Slide deck: 4 Common types of plagiarism in academic publishing

When referring to carefully detailed data or perfectly worded text from existing articles, you may be tempted to use it as-is to enhance your own writing. But take care, because attempting to use the ideas, words, images, or work of another person, without giving them due credit, is termed as plagiarism and is considered extremely unethical. So does that mean you can never refer to articles published by other researchers? Not at all!

Research is incremental, built on existing knowledge and on the work of other researchers in your field. Just be sure to acknowledge and cite all your sources clearly and completely to avoid the most common types of plagiarism.

Many researchers fall prey to the plagiarism trap; some do this deliberately when faced with the intense pressure to publish, while others stumble into this unintentionally. In fact, one of the most common types of plagiarism is using parts of your own previously published work without citing it properly. If your research paper has any of these types of plagiarism, the journal editor may likely end up rejecting it, regardless of its significance. This makes it critical for authors to know and understand the different types of plagiarism.

This slide deck, created by one of our senior editors Andrea Hayward, briefly explains the 4 types of plagiarism in academic publishing. You will also learn how you can minimize duplication and tackle the different types of plagiarism, what journals look for to identify plagiarism in research papers, and the possible consequences of plagiarism for authors.