Plagiarism and Self-plagiarism

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Recent decision in Professor Chan Yan Cheong v The Research Grants Council of the University Grants Committee [2020] HKCFI 459 (18 March 2020)

Prof Chan, Chair Professor in the Dept of Electrical Engineering at CityU, made a funding application to RGC in April 2013. He included a Figure with no reference to the original source.  When asked by RGC about the lack of acknowledgement for the Figure, Prof Chan replied it was due to oversight. He apologised and asked for the Figure to be withdrawn. RGC did not allow it.  RGC asked CityU to investigate a possible case of plagiarism.  CityU’s Investigation Panel (endorsed by their VP(R&Tech) found

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The importance of formal procedures to deal with allegations of research misconduct

Professor Richard Epstein (University of Chicago Law School) has written an article in which he emphasises the importance of "established and settled institutional arrangements" (rather than "sloppy and ad hoc procedures") to investigate allegations of research misconduct in each university. Epstein points out that there should be no appearance of bias by the person(s) responsible for the investigation. Referring to his own experience in shaping the procedures at the University of Chicago, he writes that: "in order to avoid any risk of bias, the appointment of the

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Should you peer review an article written by a former colleague?

Prof. Mark Israel (Australasian Human Research Ethics Consultancy Services) has kindly given permission for this hypothetical case study to be reproduced. Karen is asked by a journal to review an article written by a former colleague. They have not co-authored together, though they did discuss doing so once. They are both in the same very narrow field of specialisation and have found themselves repeatedly competing for the same jobs around the world. This article appears to be covering similar ground to the work Karen recently

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HKU Policy on Research Integrity: Plagiarism

Section 3.1 ('Plagiarism and self-plagiarism') of the HKU Policy on Research Integrity contains the following: Plagiarism is the use of another person’s work (including but not limited to any materials, creations, ideas and data) as if one’s own without due acknowledgement, whether or not such work has been published and regardless of the intent to deceive; Self-plagiarism is the reuse of one’s own work without acknowledging that such work has been submitted elsewhere. References to what could constitute plagiarism can be found in the University

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Do the same plagiarism rules apply when courts copy a party’s submissions in the judgment?

In Cojocaru v British Columbia Women’s Hospital and Health Centre [2013] 2 S.C.R. 357, the trial judge's decision copied significant parts of the Plaintiffs' submissions (although he did not accept all of their submissions). The trial judge did not, however, attribute the incorporated material to its original author. The trial judge did discuss some issues and concluded in his own words. The Defendants were held to be liable in negligence. The Court of Appeal for British Columbia held, by a majority, that the trial judge's

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The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity: Plagiarism

The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (jointly published by the European Science Foundation and ALL European Academies (ALLEA)), and to which the HKU Policy on Research Integrity makes reference in Section 2) defines plagiarism in Section 2.2.4 ('Integrity in science and scholarship: misconduct') as: "the appropriation of another person's ideas, research results or words without giving appropriate credit. The precise wording of an idea or explanation or illustrative material (such as original figures and photographs, as well as lengthy tables) in textbooks or

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Should you publish new articles similar to previous ones?

Prof. Mark Israel (Australasian Human Research Ethics Consultancy Services) has kindly given permission for this hypothetical case study to be reproduced. Mark is seen as an expert in his field of research ethics and research integerity. He is repeatedly invited to write chapters for edited research collections. The requests often ask him to draft similar articles to ones he has already published, albeit with changes to the jurisdiction or disciplinary mix. How should he plan his publication strategy? Commentary (by Dexter Leung) In the HKU

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