Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29451552›Full record

ArticleResearch integrity and peer review2016

Plagiarism in submitted manuscripts: incidence, characteristics and optimization of screening-case study in a major specialty medical journal.

Janet R Higgins, Feng-Chang Lin, James P Evans

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Research integrity and peer review, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
18citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Exercise therapy for chronic low back pain.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021
    Pooled it
  2. Navigating the Editorial Gauntlet for Excellence in Radiology Publishing.The Indian journal of radiology & imaging · 2025
    Article
  3. Detection of plagiarism among rhinology scientific journals.International forum of allergy & rhinology · 2024
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Decoding Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty inPlastic surgery (Oakville, Ont.) · 2021
    Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Text Recycling in Scientific Writing.Science and engineering ethics · 2019
    Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Making the scientific literature fail-safe.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2018
    Article
  17. Research integrity and peer review · 2018
    Article
  18. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Janet R Higgins1American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, Bethesda, MD USA.ORCID 0000-0002-5342-382X
Feng-Chang Lin2Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC USA.
James P Evans3Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPlagiarism is common and threatens the integrity of the scientific literature. However, its detection is time consuming and difficult, presenting challenges to editors and publishers who are entrusted with ensuring the integrity of published literature.

methodsIn this study, the extent of plagiarism in manuscripts submitted to a major specialty medical journal was documented. We manually curated submitted manuscripts and deemed an article contained plagiarism if one sentence had 80 % of the words copied from another published paper. Commercial plagiarism detection software was utilized and its use was optimized.

resultsIn 400 consecutively submitted manuscripts, 17 % of submissions contained unacceptable levels of plagiarized material with 82 % of plagiarized manuscripts submitted from countries where English was not an official language. Using the most commonly employed commercial plagiarism detection software, sensitivity and specificity were studied with regard to the generated plagiarism score. The cutoff score maximizing both sensitivity and specificity was 15 % (sensitivity 84.8 % and specificity 80.5 %).

conclusionsPlagiarism was a common occurrence among manuscripts submitted for publication to a major American specialty medical journal and most manuscripts with plagiarized material were submitted from countries in which English was not an official language. The use of commercial plagiarism detection software can be optimized by selecting a cutoff score that reflects desired sensitivity and specificity.

Indexed as

iThenticateOptimizationPlagiarism detection

Identifiers

PMID29451552
PMCPMC5803627

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.