Russian academics fight back against fraud, plagiarism

A dissertation council reviewing work on the mediaeval era is not normally national news, but Russia was abuzz this month when historians convened to pass judgement: was the culture minister a fraud?

Ethics of research not so black and white

With federally funded research under growing scrutiny from the public, researchers face more pressure than ever to defend their work and make ethical decisions regarding their research process. However, a new study from sociologists ...

Boys plagiarise more than girls at school

Research by the University of the Balearic Islands has analysed the phenomenon of academic plagiarism among secondary school students. The study, published in the journal Comunicar, confirms that this practice is widespread ...

Zynga fires back in legal war with Electronic Arts

Zynga on Friday returned fire in a battle with Electronic Arts, accusing the videogame veteran of using unlawful tactics to squash competition from the newcomer which rose to stardom via Facebook.

Climate study gets pulled over plagiarism

Evidence of plagiarism and complaints about the peer-review process have led a statistics journal to retract a federally funded study that condemned scientific support for global warming.

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Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous boundaries. The modern concept of plagiarism as immoral and originality as an ideal emerged in Europe only in the 18th century, particularly with the Romantic movement, while in the previous centuries authors and artists were encouraged to "copy the masters as closely as possible" and avoid "unnecessary invention."

The 18th century new morals have been institutionalized and enforced prominently in the sectors of academia and journalism, where plagiarism is now considered academic dishonesty and a breach of journalistic ethics, subject to sanctions like expulsion and other severe career damage. Not so in the arts, which not only have resisted in their long-established tradition of copying as a fundamental practice of the creative process, but with the boom of the modernist and postmodern movements in the 20th century, this practice has been heightened as the central and representative artistic device. Plagiarism remains tolerated by 21st century artists.

Plagiarism is not a crime per se but is disapproved more on the grounds of moral offence, and cases of plagiarism can involve liability for copyright infringement.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA