iThenticate Blog

On Monday of last week, veteran journalist Nate Thayer found himself making headlines when he published correspondence between himself and Olga Khazan, an editor at The Atlantic. Khazan had asked Thayer if he would be willing to redraft a 4,200 word article he had published on “Basketball diplomacy” into a 1,200 word article for their site. However, Khazan said that she would not be able to pay for the rewrite and Thayer sternly declined the offer.

In this exclusive interview, researcher and co-editor-in-chief of an Elsevier scientific journal, Peter Blau, shines light on why miscondcut, particularly self-plagiarism, is a serious concern in research and publishing.

The recent plagiarism scandals in Germany have had a common theme: Plagiarism in the dissertation written by the politician.

Jonah Lehrer, best known for a plagiarism and fabrication scandal that ended his once-promising career in science journalism, recently created a controversy when it was revealed that he was paid a $20,000 honorarium to speak at a conference hosted by the Knight Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to innovation in journalism.

It’s been another rough week for German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Annette Schavan, a member of Merkel’s cabinet and the Education Minister for the country, has resigned after her Ph.D was revoked following an investigation into her doctoral thesis that found evidence of plagiarism.

There are few accusations and allegations that can haunt a person and their career longer than an allegation of plagiarism. This is partly because plagiarism is seen as a serious  offence, especially in academic, journalism and literary circles. However, it’s also because  the lines between what is and is not plagiarism is frequently blurry and prone to debate.

For the second time in under a year, a reporter at the Washington Post has been accused of plagiarism and has faced disciplinary action because of it.

CEO and founder Allen Narcisse of Ebyline, a service that allows qualified, experienced journalists to connect with editors and publications, spoke to us about his perspective on plagiarism. Being positioned between writers and editors, Narcisse discusses how big of a problem he thinks plagiarism is and why he thinks its a growing concern.