in the new document as a quotation (via quotation marks or block indentation), and (3) at least one author of the new document is also an author of the prior document.
Consequences of self-plagiarism
Doing readers a disservice is only one aspect of plagiarism and far less serious than publishing identical papers more than once in different journals although the author remains the same. Such duplicate publication is unethical and amounts to serious misconduct. An editorial describing how the journal in question dealt with a case of publication misconduct suggests possible actions, which include
• disallowing future publications by the guilty author for a specified time
• bringing the instance of misconduct to the author’s employers or to the relevant professional body with a request to look into the matter
• informing the editors of other journals in the field
• publishing an open rebuke.
Avoiding self-plagiarism
It is a myth that text recycling is plagiarism but the myth is widespread. Here is what you as an author should do to avoid being charged with self-plagiarism.
• Signal any verbatim, or word-for-word, reproduction (copying and pasting) of previously published text by enclosing it in quotation marks and giving the source in the form of a citation.
• Dispense with the quotes if you have borrowed blocks of text from sources written by you but not yet published or not meant for publication.
• Inform the editor of the journal while submitting any manuscript that is largely based on or derived from your own but unpublished work (a manuscript based on your thesis or a completed project, for example).
Conclusion
Borrowing from your published text, even if you signal the fact with quotation marks and citation, can be a violation of copyright. (You may have signed a release handing over the copyright to the journal that published the article from which you have borrowed some text or other matter.) But that is a topic for another post. For the present, remember that self-plagiarism can have unintended consequences, and it is safer to mention upfront that you are reusing your own text – but without violating any copyright – and supply the relevant information or citation and use quotation marks if required.
Comments
You're looking to give wings to your academic career and publication journey. We like that!
Why don't we give you complete access! Create a free account and get unlimited access to all resources & a vibrant researcher community.
Subscribe to Manuscript Writing
