Stuart poses an interesting question which I have often pondered. When
one's research projects are narrowly focused, the literature review for one
manuscript is going to overlap considerably with others. If one did a good job
of summarizing the literature in an earlier manuscript, should she feel obliged
to reword it for a subsequent manuscript, when a rewording might not be as well
written as that presented in the earlier manuscript?
I have often been tempted to write "I have already written most of what
should be said here, please go read my article in the February 2008 Journal of
Neuroscatology, and I'll just add a few new things here." Somehow I think this
would not be well received.
By the way, it is likely that I have previously written "Stuart poses
an interesting question," so maybe I am guilty here of "self-plagiarism." Will
that cause me to get warts or go blind? :-)
Cheers,
Karl W.
-----Original Message-----
From: Stuart McKelvie [mailto:smcke...@ubishops.ca]
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 8:17 PM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: RE: [tips] Can you plagiarize your own work?
Dear Tipsters,
May I ask how Chris and others how you would react to this?
I recently was asked to review two papers from two different journals. One
manuscript was anonymous and the other was not.
The two papers presented different data but they referred to fairly similar
research questions.
Large chunks of the two introductions were word-for-word the same.
Parts of the method were word-for-word the same.
There was no clear cross-referencing for these bits of the text in the two
manuscripts.
I saw this as (self-) plagiarism and expressed this view to the referees in
very strong terms.
Do you think I was wrong?
Sincerely,
Stuart
___________________________________________________________________
Stuart J. McKelvie, Ph.D., Phone: (819)822-9600, Extension 2402
Department of Psychology, Fax: (819)822-9661
Bishop's University,
2600 College Street,
Sherbrooke (Borough of Lennoxville),
Québec J1M 1Z7,
Canada.
E-mail: smcke...@ubishops.ca
or stuart.mckel...@ubishops.ca
Bishop's University Psychology Department Web Page:
http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
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