Definition: The unlawful imitation and publication of an artistic or scientific work created by another; theft of intellectual property. [Duden: Das Fremdwörterbuch, 1990]

Some people confuse plagiarism with other types of academic misconduct. This chapter will list and define some of these types, but only plagiarism will be discussed in detail in this unit. However, some are also borderline plagiarism.

• Improper citation: Sometimes only the book, not the exact page, or a web site URL is cited as the source only at the top level (“www.spiegel.de”), which is not sufficient because the point of a citation is to make the source retrievable by others. Some authors are of the opinion that it is sufficient to cite the sources in the appendix because they believe that footnotes disrupt the flow of reading. However, you cannot expect the reader to look through all the sources if you want to follow up a statement, and it is not clear what comes from the author and what comes from other sources. If in doubt, you should always include a footnote with the exact source.

• Inventing data: Conducting research is time-consuming - some researchers make life easy for themselves and make up suitable results. Well-known representatives of this bad habit are Cyril Burt, Jan Hendrik Schön, Herrmann/Brach, and others.

• Buying term papers: Many so-called homework exchanges exist that supposedly only sell looking at other students' homework. However, many students believe that they acquire the rights to use the work (sometimes 50 euros or more are charged for work) and submit it under their own name. No work of their own has been done here, except to pay, use their own name and submit it.

• ius primæ noctis: Some professors believe they have a kind of “right of the first night” or the first exploitation of their students' work because they were involved in the supervision. However, if they were involved in such a way that they have the sole right of exploitation, the work is not removable as examination work; however, if it is examination work, the right of exploitation lies solely with the student. [See the legal expertise in the Plagiarism portal]. The same applies to the unfortunately not uncommon practice of doctoral students either rephrasing or copying large parts of the dissertations they supervise in their own doctoral theses. The same applies here: simply cite, then it is clear what comes from the author and what does not.

• Usual use: There are professors - especially in the field of law - who believe that it is perfectly acceptable to use comments from other colleagues without citing the source. It is said to be common in this subject because judges also like to copy verbatim from lawyers' submissions. In the “Little Book of Plagiarism” by Richard Posner, this behavior is discussed from a US perspective. But just because it's common or more convenient or easier or more readable - it's not scientific.

[Fremde Federn Finden – Eine E-Learning Einheit
Copyright (C) 2007, 2008, 2009 Debora Weber-Wulff, Some rights reserved.]

“Predatory journals” are journals that use aggressive advertising to encourage researchers to publish, but provide no or completely inadequate quality assurance measures and also charge publication fees for this business practice. These journals and their publishers simultaneously damage the reputation of all scientific publishers and the reputation of the Golden Road of Open Access. Similar activities are pursued by 'Predatory Conferences Organizers', who organize dubious conferences and invite researchers to participate and attend these events.” (Quote: HGF Coordination Office Open Science).

Predatory publishing is the “black sheep” of open access journals

Many open access journals are funded by article processing charges (APCs), also known as publication fees. A small number of these journals are “black sheep” which provide little or no editorial or publishing services in return for the money they charge.

These kinds of business practices are often referred to as “predatory publishing”. In many cases this method of doing business is associated with spam emails which encourage authors to submit their work. These emails often include details designed to tempt authors, such as unrealistically short deadlines by which the journal insists it can complete the peer review process.

While the dubious nature and intentions of some journals are obvious at first glance – for example due to multiple typing and printing errors in their emails and on their website – others may initially appear legitimate until some further investigations are carried out. The reason some of these predatory journals appear professional is that they often make their website and academic credentials look very similar to those of well-known, legitimate journals in order to deliberately confuse people. Sometimes they even pretend that their editorial board includes well-known scientists who, in reality, have nothing whatsoever to do with the journal.

It is therefore important to remain sceptical when considering where to submit your article, especially if you’re dealing with lesser-known open access journals. (Zitat: Dr. Jasmin Schmitz, Open Access Advisory Services, Publisso, ZBMed)

Sharing research results with the world is key to the progress of your discipline and career. But with so many publications, how can you be sure you can trust a particular journal?

More and more publishers contact authors and ask them to publish in their journals – and more and more of them are fake or very-low-quality. Here are some examples:
• OMICS International
• WASET
• Sciencedomain
• VDM
• Syrwood

To avoid publishing with such a publisher, you can use this check list:

Reference this list for your chosen journal to check if it is trusted.

• Do you or your colleagues know the journal?
– Have you read any articles in the journal before?
– Is it easy to discover the latest papers in the journal?

• Can you easily identify and contact the publisher?
– Is the publisher name clearly displayed on the journal website?
– Can you contact the publisher by telephone, email, and post?

• Is the journal clear about the type of peer review it uses?

• Are articles indexed in services that you use?

• Is it clear what fees will be charged?
– Does the journal site explain what these fees are for and when they will be charged?

• Do you recognise the editorial board?
– Have you heard of the editorial board members?
– Do the editorial board mention the journal on their own websites?

• Is the publisher a member of a recognized industry initiative?
– Do they belong to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) ?
– If the journal is open access, is it listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) ?
– If the journal is open access, does the publisher belong to the Open Access Scholarly Publishers’ Association (OASPA) ?
– Is the journal hosted on one of INASP’s Journals Online platforms (for journals published in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Central America and Mongolia) or on African Journals Online (AJOL, for African journals)?
– Is the publisher a member of another trade association?

[This list and more information can be found here: https://thinkchecksubmit.org/]

And last but not least: contact us bibliotheksleitung(at)geomar.de in case you have any questions!

Disclaimer
Important note: The information and links provided here do not represent any form of binding legal advice. They are solely intended to provide an initial basis to help get you on the right track. The GEOMAR Library has carefully checked the information included. However, we are unable to accept any liability whatsoever for any errors it may contain. Unless indicated otherwise, any statements concerning individual statutory norms or regulations refer to German law.