Self plagiarism

Today I learnt about a term that I never knew existed - self plagiarism. I understand that plagiarism is when an author copies the ideas or work of another author and pretends that is their own work without correctly citing the original author's work. However, the idea of self plagiarism is new to me.

According to PR Newswire (2011) this is a growing concern in scholarly research. The definition of self-plagiarism is " a type of plagiarism in which the writer republishes a work in its entirety or reuses portions of a previously written text while authoring a new work" (iThenticate, 2011). This is a topic that is hotly debated as some authors believe that it is not possible to self-plagiarize if they are using their own ideas and words. The American Psychological Association explain the difference between the two “Whereas
plagiarism refers to the practice of claiming credit for the words, ideas, and concepts of others, self-plagiarism
refers to the practice of presenting one’s own previously published work as though it were new” (American Psychological Association, cited in iThenticate, 2011).

To avoid self-plagiarizing an author must cite their own work correctly, but must ensure that they do not use large portions of their own text, even if it is quoted and cited correctly. It is not specifically stated how much a large portion is. The reason for this is that the author will infringe copyright if they have signed over rights to their publisher (iThenticate, 2011, p.2). Authors must also let the reader know that they have used this information before (iThenticate, p.1).

It is therefore in the author's best interest to become familiar with copyright laws. As students we must be also be aware of copyright laws and take care when writing assignment.




References

PR Newswire. (2011). iThenticate examines "The ethics of self-plagiarism" in New White Paper. Retrieved from http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ithenticate-examines-the-ethics-of-self-plagiarism-in-new-white-paper-128586423.html

iThenticate. (2011). White Paper: The ethics of self-plagiarism. Retrieved from http://www.ithenticate.com/Portals/92785/media/ith-selfplagiarism-whitepaper.pdf