minimum plagiarism percentage for research paper

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Plagiarism in Scientific Research and Publications and How to Prevent It

Faculty of medicine, University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Quality is assessed on the basis of adequate evidence, while best results of the research are accomplished through scientific knowledge. Information contained in a scientific work must always be based on scientific evidence. Guidelines for genuine scientific research should be designed based on real results. Dynamic research and use correct methods of scientific work must originate from everyday practice and the fundamentals of the research. The original work should have the proper data sources with clearly defined research goals, methods of operation which are acceptable for questions included in the study. When selecting the methods it is necessary to obtain the consent of the patients/respondents to provide data for execution of the project or so called informed consent. Only by the own efforts can be reached true results, from which can be drawn conclusions and which finally can give a valid scholarly commentary. Text may be copied from other sources, either in whole or in part and marked as a result of the other studies. For high-quality scientific work necessary are expertise and relevant scientific literature, mostly taken from publications that are stored in biomedical databases. These are scientific, professional and review articles, case reports of disease in physician practices, but the knowledge can also be acquired on scientific and expert lectures by renowned scientists. Form of text publications must meet standards on writing a paper. If the article has already been published in a scientific journal, the same article cannot be published in any other journal with a few minor adjustments, or without specifying the parts of the first article which is used in another article. Copyright infringement occurs when the author of a new article, with or without mentioning the author, uses a substantial portion of previously published articles, including past contributions in the first article. With the permission of the publisher and the author, another journal can re-publish the article already published. In that case, that is not plagiarism, because the journal states that the article was re-published with the permission of the journal in which the article is primarily released. The original can be only one, and the copy is a copy, and plagiarism is stolen copy. The aim of combating plagiarism is to improve the quality, to achieve satisfactory results and to compare the results of their own research, rather than copying the data from the results of other people's research. Copy leads to incorrect results. Nowadays the problem of plagiarism has become huge, or widespread and present in almost all spheres of human activity, particularly in science.

Scientific institutions and universities should have a center for surveillance, security, promotion and development of quality research. Establishment of rules and respect the rules of good practice are the obligations of each research institutions, universities and every individual researchers, regardless of which area of science is being investigated. There are misunderstandings and doubts about the criteria and standards for when and how to declare someone a plagiarist. European and World Association of Science Editors (EASE and WAME), and COPE - Committee on Publishing Ethics working on the precise definition of that institution or that the scientific committee may sanction when someone is proven plagiarism and familiarize the authors with the types of sanctions. The practice is to inform the editors about discovered plagiarism and articles are withdrawn from the database, while the authors are put on the so-called black list. So far this is the only way of preventing plagiarism, because there are no other sanctions.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND PHASES OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

Jacques Yves Cousteau said: “What is a scientist after all? Scientist is a curious man looking through a keyhole of nature, trying to understand what is happening” ( 1 ).

Whether it comes to young enthusiasts eager to contribute to the scientific community or, in turn, experienced scientific researchers who want to establish their name in the pillars of science for the general good of the research, from the idea to the final realization there is a certain sequence of steps to be followed ( 2 ). Scientific research in medicine is the process of implementation of systemic study within well-defined aspects which can contribute to universal mental, physical and social well-being of individuals and communities, as defined in the Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO). There are several types of medical scientific research: laboratory, clinical research and public health. Scientific research contributes to the community and individuals in the community. The benefit to the community is reflected in the collection of evidence that will enhance clinical and socio-medical policies and practices, identifying health problems and methods of health promotion, prevention of disease and disability, the expansion of scientific literature that is the basis for all future scientific research, policy and practice. The well-being of the individual is acquiring new knowledge, and the development of new, improved skills, which will result in the individual academic growth ( 3 , 4 , 5 ).

1.1 Scientific research

In order that research project be valuable and recognized by the academic community and other researchers, it is essential that contains the same elements as other articles. It does not matter to which level of academic status belong the author of the study, it is essential that the steps are the same for all studies. The author Kathryn H. Jacobsen in her book “Introduction to Research Methods in Health: A Practical Guide” ( 1 ) states that the research process consists of five steps: problem identification, selection of the research manner, the choice of study design and data collection, data analysis and writing the conclusion ( 5 , 9 ).

Studies on the population level have clearly defined goals, while the most important of these are ( 5 – 10 ):

• Identifying and classifying new clinical identity;
• Detection of risk factors for disease;
• The development and testing of new protocols for the prevention or treatment of disease ( 1 , 8 ).

The process of scientific research from ideas, hypothesizing, through evidence, analysis of results, to the conclusion and publication of research results in an indexed journal can take months, even years. Unfortunately, the funds allocated for research is often provided by the researchers themselves, and it is a major limiting factor that some research can even begin or end.

1.2 Stages of scientific research

Scientific research has several stages ( 11 - 20 ):

• Determining research topics;
• The choice of scientific methods of research;
• Study design and data collection;
• Data processing, analysis and interpretation;
• Writing and publishing a scientific article;

1.3 Rules for proper research

In order that study had its purpose and effects, but also justify the intent and invested funds, it must meet certain postulates:

• Every scientific research from idea to written scientific article should go through certain phases: the review of the relevant literature on the topic of research, defining the objectives and hypotheses of research, sample selection for the study, implementation of research based on scientific methodological principles, statistical analysis, comparing the obtained own results with results of other authors published in scientific publications, conclusions and specific recommendations for any specific application in practice. Study design and project outline research are usually conducted by experienced researchers as mentors and by own work;
• Researchers and authors of scientific papers must follow the rules of the Ethics Code of Good Scientific Practice (GSP), primarily to follow the principles of honesty and integrity;
• Researchers rely on published data, and must be trained to selectively process the information, then, must be able to distinguish between original ideas and, finally, to have knowledge in order that their research results are compared with previously published in the scientific literature.

In order to achieve and realize the above mentioned:

• Authors are required to follow ethical principles and stick to moral and legal regulations acceptable by the scientific community;
• Authors must properly cite relevant publications and cite facts and conclusions, or published or unpublished ideas and words of other researchers and authors. The reader should be clearly informed of the facts from the original texts of other authors, or of recycled articles from other sources (numerical marking, following Vancouver, the Harvard, APA, PubMed and other rules of citation of articles and other sources, for example: 2,9,14,15, etc.);
• Authors should properly cite references in their original form (the author(s), article title, abbreviated journal title, year of publication, volume editions, number, initial and final page of the published article, or the other sources in accordance to the order prescribed);
• Authors should use the knowledge acquired in the lectures, conferences or other sources of scientific and technical literature, provided that each source must include full bibliographic information;
• Authors must each citation in the text indicated in the bibliography at the end of the text and put it in quotation marks copied the contents of which have more than six consecutive words;
• Authors must obtain permission from other authors or publishers of scientific reproduction of protected materials (texts, images, charts, graphs, etc.) copyright;
• If the author re-used text or attachment as another author's own observations, then published in the article, in quotation marks, should be accompanied by a quote of recycled text, published in the primary source;
• Authors and coauthors must sign a declaration of originality and authorship which provides descriptions of contribution by each of them separately in an article that is going to be published;
• Every author of the publication must respect the rules of writing an article in which he/she wants to publish the article, considering that most journals have their own rules, but in line with the principles ICMJE, COPE, etc.

1.4 Scientific publishing

Publications are the products of scientific work. Once published, scientific work becomes a source of reference, post publishing review and critique. To contribute to the largest evidence-based medicine (EBM), the paper should be credible, while honesty of each author becomes a pillar of trust in science. Researchers become responsible for what they publish and influence the future of the publication, science and education in general.

2. SCIENTOMETRICS

Scientometrics is part of Scientology (the science of science) that analyzes scientific papers and their citations in scientific journals selected sample ( 1 , 8 ).

The term scientometrics first appeared in the literature in 1969. The original definition of scientometrics is that it is a scientific discipline or field of science that deals with the study of science as an information process by applying quantitative (statistical) methods, and later Tibor Braun (who is the 1977 formed an international magazine Scientometrics) introduced the world to name Scientometrics ( 8 ). Some of the indicators used in the evaluation of scientific research ( 1 , 8 ):

• Impact Factor;
• Citing articles;
• Citing journal;
• The number and order of authors, etc.

Impact factor is the number of citations of articles published in the journal during the previous two years, divided by the total number of articles published in the journal for the same time period. Impact factor depends on: the quality of the journal, the language in which it was printed, the territory covered by the distribution system ( 8 ).

2.1 Impact factor (IF)

Given the growing number of scientific publications, there is a need among the readership to assess quality and reliable source of information. IF is the most commonly used evaluation aid. IF does not indicate quality, but high impact factor indicates the possibility of high quality ( 1 , 4 , 6 , 8 ).

In order to assessed IF and citation in general, it uses a large number of databases, such as Thomson Reuters' Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, etc. Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports are involved and the scientific citation index (Science Citation Index, SCI) and Social Scientific Citation Index (SSCI) ( 1 ).

In the use of IF there are some pitfalls to be avoided ( 1 ):

The two-year period is not long enough to assess the quality over quoting, as in many disciplines, yet these publications did not reach the top. Five-year estimate of IF gives better results.

Citing is considered as “currency” of modern science, which is why its analysis of the editors, authors and readers become indispensable. Many authors, intentionally and inappropriately, citing their previous articles to raise their rating in the research community.

SCI database covers less than one-quarter reviews of contemporary journals and shows preference to journals in the English language. As a result this reveals a serious discrepancy between the citation in English and in other languages.

In 2009 an article had 5,624 citations, which shifted IF this journal from 3 to 49.93 while all other articles in this journal had three or less citations. Because of this uneven distribution it is impossible to estimate the IF on the basis of a single article or author ( 1 , 5 ).

Incompleteness depends among other things on, the discipline, the language and location of scientists–researchers.

Articles within the fast growing discipline is more quoted than traditional scientific fields, such as mathematics and theoretician. These varieties give a distorted picture of the rating of certain journals. Also, some subject areas are additionally cited with works from other areas. Examples of medical, clinical studies that rely on the results of basic science, resulting in 3-5 times larger number of citations of articles of basic medicine in relation to the clinical part. The consequence is that the basic medical journals have higher IF of the journal Clinical Medicine, which does not give a realistic picture of any original research note. On the other hand, review articles are cited more often than the original parts, so many journals and IF it's rating rose by publishing an increasing number of review articles.

Invalid works, such articles withdrawn continue to be cited in other articles. It leads to the bias in the calculation of IF.

2.2 H-index and its application

H-index is based on the number of cited articles of an author published in a journal or other publications in relation to the number of citations of these articles in other publications. Citing provides insight into the scientific work because it encourages scientists to deal with the most current topics ( 1 , 8 ).

With regard to the respective issues when calculating the IF, the scientific community has proposed many solutions. Hirsch in 2005 suggests that every scientist has its own H-index. It is probably the simplest index, oriented on scientist and defined as the number of articles by the number of citations ≥ h. in order To raise his/hers H-index, the author must be cited additional 2h+1 times. For example, to increase its H-index from 4 to 5 must be quoted another nine times. Its only drawback is that this factor is unfavorable for young researchers who have not had enough opportunities to publish a large number of works in the short time they had available for research. Schreiber suggests that in calculating the H-index should not be used self citation because it is unethical and is subject to manipulation, and introduces the concept of “the honest h index, hh) ( 1 ). Yet, despite its many shortcomings, the Impact Factor is currently most often used metric tool for assessing the journal, which should be a message to researchers to continue their search for a reliable and applicable scientometrics method ( 1 , 22 ).

All persons who present themselves as the authors of the article must meet the following requirements: to have contributed significantly to the planning and preparation of the article, or analysis and interpretation of results and participated in writing and correcting the article, as well as to agree with the final version of the text. People engaged in collecting data or superior researchers, however, have not been active participants in the development of scientific work and cannot be authors. The editor has the right to ask the author to explain the individual contribution of each of them. The contribution of one author is 1, and if in the preparation of the article participated many authors, their contribution is 1/n. This means that the contribution of each subsequent is half the size of the contributions of previous author in order. The order is determined by agreement between the authors ( 8 , 9 ).

Citing is the way in which the author explains to the readers that certain textual content contained in particular paper is taken from another source. It also gives the reader insight they needed to find the original source, including:

Information concerning the author;

• Title of the article;
• Page numbers from which the material was taken;
• Time when some content was “downloaded” from some official sites where the content is stored and presented for public use (Open access).

Recognition of authorship by quoting is the only proper way to use the work of others and not to commit plagiarism. There are many reasons that source should be cited:

• Citing helps greatly to the one who wants to know more about the author's ideas and where these ideas came;
• Not all the sources are as good and true. Journals with a high above mentioned indices are relevant to quote;
• Citing shows how much work has gone into research;
• Citing helps the reader to distinguish between the author's and ideas of others.

Very important issues to be considered when quoting content of other authors from scientific publications are:

• When to use quotation marks;
• When to paraphrase;
• When to use an idea already expressed by someone?
• MLA (MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION);
• ACS (AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY);
• IEEE (INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS);
• NLM (NATIONAL LIBRARY OD MEDICINE);
• VANCOUVER (BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES);
• APA (AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION).

4. PLAGIARISM

4.1 definitions of plagiarism.

Plagiarism (Latin plagere =kidnap, plagiatum = “stealing people”), means the act of appropriation or copying someone else's written, artistic or other creative work as your own, either in part or in whole, without specifying the source or authorship of the original. Unlike forgery in which is questioned the authenticity of the work, plagiarism is the illegal and unethical copying of another's work, which is up as its own. Plagiarism is literary term for stealing, copying others' works. In recent years, it is interpreted as a violation of copyright. Generally speaking, plagiarism is when someone uses someone else's ideas, statements, linguistic style and does not recognize the intellectual authors. Plagiarism may be intentional or unintentional ( 1 , 4 , 6 , 12 ).

Types of plagiarism ( 12 ):

• Direct form–Fully or partially copy the text, computer files, audio or video recordings without mentioning the primary source;
• Mosaic form–Borrowing ideas and opinions from the original source, a few words and phrases without citing the source;
• Self-plagiarism–Reuse own work without specifying the primary (own) sources.
• In some ancient cultures of the Far East, certain forms of plagiarism were common.
• According to data from WAME - World Association of Medical Editors, precise definition of plagiarism is when are copied six consecutive words ( 6 , 21 ) in a continuous set of 30 used characters.

Generally speaking, plagiarism is when someone uses someone else's ideas, statements, linguistic style and does not recognize the intellectual pioneers. Plagiarism main goal is to deceive the reader. An interesting comment was made by Samuel Johnson, which one of the manuscripts received for publication characterized as follows: “Your work is good and original. Unfortunately, the parts that are good are not original, and the parts that are original are not good” ( 1 ).

It is “the tendency of literary theft and misappropriation of others spiritual property as a whole” or generally “attributed someone else's work as your own” ( 1 ).

4.2 Common causes of plagiarism

• Following trends of academic promotion and research funding, which entails the use of extensive text on the principle of “publish at all costs” or “Perish mantra”;
• Personal ambitions of poorly educated individuals;
• Financial pressure.

4.3 Types of plagiarism

Plagiarism is not always black and white issue. The boundary between plagiarism and research is sometimes unclear. Identifying different forms of plagiarism is a very important step towards its prevention.

Here are listed ten ( 10 ) most common types of plagiarism as follows:

• CLONE–Submitting someone else's work, which is just transcribed, as his/hers own;
• CTRL-C–Contains most of the text from a single source, without alterations;
• FIND–REPLACE–Changing key words and phrases, but retaining a substantial part of the content of the primary sources;
• REMIX–Paraphrasing multiple sources which are so arranged that complement each other;
• RECYCLE–The use of their own work (if the article is already published somewhere and not cited);
• HYBRID–Combine perfectly cited sources with the copied without citation;
• MASH UP–Blending the copied material which is taken from multiple sources;
• ERROR 404–Includes quoting non-existent or inaccurate source;
• AGGREGATOR–Include proper citation of sources, but contains almost nothing of their own work;
• RE–TWEET–Includes proper citation, but with too much text used from the original.

4.4 Plagiarizing others' research results

Unlike forgery in which is questioned the authenticity of the article, plagiarism when it comes to illegal and unethical taking of another's work, which is presented as its own.

Many people define plagiarism as copying someone else's work, or borrowing other people's ideas. But terms such as copying and lending may mask the seriousness of the offense.

According to Merriam–Webster dictionary plagiarism represents (1: a) The theft and use of other people's ideas or words as yours; b) Use of sources without attribution; c) Literary theft and d) presenting some ideas as own and as it is new, while this idea already exists in other source. In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud, involving the theft of someone else's work and presenting as own.

4.5 Is the theft of ideas and words really possible?

Statutory legislation in the academic community in the United States and other developed countries strictly protects the expression of their own ideas, which are considered intellectual property and are protected by copyrights. Almost all forms of expression are protected by Copyright as long as they are preserved in any medium (such as a book or a computer file).

4.6 That is why under plagiarism is considered ( 1 , 6 ):

• Presenting someone else's work as own;
• Copying words or ideas of another person without specifying the original authorship;
• Not using quotation marks;
• Giving incorrect information about the source that is cited;
• Changing words but copying the sentence structure of the source without specifying the source or authorship of the original;
• Copying so many words or ideas which eventually make most of the work, regardless of whether the source is acknowledged or not.

4.7 How to avoid plagiarism?

It is very easy to find information on a topic that needs to be explored, but it is not always easy to add that information to own work and do not create a plagiarism. There are ways to avoid plagiarism, and should just be followed simple steps when writing a paper.

There are several ways to avoid plagiarism ( 1 , 6 ):

• Paraphrasing - When information is found that is great for research, it is read and written with own words.
• Quote - Very efficient way to avoid plagiarism. It is literally the wording of certain authors and they sentences are always placed in quotes.
• Quotation or citation in the text marked with the number at the end of the citations while under this number is stated the reference from which the quote was taken.
• Citing own material - If the author of the material used it in an earlier paper, he/she shall quote he/she self, because if this is not done, he/she plagiarized him/herself
• References must be listed at the end of the article and includes sources where authors found the information in the given article.
• Always follow the rules to properly cite references, acknowledging ideas taken at conference and formal/informal conversations;
• Reference must include full bibliographic information;
• Any source that is specified in the text must be listed in the references;
• Quotation marks should be used if are copied more than six consecutive words;

The author must obtain permission from other authors/publishers to reproduce the tabular, graphic or picture attachments or used text under copyright ( 6 , 12 )

Unfortunately, digitizing made copy-paste plagiarism and inappropriate reuse resources from Web sites, online journals and other electronic media. Within academic institutions, plagiarism, which is made by students, professors or researchers is considered academic dishonesty or academic fraud. Researchers and professors are usually punished for plagiarism by sanctions, suspension or even loss of credibility. It was easier to detect plagiarism, during the 1980s. In the last century, began to develop software for the detection of academic (“Turnitin” and “Safe Assign” software) and scientific plagiarism (“Cross Check” and “eTBlast” software) ( 1 , 7 ). International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) has given a detailed explanation of what is not a duplicate publication. In the U.S. in 1989, ORI proposed sanctions for plagiarism ( 4 , 6 , 8 ).

Retractions in academic publishing have reached celestial heights–even increased tenfold in the last three decades, and the biggest reason for this is plagiarism and duplications (self plagiarism). The National Science Foundation (NSF) in March 2013 stated to explore more than 100 cases of suspected plagiarism in a year. Unfortunately, this problem is not limited to NSF, but also to other academic institutions as well as other spheres of interest, which is often revealed to the public only when scandals break out. In Germany, two prominent members of the Cabinet of the Prime Minister had to withdraw from office amid allegations of alleged plagiarism in dissertations. Similar scandals rocked Canada, the Philippines, Romania and Russia. Most high-publicity scandals are illuminated in the past three years, thanks to a significant extent bringing around readership of plagiarism as well as facilitated and increased access to instruments for the detection of plagiarism. This knowledge is worrisome because it indicates that plagiarism and duplication are not problems of recent date, but are now only more easily visible ( 20 ).

The software to detect plagiarism is well tested, widely available, economically affordable and easy to use. Although it relies on human analysis, this instrument can significantly speed up the process of validation of submission originality. Publications that require the use of instruments for the detection of plagiarism as part of the review and guideline authors have significantly reduced the number of rejected or withdrawn papers. On the other hand, a large number of organizations ignore this problem. In a survey conducted by Thenticate in October 2012, one of three scientific editors said they continue to face a plagiarized work, and according to the same survey, more than half of the scientific researchers do not check their work, but leaves the editors to detect plagiarism or duplication (even those unintended) ( 20 ).

To researchers is recommended that before they even send somewhere their work, to use the software in order to identify plagiarism or self-plagiarism, which perhaps they themselves are not aware of, in order to preserve public confidence, clean professional record and the further possibility of publishing and finance works. The scientific community, with special emphasis on publishers, must be clear and consistent in finding plagiarism, deterring it, with clear sanctions for those who violate these provisions ( 12 ).

5. MEASURES TO PREVENT PLAGIARISM

Historically, the first attempts to address scientific misconduct and dishonesty were initiated in the U.S. 1992 with the establishment of the Office of Research Integrity (ORI). The main tasks of this organization are to promote scientific integrity, the development of guidelines for scientific research and investigation of allegations of misconduct, especially in biomedicine. Based on the American model, many national bodies for ethics in science are founded on a global level.

Another major step forward was the establishment of a Committee on Publication Ethics based in the UK (COPE, 1997). COPE has introduced the scientific principles of fairness and developed a set of diagrams which recorded occurrence of plagiarism. If plagiarism is treated after publication, editors should inform the reader about the misconduct. Also, plagiarism can be detected electronically (e.g. Cross Check) ( 21 , 22 ).

At the international level, databases with cases of plagiarism should start publishing the names of all blacklisted–plagiarist.

Scientific and academic institutions should have a unit for monitoring, research and quality development. In accordance with the principles of the GSP and Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) institutions should take responsibility for the integrity of research reporting ( 23 - 26 ).

6. CONCLUSION

Modern medicine from a doctor requires continuous training, follow up of new medical discoveries and implementation of new knowledge into practice. A doctor in the PHC or in hospitals encounters with patients of different disease profiles, which are manifested in a different form, different intensity, with different response to therapy and different prognosis, so that every patient is a new experience. However, this experience and knowledge is often not sufficient for the best outcome for the patient and doctors are often forced to use additional reading and research on the problem of his/hers patient. Therefore, use of medical journals and articles that are in databases widely available to everyone who knows them properly. For this reason, it is particularly important that any research conducted revealed that published an article to be written according to the rules described above, to be conducted as meta-analyzes that will shorten “wondering” of readers trough the huge number of articles related to the problem and thus conclusions from made research combined with their knowledge and experience and to provide to the patient better service (on these principles is based Evidence Based Medicine EBM) ( 10 , 14 ).

On the other hand, thanks to the databases available on the Internet and medical journals, many researchers get ideas for their own research, and are used to compare the results of different studies, taking into account not to make plagiarism and proper citation is of utmost importance.

Finally, as more the author has been cited, his credibility is increased, indicating that the quality of its scientific research work. In literature and on various websites and blogs today is revealed a growing number of cases of plagiarism and other unethical behavior of the researchers. Described are several cases of plagiarism in the countries of the Balkan region. In the countries of former Yugoslavia, the number of plagiarism in books, articles, monographs, scientific papers and it is rapidly increasing. One important reason is that the newly introduced concept of the Bologna education requires academic staff to quickly and in large quantity publish scientific and professional articles for advancement in academic career, it has become counterproductive and degrades the quality of the published articles content. Plagiarism is now easier to detect thanks to databases and software packages specifically designed for this purpose.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: NONE DECLARED.

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Plagiarism in Research — The Complete Guide [eBook]

Table of Contents

Plagiarism can be described as the not-so-subtle art of stealing an already existing work, violating the principles of academic integrity and fairness. Well, there's no denying that we see further by standing on the shoulders of giants, and when it comes to constructing a research prose, we often need to look at the world through their lens. However, in this process, many students and researchers, knowingly or otherwise, resort to plagiarism.

In many instances, plagiarism is intentional, whether through direct copying or paraphrasing. Unfortunately, there are also times when it happens unintentionally. Regardless of the intent, plagiarism goes against the ethos of the scientific world and is considered a severe moral and disciplinary offense.

The good news is that you can avoid plagiarism and even work around it. So, if you're keen on publishing unplagiarized papers and maintaining academic integrity, you've come to the right place.

With this comprehensive ebook on plagiarism, we intend to help you understand what constitutes plagiarism in research, why it happens, plagiarism concepts and types, how you can prevent it, and much more.

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is defined as representing a part of or the entirety of someone else's work as your own. Whether published or unpublished, this could be ideas, text verbatim, infographics, etc. It is no different in the academic writing, either. However, it is not considered plagiarism if most of your work is original and the referred part is diligently cited.

The degree of plagiarism can vary from discipline to discipline. Like in mathematics or engineering, there are times when you have to copy and paste entire equations or proofs, which can take a significant chunk of your paper. Again, that is not constituted plagiarism, provided there's an analysis or rebuttal to it.

That said, there are some objective parameters defining plagiarism. Get to know them, and your life as a researcher will be much smoother.

Common types of plagiarism

Plagiarism often creeps into academic works in various forms, from complete plagiarism to accidental plagiarism.

The types of plagiarism varies depending on the two critical aspects — the writer's intention and the degree to which the prose is plagiarized. These aspects help institutions and publishers define plagiarism types more accurately.

The agreed-upon forms of plagiarism that occur in research writing include:

1. Global or Complete Plagiarism

Global or Complete plagiarism is inarguably the most severe form of plagiarism  — It is as good as stealing. It happens when an author blatantly copies somebody else's work in its entirety and passes it on as their own.

Since complete plagiarism is always committed deliberately and disguises the ownership of the work, it is directly recognized under copyright violation and can lead to intellectual property abuse and legal battles. That, along with irredeemable repercussions like a damaged reputation, getting expelled, or losing your job.

2. Verbatim or Direct Plagiarism

Verbatim or direct plagiarism happens when you copy a part of someone else's work, word-to-word, without providing adequate credits or attributions. The ideas, structure, and diction in your work would match the original author's work. Even if you were to change a few words or the position of sentences here and there, the final result remains the same.

The best way to avoid this is to minimize copy-pasting entire paragraphs and use it only when the situation calls for it. And when you do so, use quotation marks and in-text citations, crediting the original source.

3. Source-based Plagiarism

Source-based plagiarism results from an author trying to mislead or disguise the natural source of their work. Say you write a paper, giving enough citations, but when the editor or peer reviewers try to cross-check your references, they find a dead end or incorrect information. Another instance is when you use both primary and secondary data to support your argument but only cite the former with no reference for the latter.

In both cases, the information provided is either irrelevant or misleading. You may have cited it, but it does not support the text completely.

Similarly, another type of plagiarism is called data manipulation and counterfeiting . Data Manipulation is creating your own data and results. In contrast, data counterfeiting is skipping or adultering the key findings to suit your expected outcomes.

Using misinformed sources in a research study constitutes grave violations and offenses. Particularly in the medical field, it can lead to legal issues such as wrong data presentation. Its interpretation can lead to false clinical trials, which can have grave consequences.

4. Paraphrasing Plagiarism

Paraphrasing plagiarism is one of the more common types of plagiarism. It refers to when an author copies ideas, thoughts, and inferences, rephrases sentences, and then claims ownership.

Compared to verbatim, paraphrasing plagiarism involves changing words, sentences, semantics or translating texts. The general idea or the topic of the thesis, however, remains the same and as clever as it may seem, it is straightforward to detect.

More often authors commit paraphrasing by reading a few sources and writing them in their own words without due citation. This can lead the reader to believe that the idea was the author's own when it wasn’t.

5. Mosaic or Patchwork Plagiarism

One of the more mischievous ways to abstain from writing original work is mosaic plagiarism. Patchwork or mosaic plagiarism occurs when an author stitches together a research paper by lending pieces from multiple sources and weaving them as their creation. Sure, the author can add a few new words and phrases, but the meat of the paper is stolen.

It’s common for authors to refer to various sources during the research. But to patch them together and form a new paper from them is wrong.

Mosaic plagiarism can be difficult to detect, so authors, too confident in themselves, often resort to it. However, these days, there are plenty of online tools like Turnitin, Enago, and EasyBib that identify patchwork and correctly point to the sources from which you have borrowed.

6. Ghostwriting

Outside of the academic world, ghostwriting is entirely acceptable. Leaders do it, politicians do it, and artists do it. In academia, however, ghostwriting is a breach of conduct that tarnishes the integrity of a student or a researcher.

Ghostwriting is the act of using an unacknowledged person’s assistance to complete a paper. This happens in two ways — when an author has their paper’s foundation laid out but pays someone else to write, edit, and proofread. The other is when they pay someone to write the whole article from scratch.

In either case, it’s utterly unacceptable since the whole point of a paper is to exhibit an author's original thoughts presented by them. Ghostwriting, thus, raises a serious question about the academic capabilities of an author.

7. Self-plagiarism

This may surprise many, but rehashing previous works, even if they are your own, is also considered plagiarism. The biggest reason why self-plagiarism is a fallacy is because you’re trying to claim credit for something that you have already received credit for.

Authors often borrow their past data or experiment results, use them in their current work, and present them as brand new. Some may even plagiarize old published works' ideas, cues, or phrases.

The degree to which self-plagiarism is still under debate depends on the volume of work that has been copied. Additionally, many academic and non-academic journals have devised a fixed ratio on what percentage of self-plagiarism is acceptable. Unless you have made a proper declaration through citations and quotation marks about old data usage, it will fall under the scope of self-plagiarism.

8. Accidental Plagiarism

Apart from the intentional forms of plagiarism, there’s also accidental plagiarism. As the name suggests, it happens inadvertently. Unwitting paraphrasing, missing in-text or end-of-text citations, or not using quotation blocks falls under the same criteria.

While writing your academic papers, you have to stay cautious to avoid accidental plagiarism. The best way to do this is by going through your article thoroughly. Proofread as if your life depended on it, and check whether you’ve given citations where required.

Why is it important to avoid research plagiarism?

As a scholar, you must be aware that the sole purpose of any article or academic writing is to present an original idea to its readers. When the prose is plagiarized, it removes any credibility from the author, discredits the source, and leaves the reader misinformed which goes against the ethos of academic institutions.

Here are the few reasons why you should avoid research plagiarism:

Critical analysis is important

While writing research papers, an author must dive deep into finding various sources, like scholarly articles, especially peer-reviewed ones. You are expected to examine the sources keenly to understand the gaps in the chosen topic and formulate your research questions.

Crafting critical questions related to the field of study is essential as it displays your understanding and the analysis you employed to decipher the problems in the chosen topic. When you do this, your chances of being published improve, and it’s also good for your long-term career growth.

Streamlined scholarly communication

An extended form of scholarly communication is established when you respond and craft your academic work based on what others have previously done in a particular domain. By appropriately using others' work, i.e., through citations, you acknowledge the tasks done before you and how they helped shape your work. Moreover, citations expand the doorway for readers to learn more about a topic from the beginning to the current state. Plagiarism prevents this.

Credibility in originality

Originality is invaluable in the research community. From your thesis topic and fresh methodology to new data, conclusion, and tone of writing, the more original your paper is, the more people are intrigued by it. And as long as your paper is backed by credible sources, it further solidifies your academic integrity. Plagiarism can hinder these.

How does plagiarism happen?

Even though plagiarism is a cardinal sin and plagiarized academic writing is consistently rejected, it still happens. So the question is, what makes people resort to plagiarism?

Some of the reasons why authors choose the plagiarism include:

• Lack of knowledge about plagiarism
• Accidentally copying a work
• Forgetting to cite a source
• Desire to excel among peers
• A false belief that no one will catch them
• No interest in academic work and just taking that as an assignment
• Using shortcuts in the form of self-plagiarism
• Fear of failing

Whatever the reason an author may have, plagiarism can never be justified. It is seen as an unfair advantage and disrespect to those who have put in the blood, sweat, and tears into doing their due diligence. Additionally, remember that readers, universities, or publishers are only interested in your genuine ideas, and your evaluation, as an author, is done based on that.

Related Article: Citation Machine Alternatives — Top citation tools 2023

Consequences of plagiarism

We have reiterated enough that plagiarism is objectionable and has consequences. But what exactly are the consequences? Well, that depends on who the author is and the type of plagiarism.

For minor offenses like accidental plagiarism or missing citations, a slap on the wrist in the form of feedback from the editor or peers is the norm. For major cases, let’s take a look:

For students

• Poor grades

Even if you are a first-timer, your professor may choose to fail you, which can have a detrimental effect on your scores.

• Failing a course

It is not rare for professors to fail Ph.D. and graduate students when caught plagiarizing. Not only does this hurt your academics, but it also extends the duration of your study by a year.

• Disciplinary action

Every university or academic institution has strict policies and regulations regarding plagiarism. If caught, an author may have to face the academic review committee to decide their future. The results seen in general cases range from poor grades, failure for a year, or being banished from any academic or research-related work.

• Expulsion from the university

A university may resort to expulsion only in the worst of cases, like copyright violation or Intellectual Property theft.

• Tarnished academic reputation

This just might be the most consequential of all scenarios. It takes a lifetime to build a great impression but a few seconds to tarnish it. Many academics lose their peers' trust and find it hard to recover.  Moreover, background checks for future jobs or fellowships become a nightmare.

For universities

A university is built on reputation. Letting plagiarism slide is the quickest way to tarnish its reputation. This leads to lesser interest from top talent and publishers and trouble finding grant money.

Prospective students turning away from a university means losing out on tuition money. This further drives experienced faculty away. And the cycle continues.

For researchers

• Legal battles

Since it falls under copyright infringement, researchers may face legal battles if their academic work is believed to be plagiarized. There is no shortage of case studies, like those of Doris Kearns Goodwin or Mark Chabedi, where authors, without permission, used another person's work and claimed it to be their own. In all these instances, they faced legal issues that led to fines, barred from writing and research, and sometimes, imprisonment even.

• Professional reputation

Publishers and journals will not engage authors with a past of plagiarism to produce content under their brand name. Also, if the author is a professor or a fellow, it can lead to contract termination.

How to avoid plagiarism in research?

The simplest way to avoid plagiarism would be to put in the work. Do original research, collect new data, and derive new conclusions. If you use references, keep track of each and every single one and cite them in your paper.

To ensure that your academic writing or research paper is unique and free from any type of plagiarism, incorporate the following tips:

• Pay adequate attention to your references

Writing a paper requires extraordinary research. So, it’s understandable when researchers sometimes lose track of their references. This often leads to accidental plagiarism.

So, instead of falling into this trap, maintain lists or take notes of your reference while doing your research. This will help you when you’re writing your citations.

• Find credible sources

Always refer to credible sources, whether a paper, a conference proceeding or an infographic.  These will present unbiased evidence and accurate experimentation results with facts backing the evidence presented by your paper.

• Proper use of paraphrasing, quotations, and citations

It’s borderline impossible to avoid using direct references in your paper, especially if you’re providing a critical analysis or a rebuttal to an already existing article. So, to avoid getting prosecuted, use quotation marks when using a text verbatim.

In case you’re paraphrasing, use citations so that everyone knows that it’s not your idea. Credit the original author and a secondary source, if any. Publishers usually have guidelines about how to cite. There are many different styles like APA, MLA, Chicago, etc. Be on top of what your publisher demands.

Usually, it is observed that readers or the audience have a greater inclination towards paraphrasing than the quotes, especially if it is bulky sections. The reason is obvious: paraphrasing displays your understanding of the original work's meaning and interpretation, uniquely suiting the current state of affairs.

• Review and recheck your work multiple times

Before submitting the final, you must subject your work to scrutiny. Multiple times at that. The more you do it, the less your chances of falling under accidental plagiarism.  To ensure that your final work does not constitute any types of plagiarism, ensure that:

• There are no misplaced or missed citations
• The paraphrased text does not closely resemble the original text
• You don’t have any wrongful references
• You’re not missing quotation marks or failing to provide the author's credentials after quotation marks
• You use a plagiarism checker

More on how to avoid plagiarism .

On top of these, read your university or your publisher’s policies. All of them have their sets of rules about what’s acceptable and what’s not. They also define the punishment for any offense, factoring in its degree.

• Use Online Tools

After receiving your article, most universities, publishers, and other institutions will run it through plagiarism checkers, including AI detectors , to detect all types of plagiarism. These plagiarism checkers function based on drawing similarities between your article and previously published works present in their database. If found similar, your paper is deemed plagiarized.

You can always save yourself from embarrassment by staying a step ahead. Use a plagiarism checker before you submit your paper. Using plagiarism checker tools, you can quickly identify if you have committed plagiarism. Then, no one except you will know about it, and you will have a chance to correct yourself.

Best Plagiarism Checkers in 2023

Plagiarism checkers are an incredibly convenient tool for improving academic writing. Therefore, here are some of the best plagiarism checkers for academic writing.

Turnitin's iThenticate

This is one of the best plagiarism checker for your academic paper and a good fit for academic writers, researchers, and scholars.

Turnitin’s iThenticare claims to cross-check your paper against 99 billion+ current and archived web pages, 1.8 billion student papers, and best-in-class scholarly content from top publishers in every major discipline and dozens of languages.

The iThenticate plagiarism checker is now available on SciSpace. ( Instructions on how to use it .)

Grammarly serves as a one-stop solution for better writing. Through Grammarly, you can make your paper have fewer grammatical errors, better clarity, and, yes, be plagiarism-free.

Grammarly's plagiarism checker compares your paper to billions of web pages and existing papers online. It points out all the sentences which need a citation, giving you the original source as well. On top of this, Grammarly also rates your document for an originality score.

ProWritingAid

ProWritingAid is another AI writing assistant that offers a plethora of tools to better your document. One of its paid services include a ProWritingAid Plagiarism Checker that helps authors find out how much of their work is plagiarized.

Once you scan your document, the plagiarism checker gives you details like the percentage of non-original text, how much of that is quoted, and how much is not. It will also give you links so you can cite them as required.

EasyBib Plagiarism Checker

EasyBib Plagiarism Checker compares your writing sample with billions of available sources online to detect plagiarism at every level. You'll be notified which phrases are too similar to current research and literature, prompting a possible rewrite or additional citation.

Moreover, you'll get feedback on your paper's inconsistencies, such as changes in text, formatting, or style. These small details could suggest possible plagiarism within your assignment.

Plagiarism CheckerX

Working on the same principle of scanning and matching against various sources, the critical aspect of Plagiarism CheckerX is that you can download and use it whenever you wish. It is slightly faster than others and never stores your data, so you can stay assured of any data loss.

Compilatio Magister

Compilatio Magister is a plagiarism checker designed explicitly for teaching professionals. It lets you access turnkey educational resources, check for plagiarism against thousands of documents, and seek reliable and accurate analysis reports.

Quick Wrap Up

In the world of academia, the spectre of plagiarism lurks but fear not, for armed with awareness and right plagiarism checkers, you have the power to conquer this foe.

Even though plenty of students or researchers believe they can get away with it, it’s never the case. You owe it to yourself and everyone who has invested time and resources in you to publish original, plagiarism-free research work every time.

Throughout this eBook, we have explored the depths of plagiarism, unraveling its consequences and the importance of originality. Many universities have specific classes and workshops discussing plagiarism to create ample awareness of the subject. Thus, you should continue to be honourable in this regard and write papers from the heart.

Hey there! We encourage you to visit our SciSpace discover page to explore how our suite of products can make research workflows easier and allow you to spend more time advancing science.

With the best-in-class solution, you can manage everything from literature search and discovery to profile management, research writing, and much more.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. how to paraphrase without plagiarizing.

• Understand the original text completely.
• Write the idea in your own words without looking at the original text.
• Change the structure of sentences, not just individual words.
• Use synonyms wisely and ensure the context remains the same.
• Lastly, always cite the original source.

Even when paraphrasing, it's important to attribute ideas to the original author.

2. How to avoid plagiarism in research?

• Understand what constitutes plagiarism.
• Always give proper credit to the original authors when quoting or paraphrasing their work.
• Use plagiarism checker tools to ensure your work is original.
• Keep track of your sources throughout your research.
• Quote and paraphrase accurately.

3. Examples of plagiarism?

• Copying and pasting text directly from a source without quotation or citation.
• Paraphrasing someone else's work without correct citation.
• Presenting someone else's work or ideas as your own.
• Recycling or self-plagiarism, where you mention your previous work without citing it.

4. How much plagiarism is allowed in a research paper?

In the academic world, the goal is always to strive for 0% plagiarism. However, sometimes, minor plagiarism can occur unintentionally, such as when common phrases are matched in plagiarism software. Most institutions and publishers will allow a small percentage, typically under 10%, for such instances. Remember, this doesn't mean you can deliberately plagiarize 10% of your work.

5. What are the four types of plagiarism?

• Direct Plagiarism definition: This occurs when one directly copies someone else's work word-for-word without giving credit.
• Mosaic Plagiarism definition: This happens when someone borrows phrases from a source without using quotation marks, or finds synonyms for the author's language while keeping the same general structure and meaning.
• Accidental Plagiarism definition: This happens when a person neglects to cite their sources, or misquotes their sources, or unintentionally paraphrases a source by using similar words, groupings, or phrases without attribution.
• Self-Plagiarism definition: This happens when someone recycles their own work from a previous paper or study and presents it as new content without citing the original.

6. How much copying is considered plagiarism?

Any amount of copying can be considered plagiarism if you're presenting someone else's work as your own without attribution. Even a single sentence copied without proper citation can be seen as plagiarism. The key is to always give credit where it's due.

7. How to check plagiarism in a research paper?

There are numerous online tools and software that you can use to check plagiarism in a research paper. Some popular ones include Grammarly, and Copyscape. These tools compare your paper with millions of other documents on the web and databases to identify any matches. You can also use SciSpace paraphraser to rephrase the content and keep it unique.

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Plagiarism FAQs: 10 Most Commonly Asked Questions on Plagiarism in Research Answered

3 Common Mistakes in Research Publication, and How to Avoid Them

Frequently asked questions

What is an acceptable percentage of plagiarism.

Your work should not contain any  plagiarism . Even if your score is 1%, you will need to review each similarity and decide whether it’s necessary to revise your work.

But  contrary to popular belief, plagiarism checkers work by detecting not plagiarism, but similarities . Not all similarities found by the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker constitute plagiarism. Our check sometimes flags the following:

• Properly cited quotes
• In-text citations or your reference list
• Commonly used phrases

What should I do with a found similarity?

Frequently asked questions: Plagiarism Checker

At the moment we do not offer a monthly subscription for the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker. Plagiarism checks can be bought separately — prices depend on the size of your document.

Similarities in your document are highlighted for quick and easy review. Each colour corresponds to a source in your Sources Overview at the right side of your report.

Information can often be found in more than one place. For this reason, other sources citing the same information you used can come up in your Sources Overview.

The important thing is to make sure you’ve cited the source of the material. Try to find the original source, but if you can’t find it, it’s best to cite the source where you found the information.

Scribbr’s free plagiarism checker estimates the risk of plagiarism by calculating the percentage of text in your document that’s similar to other sources.

A moderate or high risk of plagiarism means that the plagiarism software detected several similarities worth reviewing.

Note that similarities are not necessarily plagiarism. You will need to decide on your own whether your text needs revision or citation.

The free report tells you if your text contains potential plagiarism and other writing issues. The premium report gives you the resources you need to review issues in detail and resolve them.

Yes, Scribbr offers a limited free version of its plagiarism checker in partnership with Turnitin. It uses Turnitin’s industry-leading plagiarism detection technology and has access to most content databases.

Run a free plagiarism check

If you’re a university representative, you can contact the sales department of Turnitin .

If you’ve correctly cited all the sources you used, then you do not need to use a plagiarism checker before submitting your paper to your instructor. However, it is very easy to commit plagiarism accidentally, even if you’ve been very careful. To ensure that you didn’t forget to cite anything, you should use a plagiarism checker yourself.

A  plagiarism checker works by using advanced database software to scan for matches between your text and existing texts.

To help you decide which checker to use, we conducted in-depth research comparing popular plagiarism checkers to find out which one is best.

Best plagiarism checker comparison

Extensive testing proves that Scribbr’s plagiarism checker is one of the most accurate plagiarism checkers on the market in 2022.

The software detects everything from exact word matches to synonym swapping. It also has access to a full range of source types, including open- and restricted-access journal articles, theses and dissertations, websites, PDFs, and news articles.

Scribbr’s plagiarism checker offers complete support for 20 languages, including English, Spanish, German, Arabic, and Dutch.

The add-on AI Detector and AI Proofreader are only available in English.

The complete list of supported languages:

Scribbr’s  Plagiarism Checker is powered by elements of Turnitin’s Similarity Checker , namely the plagiarism detection software and the Internet Archive and Premium Scholarly Publications content databases .

The add-on AI detector is powered by Scribbr’s proprietary software.

Your document will be compared to the world’s largest and fastest-growing content database , containing over:

• 99.3 billion current and historical webpages
• 8 million publications from more than 1,700 publishers such as Springer, IEEE , Elsevier, Wiley-Blackwell, and Taylor & Francis

Note: Scribbr does not have access to Turnitin’s global database with student papers. Only your university can add and compare submissions to this database.

Your writing stays private. Your submissions to Scribbr are not published in any public database, so no other plagiarism checker (including those used by universities) will see them.

If your university uses Turnitin, the result will be very similar to what you see at Scribbr.

The only possible difference is that your university may compare your submission to a private database containing previously submitted student papers. Scribbr does not have access to these private databases (and neither do other plagiarism checkers).

Luckily, many papers, theses, and dissertations are also published in public databases that Scribbr does have access to.

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Plagiarism – the act of using someone else’s work or ideas without proper attribution – is considered a serious ethical breach in academia. Universities and colleges across the globe strive to uphold standards of originality and academic integrity. However, a common question that arises among students and educators is: how much plagiarism, if any, is allowed in academic content? To be frank, the amount of plagiarism allowed varies depending on the institution and context, with some tolerating a similarity index of up to 10-15%.

The Definition of Plagiarism

Before delving into the permissible limits, we have to understand what constitutes plagiarism. It goes beyond mere copying and includes the replication or duplication of someone else’s intellectual theft, including ideas, expressions, and even specific structures. Plagiarism undermines the core values of education, such as creativity, innovation, and authenticity .

Academic Standards for Originality

Most universities and educational institutions advocate a zero-tolerance policy towards plagiarism. This implies that any form of unoriginality, whether intentional or accidental, is not permissible. The expectation is that all submitted papers and essays demonstrate a high degree of originality and inventiveness.

Tools like plagiarismcheck.org have become integral in academic settings for ensuring content originality. These plagiarism checkers and originality detection tools analyze texts for similarity with existing content, helping institutions and students maintain scholarly integrity.

The Gray Area of Similarity Percentages

The concept of a plagiarism ‘percentage’ or ‘rate’ is often used by plagiarism detection tools to indicate the proportion of text that matches existing sources. While these tools provide a similarity score, interpreting this score can be complex. A low percentage may not always signify permissible use, and a higher percentage does not always equate to blatant plagiarism .

Context Matters

The context in which the similarity occurs is important . Direct quotes, common knowledge, and universally accepted facts might show up as similar but are generally not considered plagiarism if appropriately cited. The key is in how these sections are integrated into the paper and whether they contribute to the academic or scholarly value of the work.

The Acceptable Threshold in Universities

There is no universal standard for an ‘acceptable’ plagiarism percentage. Different institutions and educators may have varying thresholds, often depending on the nature of the assignment, the level of study, and the subject matter. Some universities might tolerate a similarity index of 10-15% as permissible, considering it an accidental or coincidental resemblance .

Ultimately, the determination of what constitutes an acceptable level of similarity lies with the academic judgment of educators and the plagiarism policies of specific institutions. How do professors check for plagiarism ? Professors and academic committees assess whether the content demonstrates sufficient originality and intellectual effort using certain tools like AI detectors and plagcheckers.

Plagiarism in Different Types of Academic Work

In research papers and essays, the expectation for originality is usually stringent. The allowance for similarity is minimal, and students are expected to produce work that showcases their understanding, analysis, and synthesis of the subject matter.

In technical and scientific reports, some level of similarity might be inevitable due to the use of standard terminologies and methodologies. However, the core findings, analysis, and conclusions must be distinctly the author’s own work.

Strategies for Avoiding Plagiarism

One key strategy is mastering the art of paraphrasing – expressing the same ideas in different words without losing the original meaning. Equally important is the proper citation of sources, which acknowledges the original authors and avoids the pitfalls of academic theft. Some tools also have a “ check for plagiarism free ” so you can use them to be sure your work is fine.

Encouraging students to develop their critical thinking and analytical skills is essential in fostering originality. This approach promotes a deeper engagement with the material, leading to more authentic and innovative academic work.

Conclusion: Upholding Integrity in Education

While the permissible level of plagiarism can vary, the overarching principle in academia is to strive for the highest standards of originality and ethical scholarship. The use of plagiarism detection tools like plagiarismcheck.org aids in maintaining these standards. However, the ultimate responsibility lies with students and educators to cultivate and uphold the principles of academic integrity, ensuring that the educational pursuit remains a quest for knowledge, learning, and genuine intellectual growth.

What is considered plagiarism in academic writing?

In academic writing, plagiarism is considered the act of using someone else’s work, ideas, or expressions without proper acknowledgment or permission, and presenting them as one’s own. This includes directly copying text, paraphrasing without credit, using ideas without citing the source, and submitting someone else’s work under one’s name. Plagiarism is not limited to written text alone; it can also include the use of images, graphics, music, and digital content without proper attribution.

What are the consequences of plagiarism in universities?

The consequences of plagiarism in universities can be severe and far-reaching. Depending on the institution’s policies and the severity of the offense, consequences can range from failing the assignment to expulsion from the university. Plagiarism can also lead to academic probation, loss of scholarships, or a mark on the student’s permanent record. Beyond these immediate consequences, plagiarism can damage a student’s reputation, undermine their academic integrity, and negatively impact their future career opportunities.

Do different institutions have varying plagiarism tolerance levels?

Yes, different institutions may have varying tolerance levels for plagiarism, largely influenced by their individual academic policies and ethical standards. While some universities might adopt a zero-tolerance policy, others might allow a small percentage of similarity for coincidental or common phrases. However, the underlying principle across most institutions is that any form of plagiarism is unacceptable, and students are expected to adhere strictly to standards of academic integrity.

How can students avoid unintentional plagiarism?

Students can avoid unintentional plagiarism by developing strong research and writing skills, which include understanding how to paraphrase effectively, quote properly, and credit sources accurately. Familiarizing themselves with citation styles (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) and using them consistently is crucial. Additionally, students should develop a habit of thorough note-taking to distinguish between their ideas and those sourced from other materials. Utilizing plagiarism checkers can also help identify and rectify any unintended similarities in their work before submission.

Is there a standard percentage of plagiarism allowed in research papers?

There is no universally accepted standard percentage of plagiarism that is considered allowable in research papers . Each educational institution sets its own guidelines regarding what is acceptable. Generally, any form of plagiarism is discouraged, and originality is highly valued in academic research. However, minor percentages, often below 10-15%, might be tolerated in cases where they represent common knowledge, standardized terminologies, or unintentional resemblance. It’s important for students to understand and adhere to the specific plagiarism policies of their respective universities.

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How much plagiarism is allowed?

The world is constantly changing, and so are our beliefs about it. That is why we need to establish an independent mindset and critical thinking to rely on. Originality in our manifestation, including writing, is a crucial part of it. That is why educators and content creators need to check their papers for similarity to avoid plagiarism.

What percentage of plagiarism is acceptable ? The question is worth 10.3 billion search results. Well, to those looking for a simple answer: no, there’s no single benchmark. Or could zero plagiarism count? Different universities, colleges, and high schools have different standards. What is good and allowed for one, will be a red flag for another one.

Mostly, no more than 20% of text coincidence can be tolerated, while more means the text is not original. Although, even if that 20% is just a single copy-pasted piece of text, it’s considered borrowed.

What percentage of plagiarism is acceptable in university

How much plagiarism is allowed also depends on the type of the paper. The acceptable percentage varies within the limit of the mentioned 20%. Each case is individual, and the educational institution, the teacher, and the nature of the detected similarities should be taken into account. However, obviously, how much plagiarism is allowed in research paper differs when we talk about a regular essay or a dissertation.

One should keep in mind that the similarities found may be unintentional plagiarism. It happens that the students accidentally copy someone else’s ideas out of pure coincidence or based on the resources they have studied without realizing they are repeating the information.

That’s why if you notice plagiarism in your student’s work, it’s time to talk to them, figure out the reasons, and map the possible ways out. To help you do this, we’ve prepared a checklist you can share with your students. You can send it to them the way it is, or use it as an inspiration to create your own one—it’s up to you.

A Comprehensive Checklist on How to Avoid Plagiarism

The obvious answer is to produce original content. But cases might differ, so check out a few tips to polish your writing.

#1. Avoid Direct Quotes and Paraphrasing

First, say your goodbyes to copy-pasting or rephrasing someone else’s thoughts. Instead, read different sources of information on your topic, jot down key points, and then write their essence in your own words. Examples:

#2. Proper referencing

To err is human. Spotting and fixing the mistakes (and learning from them) can make you superhuman. Double-checking the text can enable you to find those “Oh, I’ve already read it somewhere” parts. Here, I mean that sometimes you can mimic your own style, even not knowing that.  Reviewing the same content after a while can help you have a fresh look at it and find those self-plagiarized sentences or paragraphs. It can also allow you to discover tricky referencing issues when you might have missed citing something properly. In case you don’t trust yourself, ask one of your mates to review your paper.

#4. Enriching vocabulary to avoid clichés

Another common reason for plagiarism is using the same phrases you can come across on thousands of websites. It’s not about some industry-specific terms you might desperately need in your physics, nursing, marketing, or any other assignment. I mean rather generic phrases and idioms like “as easy as a pie,” “sky’s the limit,” “sad but true,” etc. Not to mention some of them might be inappropriate for academic writing, if you overuse them, they’ll drop your content originality. To avoid that, we recommend:

• Reading more books, scientific journals, and so on to expand your general knowledge and vocabulary, as a result.
• Jotting down new words and phrases you haven’t known before and trying to use them in your speaking or writing. If applicable, of course.
• Using synonyms to eliminate tautology. You can find some good ones in the Thesaurus , or Power Thesaurus . Feel free to use those tools whenever you see some repeated words or idioms.

#5. Scanning texts with plagiarism checkers

To be on the safe side, I would advise checking your paper with specialized tools, like PlagiarismCheck.org before submitting it. This will help you make sure you’ve produced an original piece of content. A huge plus of such tools is that they can define all possible types of plagiarism, including copying your own style. For example, PlagiarismCheck.org delivers a report with highlights of the matching parts and links to the sources those pieces of text come from.

Let’s wrap it up

If we come back to our initial question: “ How much plagiarism is allowed ?”, the answer is still “None in a perfect world.” Yet, we live in reality, so up to 20% might be tolerated. We suggest minimizing even those numbers by educating your students on how to produce unique content.

Anyways, if you need to scan for plagiarism , try PlagiarismCheck.org . We’ve built it with academic integrity in mind, so it includes AI checker GPT and can spot ghostwriting by comparing student’s writing style from previous works and the current ones. And if you have any questions—be sure to get in touch with our team.

Discover how PlagiarismCheck.org can empower your workflow!

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When does plagiarism occur? Is there an established percentage, a rule of thumb, a saturation point that we can use to determine when plagiarism has taken place? Or is it simply that "plagiarism is plagiarism"? The answer may lie somewhere between the stark (and perhaps too simple) dictum and the convenience of ready-made measures. In most cases, the dictum can be applied appropriately: plagiarism is plagiarism. However, there are in fact degrees of plagiarism: one can steal an entire paper, or a section of a paper, or a page, a paragraph or a sentence. Even copying phrases without credit and quotation marks can be considered plagiarism. In other words, paraphrasing done improperly can qualify as plagiarism.

So, there are several basic factors to consider when evaluating a case of possible plagiarism:

• Amount or quantity (full paper, a section of a paper, a page, a paragraph, a sentence, phrases)
• Use of quotation marks for all copied text
• Appropriate placement of credit notices
• Improper paraphrasing

Possible plagiarism scenarios

Plagiarism, in short.

Potentially complicating the effort to identify plagiarism is the fact that each of the above basic factors can be combined with other factors, creating a range of possible plagiarism scenarios. Here, then, is a full list of possible scenarios, starting with the worst case:

• Uncredited Verbatim Copying of a Full Paper, or Uncredited Verbatim Copying of a Major Portion (more than 50%) within a Single Paper--An instance is where a large section of the original paper is copied without quotation marks, credit notice, reference, and bibliography. This case also includes instances where different portions of a paper are copied without attribution from a number of papers by other authors, and the sum of plagiarized material is more 50%, or Uncredited Verbatim Copying within More than a Single Paper by the Same Author(s)--This includes instances where more than one paper by the offending author(s) has been found to contain plagiarized content, and all the percentages of plagiarized material in each of the discovered papers sum to greater than 50%.
• Uncredited Verbatim Copying of a Large Portion (greater than 20% and up to 50%) within a Paper.--An instance is where a section of the original paper is copied from another paper without quotation marks, credit notice, reference, and bibliography. This case also includes instances where different portions of a paper are copied without attribution from a number of papers by other authors, and the sum of copying results in a large portion of plagiarized material (up to 50%) in the paper, or Uncredited Verbatim Copying within More than One Paper by the Same Author(s)--This includes instances where the sum of plagiarized material from the different papers would constitute the equivalent of a large portion (greater than 20% and up to 50%) of the discovered paper with the fewest words.
• Uncredited Verbatim Copying of Individual Elements (Paragraph(s), Sentence(s), Illustration(s), etc.) Resulting in a Significant Portion (up to 20%) within a Paper--An instance could be where portions of original paper are used in another paper without quotation marks, credit notice, reference, and bibliography.
• Uncredited Improper Paraphrasing of Pages or Paragraphs. Instances of improper paraphrasing occur when only a few words and phrases have been changed or when the original sentence order has been rearranged; no credit notice or reference appears with the text.
• Credited Verbatim Copying of a Major Portion of a Paper without Clear Delineation. Instances could include sections of an original paper copied from another paper; credit notice is used but absence of quotation marks or offset text does not clearly reference or identify the specific, copied material.

The extreme and more obvious cases notwithstanding, the above scenarios provide us with some basic determining factors we can use when attempting to deal with allegations of plagiarism between authors.

• Amount or quantity does not play a part in defining plagiarism. However, the amount of material plagiarized should play an important part in determining the appropriate corrective action.
• Credit notices or references are not sufficient to deflecting a charge of plagiarism if quotation marks or offset text have not been used to identify the specific material being copied.
• Paraphrasing can leave an author open to a charge of plagiarism if he or she has changed only a few words or phrases or has only rearranged the original sentence order. Even a proper paraphrasing of the original text can lead to a charge of plagiarism if the original source is not properly cited.

Any discussion on a subject such as plagiarism must be founded on a few, basic ideas on which all can agree. A discussion will help refine our understanding, but we need to start with some accepted basics.

Consistency

One such idea, as already mentioned, is that plagiarism is plagiarism, regardless of the amount having been copied. However, scale is important, especially in trying to determine an appropriate corrective action. Introducing scale as an important consideration also brings the idea of "consistency" into the discussion. Until the "Guidelines for Adjudicating Different Levels of Plagiarism" had been developed and approved, there had not been any measure or method for linking "scale" with a corresponding corrective action so that consistent and fair judgments may be reached across all IEEE organizational units and over the years. Early in the discussion, consistency was seen as a critically important subject for the successful development of effective guidelines.

Are there valid exceptions to the rules against plagiarism in technical writing?

The fundamental nature of scientific/technical writing on and reporting of research results is that so much of it is closely based on the archival literature. Is it not required for new work to call upon and use the work that has already been published, at least in order to establish a necessary level of authentication and validation? New work depends on the very close and careful use of the archive. Therefore, are exceptions to be made for scientific/technical writing where the rules against plagiarism are concerned?

Similarly, some opinion has it that since technical writing is not "literary" writing, i.e., not at the level of Shakespeare, it is therefore acceptable to use a "certain amount" of someone else's text without having to indicate the specific text, especially when a citation or reference appears in the vicinity of the copied material. The same school of thought would argue that the use of quotation marks and/or indented text to signify the use of someone else's text would interrupt the flow of the writing, would interfere with the reader's comprehension of the work, especially since there would be, by necessity, so much of it (quote marks or indents). Again, should the nature of technical/scientific/archival writing allow exceptions to the proper use of, in this case, quotation marks and/or indented text?

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing will always be a difficult area to adjudicate. Since plagiarism involves not only the unacknowledged reuse of some else's words but also someone's ideas, it is possible to render a properly paraphrased section of text and still be open to a charge of plagiarism if proper credit for the idea has not been given. Even so, we should be able to agree that changing only a few words or phrases or only rearranging the original sentence order of another author's work will be defined as plagiarism.

How to Check for Plagiarism?

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• Samiran Nundy 4 ,
• Atul Kakar 5 &
• Zulfiqar A. Bhutta 6  

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The word ‘Plagiarism’ has been derived from the Latin word ‘Plagiare’ which means ‘to kidnap or abduct’. In scientific literature, it means the ‘wrongful appropriation’ and ‘stealing and publication’ of another author’s ‘language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions’ and depicting it as one’s own creative work. Plagiarism amounts to academic untruthfulness and a breach of journalistic integrity [1].

Copying from one it’s plagiarism, copying from two it’s research. Wilson Mizner, American playwright, raconteur and entrepreneur (1876–1933).

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Rising from Plagiarising

1 What Is Plagiarism?

The word ‘Plagiarism’ has been derived from the Latin word ‘Plagiare’ which means ‘to kidnap or abduct’. In scientific literature, it means the ‘wrongful appropriation’ and ‘stealing and publication’ of another author’s ‘language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions’ and depicting it as one’s own creative work. Plagiarism amounts to academic untruthfulness and a breach of journalistic integrity [ 1 ].

2 Why Is Plagiarism So Rampant in India?

There are many reasons why plagiarism is common in India. There is the compulsory thesis before the final postgraduate examination which students need to finish in time so they find the ‘cut and paste’ technique to be a convenient shortcut to writing the manuscript or even doing the research. The other reason is that they have never attended research methodology workshops where plagiarism is discussed. They do not know that plagiarism is a serious offence that can be punished with suspension or expulsion from their institution in other countries. The unfamiliarity with the English language, lax checking by their supervisors and an absence of punishment are other reasons for this. Plagiarism reflects the poor standards of our medical publications [ 2 ]. However, it is also a global phenomenon and not unique to India [ 3 ].

3 What Action Can Be Taken Against you if your Manuscript Is Found to be Plagiarized?

All types of plagiarism can attract disciplinary action which may range from removing the published paper, legal and monetary repercussions and academic and professional damage to your reputation. All good journals and many universities check the manuscripts for this through online checking systems which are now widely available. We should have a ‘zero tolerance policy’ for such acts.

4 Does Plagiarism Apply Only to Written Text?

No, this statement is not true as plagiarism applies to text in manuscripts as well as images, clinical photographs, tables, graphs, and pictorial data.

5 Is There a Gazette of India Notification on Plagiarism?

Yes , the University Grants Commission (UGC) has a regulation, dated 31 July 2018 regarding promotion in academic institutions and on the prevention of plagiarism. It defines 20 terms like plagiarism, author, academic integrity, script, source, etc. It also describes a penalty for a plagiarized thesis and dissertation. It also mentions that all students should submit a soft copy of their theses or dissertations to some central information and library centre [ 4 ].

6 What Is the UGC’s Classification of Plagiarism?

In 2018, it classified plagiarism in educational institutions into various levels. If similarity is less than 10%, no action is taken. However, if the level of plagiarism increases above this, the action given below is recommended [ 4 , 5 ].

Level 1—10–40% similarity. No marks or credits shall be awarded for the plagiarized script. The revised manuscript should be re-submitted within 6 months.

Level 2—40–60% similarity. No marks or credits shall be awarded for the plagiarized script. The student is entitled to resubmit the revised script after 1 year but not exceeding 18 months.

Level 3—above 60% similarity. No marks or credits shall be awarded for the plagiarized script. Registration for the course itself is cancelled.

7 What Are the Sections in Articles which Are Excluded from Plagiarism Checks?

The areas which are excluded are: [ 4 ].

Quoted statements (quoted work can be reproduced with all the necessary permissions).

References/Bibliography.

Table of Contents.

Preface/Acknowledgements.

Standard symbols/Generic terms.

8 What Do Words Quote, Paraphrase and Similarity Mean?

A quote is using or repeating the same words as in the original text. If this is done it should appear under inverted commas. For example, Hippocrates stated ‘I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous’.

A Paraphrase is rewriting the original idea in our own words. While doing paraphrasing the central concept or the meaning of the text is not changed.

Similarity is copied text and is like the original text. The original and the text written are exactly the same.

9 What Are the Various Types of Plagiarism? [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]

Total or Complete Plagiarism

This depicts a severe form of plagiarism. In this, the investigator passes off someone else’s script or study as his own, and submits it under his own name.

Direct Plagiarism

Direct or verbatim plagiarism is a type of complete plagiarism when one section of the text is copied rather than the whole text.

Self- or Auto-plagiarism

Auto-plagiarism, also known as self-plagiarism or duplication, happens when authors reuse sizeable portions of their previously published work without attribution.

Paraphrasing plagiarism

This is the most common type of plagiarism seen among students. It involves the use of the original author’s manuscript after making some minor changes in the sentences and creating a new article.

‘Cut and paste’ plagiarism

This type of plagiarism is becoming common among students because of the easy accessibility of scientific information on the internet.

Mosaic/patchwork plagiarism

Mosaic plagiarism may be difficult to detect because it interposes someone else’s a few sentences or paragraphs within the text.

Accidental Plagiarism

This can be either intended or unintended. Even for this, there is no excuse and the consequences are often the same.

10 How Can we Check for Plagiarism?

Many sites are now available - free or paid. Grammarly©, Whitesmoke©, Prewriting aid©, Duplichecker©, Plagarism © Check.org©C, Quetext ©, small SEO plagiarism checker©, copytext©, viper©, checkforplagiarism.net©, Wordpress Plugin©, Plagium©, etc.

11 How Does a Plagiarism Report Appear?

Once a check is done, the report looks similar to the Fig. 24.1 . The lines and sentences which have been copied are highlighted in various colours as is the source from which it has been copied.

Review in an article with 92% plagiarism, along with the sources (published with permission editor—Current Medical Research and Practice)

12 How Much Plagiarism Is Usually Allowed for a Paper to Be Accepted?

When it is an original paper, the author should aim at zero plagiarism. However, in many journals, a similarity of up to 15% is allowed. For a chapter in a book, this limit is about 5% and in a thesis, less than 10% is accepted.

13 What Is the Difference between Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement?

Plagiarism is claiming credit for a work you did not do or using someone else’s work without proper attribution.

Copyright infringement is a broad term covered under the law. In this, an author uses someone else’s work without obtaining their permission.

14 What Are the Five Rules for Avoiding Plagiarism?

Plan to finish your project well in time before submission.

Recognize the concept behind the manuscript you need to cite.

Never do ‘copy–paste’; it seems to be a shortcut but eventually it takes double the time to correct the mistakes.

Use your own language to build up the manuscript.

Use an online plagiarism device to check before final submission.

15 Conclusions

Plagiarism is a type of research delinquency that consists of copying someone else’s work or idea without giving him proper credit.

Plagiarism extends not only to the text but also to tables, charts and pictures.

An awareness about the risks of plagiarism is low among the students and researchers in developing countries.

To avoid the copy–paste culture, students should be instructed to read articles completely and carefully and then write a paper in their own words.

Sinha R, Singh G, Kumar C. Plagiarism and unethical practices in literature. Indian J Opthal. 2009;57:481–5.

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Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2018 (lasted accessed 27th March 20202). Available on https://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/7771545_academic-integrity-Regulation2018.pdf .

Kadam D. Academic integrity and plagiarism: the new regulations in India. Indian J Plast Surg. 2018;51:109–10.

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Winsett RP. The importance of self-plagiarism in publication. Prog Transplant. 2017;27:327–8.

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Samiran Nundy

Department of Internal Medicine, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, India

Institute for Global Health and Development, The Aga Khan University, South Central Asia, East Africa and United Kingdom, Karachi, Pakistan

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Nundy, S., Kakar, A., Bhutta, Z.A. (2022). How to Check for Plagiarism?. In: How to Practice Academic Medicine and Publish from Developing Countries?. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5248-6_24

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What percentage of plagiarism is acceptable?

Factors affecting plagiarism.

• The topic of writing. For example, if a common topic has already been covered hundreds of times on the Internet, even one or two copied sentences will be detected. If it is a narrowly focused topic, e.g., related to economics, politics, or medicine, even a copied paragraph with partially changed words may not be considered plagiarism.
• The amount of content copied. Again, copying as much as a whole paragraph or half a section of your text from someone else's source will be considered plagiarism. If the volume is small, and you paraphrase the copied words and fill them with your thoughts, it can only be regarded as self-written work.

Allowed plagiarism percentage may differ in different universities

• Try to study as many different references as possible, but do not copy them.
• Quoting information is also acceptable but within reasonable limits.

Avoid plagiarism necessarily and always

• Where the matches were found;
• What are the exact words they are associated with;
• Be able to redo or at least cut out non-unique text passages.

Check percentage of plagiarism with Skandy

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Is there any limit to the amount of data that can be taken from a research paper for writing a review paper?

I am writing a detailed literature review of some twenty papers available on a newer topic of interest, which form the core of the topic. I am extensively using data from all of those twenty papers.

I want to know whether there is any limit to the amount of data that can be taken from a research paper (with proper citations and referencing) for writing a review paper. Will the excessive use of data (methodology, experimental results, author's proposed and unverified hypothesis etc.) from a research paper be called plagiarism?

• review-articles

• @henning I have edited the question. I am doing this 'excessive' use of data from all those 20 papers available in the field of my interest. –  Deepak Commented Jun 10, 2018 at 18:48
• I would suggest that the greater part of your paper should be your original analysis, not just a repetition of others results. –  Solar Mike Commented Jun 10, 2018 at 19:40
• 2 Note also that facts are not subject to copyright (as opposed to the rendering of figures and/or tables). If you produce your own tables and figures from the facts (numbers) in the papers, you need to cite your source (as usual) but no permission is needed to reuse the plain facts reported in the paper. –  cbeleites unhappy with SX Commented Jun 11, 2018 at 16:57

4 Answers 4

Plagiarism, according to Marriam-Webster, quoted here :

to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own to use (another's production) without crediting the source to commit literary theft to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

From your description, it seems you are not committing any of these offenses. Review papers necessarily report large amounts of work and results from other researchers and are therefore, in a sense, derivative. This isn't plagiarism, as long as the sources are painstakingly referenced and acknowledged (as you do). The originality of a review consists in synthesising the existing body of work, identifying different strands in it, examining present shortcomings as well as best practices, and suggesting further research at the cutting edge.

As noted, you are not talking about plagiarism. But you may be talking about copyright violation: even if "facts" cannot be copyrighted a particular list of experimental results can.

On the other hand, a certain amount of a copyrighted work can be quoted in a review. This is the doctrine of "fair use". If you need legal advice, consult a lawyer. Perhaps your own institution has lawyers on staff (or as consultants) that you can consult.

• It should be noted that "fair use" is particular to US copyright law, although many countries have similar (but usually more limited) provisions for educational or scientific use. –  Pieter Naaijkens Commented Jun 12, 2018 at 9:21

Writing a review article is not plagiarism as long as you cite all sources correctly. If you don't, it's plagiarism.

Besides this, there are, at least in STM, limits regarding the amount of data that can be taken from a research paper due to copyright and permission handling, see the guidelines of the STM Association .

use up to three figures (including tables) from a journal article or book chapter, but: not more than five figures from a whole book or journal issue/edition; not more than six figures from an annual journal volume; and not more than three figures from works published by a single publisher for an article, and not more than three figures from works published by a single publisher for a book chapter (and in total not more than thirty figures from a single publisher for re-publication in a book, including a multi-volume book, with different authors per chapter) use single text extracts of less than 400 words from a journal article or book chapter, but not more than a total of 800 words from a whole book or journal issue/edition

Note, that in most cases you have to ask for permission or at least notify the publisher about the re-use of the material.

If you want to use more, you defenitely have to ask for permission and might be charged. But this is a copyright an not a plagiarism issue.

• looking into the linked document, your quote appears rather misleading: the guidelines state that their purpose is reduction of adminstrative work: up to those limits permission to reproduce should be given without charging a fee between publishers that are members of that STM publisher's association. So those limits may have practical consequences in the procedure and possible fees to obtain the permission, but they don't have anything to do with the question of plagiarism. Note that most of the publishers still require notification (i.e. you get the permission automatically by asking). –  cbeleites unhappy with SX Commented Jun 11, 2018 at 16:54
• @cbeleites It's absolutely correct that the mentioned amount of data that can be taken from a research paper has nothing to do with plagiarism as clearly stated in my first paragraph: Plagiarism is about not citing correctly. But one of the initial questions was very general asking whether there are any limits. I wanted to address this. –  FuzzyLeapfrog Commented Jun 11, 2018 at 17:01
• @cbeleites I edited my answer to clarify the difference between plagiarism and copyright. –  FuzzyLeapfrog Commented Jun 11, 2018 at 17:50

There are three closely related things that your question seems to conflate. Most of the existing answers mention plagiarism and copyright, but in academic publication, originality is also important:

Plagiarism: As long as you properly cite your sources, there is absolutely no concern about plagiarism. You could literally copy and paste an entire book; as long as you clearly cite the author and you clearly say that your work is a copy-and-paste, there is no problem with plagiarism. (Obviously, that extreme example would have a serious problem with the following two items.)

Copyright violation: If the works you are borrowing from are copyrighted, then you need to be careful not to copy-and-paste too much from them, even if you properly cite your source and explicitly mention that it is a copy-and-paste. How much is too much is a subjective question, but a widely accepted standard is that up to 10% of an article or chapter is acceptable, especially for purposes of research and education. However, note that I say "copy-and-paste": copyright does not protect ideas; it only protects the expression of those ideas, that is, the exact words used to express the ideas. So,if you merely borrow the same ideas and completely rewrite them in your own words (beyond mere paraphrasing), then there is absolutely no concern with copyright violation. Moreover, in many jurisdictions, databases (that is, unoriginal facts compiled as a table) are not copyrightable; you can freely copy them without concern for copyright violation (as long as the facts are truly unoriginal; if a lot of originality went into those tables, then it gets sticky and varies by jurisdiction).

Originality: Regardlenss of moral issues of plagiarism and legal issues of copyright, when publishing academic work, you must also be concerned about originality: most publishers require that your work be truly original in some way; that is, it is not a mere rehashing of ideas that have already been published. So, merely copying other people's work and citing it might not be sufficient to be published. That said, what you describe should have no problem meeting this standard: combining multiple published works almost always creates a new, original work. The question of how original is enough is a very subjective question that depends on the editors.

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Acceptable Plagiarism Percentage: Turnitin or SafeAssign in College

• by Joseph Kenas
• January 18, 2024

Plagiarism is a type of academic fraud or cheating. It typically involves the use of someone’s work, whether published or unpublished, without the permission of the author or creator.

While plagiarism does not necessarily involve breaking the law, it is widely considered to be unethical and unacceptable in the academic, business, and wider communities.

A significant range of penalties exists for plagiarism, depending on the severity of the offense, the type of plagiarism, and the jurisdiction within which an offense takes place.

As much as plagiarism is wrong, sometimes it is unavoidable and thus there is an acceptable plagiarism percentage.

What Percentage of Plagiarism is Acceptable

The allowed similarity score varies from institution to institution. For instance, it may be acceptable to have a certain percentage of a college research paper deemed plagiarized, but it would be acceptable for high school essays. 

The acceptable plagiarism percentage is any score of 15% and below because this similarity shows little or low or no copying.

However, there is no widely accepted criteria on which plagiarism level is acceptable because different industries and institutions have different originality policies.

However, the plagiarism percentage you should avoid at all times is more than 15%. Any percentage above that will be enough to get you into trouble.

For instance, if you have 15% plagiarism in a research paper, then you have the risk to be reported by your tutor for academic dishonesty. In a nutshell, the acceptable plagiarism percentage is between 0 and 15% for all kinds of papers.

What Every Percentage Score Means

A summary of matching or substantially similar text detected in a submitted paper is provided in a Similarity Report. A similarity score percentage will be displayed when a Similarity Report is available for viewing.

A grayed-out icon in the Similarity column represents Similarity Reports that have not yet completed generating. Reports that aren’t available may not have yet been generated, or assignment settings may be preventing the report from being generated.

The report icon’s color represents the paper’s similarity score, which is calculated on the basis of matching or comparable text found. The following are some probable similarity ranges from 0% to 100%.

• Blue: there is no matching text 
• Green: A single word to 24% matching text.
• Yellow: Text that matches 25-49%
• Orage: Text matching 50-74%
• Red: indicates that the text is 75-100 percent identical

Factors Determining Acceptable Plagiarism Score

The percentage of plagiarism is a critical issue for students, teachers, and educational institutions. In some cases, plagiarism is an accidental mistake, but in the majority of cases, it is a deliberate action.

Considering research papers are one of the most important factors that determine your grade, they must be crafted without plagiarism.

Most academic industries, faculties, and professors have developed an extensive guide on what percentage of plagiarism is acceptable in different situations.

Here will go over the factors that determine the percentage of plagiarism acceptable in research papers.

1. Your Field of Study 

In colleges or universities, there are several fields of students each with its own running and set of rules and regulations. Since these filed are independent, their acceptable plagiarism percentage varies.

For example for a law student, a plagiarism percentage of 10% is already a very serious matter whereas such a percentage may be acceptable in other fields.

It is also important to note that fields that deal with factual scientific data (sciences and maths), may accept a large plagiarism percentage than other fields.

2. The Type of Assignment

When it comes to plagiarism, different types of assignments have different acceptable plagiarism percentages

That means the acceptable plagiarism percentage varies based on the type of assignment, and this is because while some types of assignments can be completed in a short time, others take up a lot of time.

For example, while a 5% plagiarized book review will get you a failing grade, a 5% plagiarized term paper will get you a passing grade.

Additionally, there are many different types of papers, and there are many different types of assignments. Sometimes an assignment will have a different requirement than another.

For example, a term paper will have a much higher acceptable plagiarism percentage than a 500-word essay.

3. The Strictness of Your Professor

How strict your professor is, is also a factor that determines how much plagiarism percentage you are allowed. This all boils down to the choices and preferences of your instructor.

Professors with a strict grading policy will tell you to keep the plagiarism percentage as low as 1% while those with a lenient grading policy may accept even original papers with 25% similarity score. However, to be on the safer side, also ensure you keep your plagiarism as low (less than 5%)

The Strictness of Sour school Rules

Different institutions of study have different rules and policies.

For example, there are those schools that require their grading be made by the institution itself as opposed to those who task individual professors with the grading.

Again, some colleges require papers to be marked and reviewed by a panel of professors who will then award you the grade.

Other schools have a portal where you submit your paper, and the portal has strict guidelines (such as acceptable plagiarism percentage) which the professor uses to grade your paper. All these school factors determine the acceptable plagiarism percentage. 

Technically, plagiarism is wrong. However, there is an acceptable percentage of plagiarism that is allowed. The acceptable percentage of plagiarism is considered to be 10%. If you go beyond that percentage, then your thesis will be plagiarized.

If you do not want to be accused of plagiarism, then avoid copying the work of others. Either cite your sources or paraphrase the idea of others. Even when giving a speech, you can avoid patchwork plagiarism by citing your sources while speaking.

You can do this if you use quotation marks correctly. Note that you should always referee to your school guidelines to avoid severe plagiarism consequences.

What is the acceptable plagiarism percentage for Turnitin?

Turnitin does not have an acceptable percentage threshold for plagiarism. There are two elements that are assessed when you submit work to Turnitin to check for originality. The first is the text itself, and the second is the structure or design, so plagiarism is assessed by both the text and the presentation. 

However, Turnitin levels of 15% or less are widely considered appropriate. It is also important to note that there is no universally defined similarity score because plagiarism policies differ by institution.

Is 32 similarity on Turnitin bad?

32 similarity is usually the maximum similarity level the Turnitin system will determine. It means that at least 32% of your paper is plagiarized from existing sources. You should check your paper as soon as possible.

If your paper is not your own work, you may face serious consequences. The Turnitin system is used by most universities and colleges, so if your instructor catches you cheating, you will be expelled without a doubt.

What is the acceptable plagiarism percentage for a thesis?

According to various universities, students are advised to avoid plagiarism as much as possible. The acceptable level of plagiarism varies from university to university.

Some universities accept 25% or even 20% plagiarism, while others say it should not exceed 5%. To avoid your paper not being accepted, refer to your university guideline and apply the percentage of plagiarism that you are allowed to use.

What percentage of plagiarism is acceptable by Google?

The answer to this question is not yet clear. Google’s policy about duplicate content is very strict these days. You should avoid repeating the same content on your web pages. But it doesn’t mean you cannot copy the content from other websites.

The best thing is to share the knowledge with your visitors. Don’t forget, Google is a search engine that generates data from the web. You can use aggregation in your favor. You can add links to the original content when you re-share the information.

Joseph is a freelance journalist and a part-time writer with a particular interest in the gig economy. He writes about schooling, college life, and changing trends in education. When not writing, Joseph is hiking or playing chess.

Scribbr Plagiarism Checker

Plagiarism checker software for students who value accuracy.

Extensive research shows that Scribbr's plagiarism checker, in partnership with Turnitin, detects plagiarism more accurately than other tools, making it the no. 1 choice for students.

How Scribbr detects plagiarism better

Powered by leading plagiarism checking software

Scribbr is an authorized partner of Turnitin, a leader in plagiarism prevention. Its software detects everything from exact word matches to synonym swapping .

Access to exclusive content databases

Your submissions are compared to the world’s largest content database , covering 99 billion webpages, 8 million publications, and over 20 languages.

Comparison against unpublished works

You can upload your previous assignments, referenced works, or a classmate’s paper or essay to catch (self-)plagiarism that is otherwise difficult to detect.

The Scribbr Plagiarism Checker is perfect for you if:

• Are a student writing an essay or paper
• Value the confidentiality of your submissions
• Prefer an accurate plagiarism report
• Want to compare your work against publications

This tool is not for you if you:

• Prefer a free plagiarism checker despite a less accurate result
• Are a copywriter, SEO, or business owner

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Compare your admissions essay to billions of web pages, including other essays.

• Avoid having your essay flagged or rejected for accidental plagiarism.
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Submit your assignments with confidence.

Detect plagiarism using software similar to what most universities use.

• Spot missing citations and improperly quoted or paraphrased content.
• Avoid grade penalties or academic probation resulting from accidental plagiarism.

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Scribbr’s services are rated 4.9 out of 5 based on 13,185 reviews. We aim to make you just as happy. If not, we’re happy to refund you !

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Volume pricing available for institutions. Get in touch.

Request volume pricing

Institutions interested in buying more than 50 plagiarism checks can request a discounted price. Please fill in the form below.

Name * Email * Institution Name * Institution’s website * Country * Phone number Give an indication of how many checks you need * Please indicate how you want to use the checks * Depending of the size of your request, you will be contacted by a representative of either Scribbr or Turnitin. * Required

You don't need a plagiarism checker, right?

You would never copy-and-paste someone else’s work, you’re great at paraphrasing, and you always keep a tidy list of your sources handy.

But what about accidental plagiarism ? It’s more common than you think! Maybe you paraphrased a little too closely, or forgot that last citation or set of quotation marks.

Even if you did it by accident, plagiarism is still a serious offense. You may fail your course, or be placed on academic probation. The risks just aren’t worth it.

Scribbr & academic integrity

Scribbr is committed to protecting academic integrity. Our plagiarism checker software, Citation Generator , proofreading services , and free Knowledge Base content are designed to help educate and guide students in avoiding unintentional plagiarism.

We make every effort to prevent our software from being used for fraudulent or manipulative purposes.

Ask our team

Want to contact us directly? No problem.  We  are always here for you.

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Frequently asked questions

No, the Self-Plagiarism Checker does not store your document in any public database.

In addition, you can delete all your personal information and documents from the Scribbr server as soon as you’ve received your plagiarism report.

Scribbr’s Plagiarism Checker is powered by elements of Turnitin’s Similarity Checker , namely the plagiarism detection software and the Internet Archive and Premium Scholarly Publications content databases .

The add-on AI detector is powered by Scribbr’s proprietary software.

Extensive testing proves that Scribbr’s plagiarism checker is one of the most accurate plagiarism checkers on the market in 2022.

The software detects everything from exact word matches to synonym swapping. It also has access to a full range of source types, including open- and restricted-access journal articles, theses and dissertations, websites, PDFs, and news articles.

At the moment we do not offer a monthly subscription for the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker. This means you won’t be charged on a recurring basis – you only pay for what you use. We believe this provides you with the flexibility to use our service as frequently or infrequently as you need, without being tied to a contract or recurring fee structure.

You can find an overview of the prices per document here:

Please note that we can’t give refunds if you bought the plagiarism check thinking it was a subscription service as communication around this policy is clear throughout the order process.

Your document will be compared to the world’s largest and fastest-growing content database , containing over:

• 99.3 billion current and historical webpages.
• 8 million publications from more than 1,700 publishers such as Springer, IEEE, Elsevier, Wiley-Blackwell, and Taylor & Francis.

Note: Scribbr does not have access to Turnitin’s global database with student papers. Only your university can add and compare submissions to this database.

Scribbr’s plagiarism checker offers complete support for 20 languages, including English, Spanish, German, Arabic, and Dutch.

The add-on AI Detector and AI Proofreader are only available in English.

The complete list of supported languages:

If your university uses Turnitin, the result will be very similar to what you see at Scribbr.

The only possible difference is that your university may compare your submission to a private database containing previously submitted student papers. Scribbr does not have access to these private databases (and neither do other plagiarism checkers).

To cater to this, we have the Self-Plagiarism Checker at Scribbr. Just upload any document you used and start the check. You can repeat this as often as you like with all your sources. With your Plagiarism Check order, you get a free pass to use the Self-Plagiarism Checker. Simply upload them to your similarity report and let us do the rest!

Your writing stays private. Your submissions to Scribbr are not published in any public database, so no other plagiarism checker (including those used by universities) will see them.

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• Is 15% Plagiarism a Lot? What Percentage of Plagiarism is Acceptable?

• Justin McGill
• May 23, 2024

Plagiarism is an offense that can have dire consequences. Academic and professional writing values originality. What’s acceptable? Is 15% plagiarism a lot? This blog discusses good plagiarism percentages, opinions, and policies. This article will help you understand plagiarism, avoid it, and create original work.

Intentional vs. Unintentional Plagiarism

There is a difference between intentional and unintentional plagiarism. Deliberate plagiarism is when someone knowingly copies another person’s work and presents it as their own. In contrast, accidental plagiarism is when someone unknowingly uses someone else’s work without proper citation [ 1 ].

Examples of unintentional plagiarism include paraphrasing without proper citation or using common phrases without attribution. These types of plagiarism may happen because the author must be unaware of the correct citation format or need help paraphrasing without copying too closely [ 2 ].

Understanding Plagiarism Percentages

Understanding how plagiarism percentages are calculated is necessary to determine how much is acceptable and minimize it. Online Plagiarism checker detect similarities between a submitted text and other sources and calculate a similarity score. This score represents the percentage of text that matches other sources. 

Differentiating between similarity and plagiarism is crucial. Not all similarities constitute plagiarism, since common phrases or coincidental word choices account for some similarities. If a paper includes a lot of commonly used phrases or words, it may show up with a high similarity score. Still, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the paper is guilty of plagiarism [ 3 ].

If the matching text is one continuous block of borrowed material, even a 15% similarity score can be considered plagiarism. This kind of plagiarism is more severe than when several short phrases are similar. It’s essential to understand that the higher the similarity score, the more likely it is that the paper has plagiarism [ 4 ].

What Percentage of Plagiarism is Acceptable?

You may wonder what plagiarism percentage is acceptable as a writer or student. Unfortunately, there is no straightforward answer to this question, as acceptable levels of plagiarism can vary depending on the industry and institution.

The context of the writing assignment is also a key factor to consider. In some cases, a higher percentage of plagiarism may be deemed acceptable. For example, a higher rate of similarity may be allowed in research papers due to the inclusion of common references or quotes.

It is essential to recognize that there is no universally accepted standard for what percentage of plagiarism is acceptable. It is crucial to check with your instructor or employer to determine their policies and standards [ 5 ]. 

Is 15% Plagiarism a Lot?

A 15% or less similarity index is considered acceptable in academic settings. However, in professional settings, the standards for acceptable levels of plagiarism are typically stricter. Many industries require writers to maintain a 5-10% similarity index or even lower [ 6 ]. 

Is 20% Plagiarism a Lot?

In some situations, a 20% plagiarism rate may be acceptable, depending on the context of the writing and the work setting. For instance, a medical research paper with a 20% plagiarism rate may be unacceptable, while a news article with the same percentage could be more acceptable [ 6 ].

Turnitin Acceptable Plagiarism

Turnitin flags any content with a similarity score ranging from 1% to 24% as green, which falls in the acceptable range. This classification allows for reviewing and editing the text to eliminate even this level of similarity [ 7 ][ 8 ].

SafeAssign Acceptable Plagiarism

SafeAssign, on the other hand, considers 15% or lower similarity score as an acceptable level of plagiarism [ 9 ].

In conclusion, while a 15% plagiarism rate may be acceptable in some academic settings, it is advisable to aim for a lower similarity percentage. It is essential to keep in mind that different industries and institutions have other policies and that the context of the writing assignment matters. The key is to be vigilant about plagiarism and strive to produce original work.

Why is 0% Plagiarism Ideal?

Plagiarism is considered intellectual theft in academic and professional settings and can harm reputation and credibility. To avoid these consequences, striving for 0% plagiarism and following proper citation practices is essential.

Finally, plagiarism is unacceptable whether it is 15%, 20%, or 25%. Intellectual honesty and ethical writing practices are essential for the success of your writing [ 10 ].

Avoiding Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a serious academic offense. It can ruin your reputation as a student or writer. Is there a limit to plagiarism? 15% plagiarism—is that a lot? Plagiarism is unacceptable in any way.

To minimize unintended plagiarism, follow these guidelines:

• Use plagiarism checkers to verify your work is original.
• Cite your sources in the correct style.

This requires acknowledging the source of information, whether it’s a book, journal article, website, or personal correspondence.

To avoid plagiarism, good habits are essential. These include taking correct notes, paraphrasing information, and resisting the urge to copy and paste. Always attempt to create creative work that reflects your thoughts and ideas.

It’s also important to know what audiences and institutions expect. Citation and referencing requirements vary by field. Discuss any questions with your instructor or supervisor.

There are plenty of resources available to assist you in avoiding plagiarism, such as writing centers or academic integrity guides. Feel free to seek help if you need clarification on any aspect of the writing process.

Remember, plagiarism of any kind is not worth the risk. It’s best to produce original, high-quality work highlighting your ideas and contributions [ 11 ].

This article discusses plagiarism, its types, how it is calculated, and what plagiarism percentage is acceptable in academic and professional settings. It also provides tips on how to avoid plagiarism, such as taking correct notes, paraphrasing information, and resisting the urge to copy and paste. 

Additionally, it recommends seeking help from resources such as writing centers or academic integrity guides and discussing any questions with instructors or supervisors. Plagiarism, in any form or percentage, is not acceptable. 

Originality and Creativity are crucial to producing high-quality work. If you’re a student or professional writer, take plagiarism seriously and aim for 0% plagiarism in your work.

How can I make sure my work is original?

Use plagiarism checker tools to ensure your work is original, properly cite your sources, and paraphrase information. It’s also essential to take careful notes and avoid copying and pasting from other sources.

What is self-plagiarism, and is it considered plagiarism?

Self-plagiarism is when an author reuses their previous work without proper citation or permission. While self-plagiarism is not illegal, it is considered unethical and can harm the integrity and credibility of the work.

Can I use someone else’s ideas without citing them?

No, you must cite sources when using someone else’s ideas, even if you paraphrase or summarize them. Failing to cite sources can result in plagiarism when using other people’s ideas.

Is plagiarism acceptable in research papers?

Plagiarism is never acceptable in any type of writing, including research papers. However, the fair percentage of similarity may be higher due to the inclusion of standard references or quotes.

What are some common examples of plagiarism?

Examples of plagiarism include:

• Copying and pasting from a source without citation.
• Paraphrasing too closely without citation.
• Submitting someone else’s work as your own.

Can you plagiarize images or videos?

Yes, using images, videos, and other multimedia without permission or proper citation can constitute plagiarism.

• Intentional & Unintentional Plagiarism – Citing Sources – LibGuides at Holy Family University
• Difference Between Unintentional and Intentional Plagiarism | Cram
• https://www.editage.com/insights/what-is-the-acceptable-percentage-of-plagiarism-report
• What is an acceptable percentage of plagiarism? (scribbr.com)
• https://www.remodelormove.com/how-long-until-im-not-shadowbanned/
• How much % of plagiarism is allowed? Will my references be excluded? | ResearchGate
• Acceptable plagiarism Percentage: Turnitin or SafeAssign in College (learnpar.com)
• https://eat.scedt.tees.ac.uk/bb8content/resources/recipes/interpretTurnitin.pdf
• https://gradebees.com/read-safeassign-scores-how-accurate/
• How Much Plagiarism Is Allowed in Academic Papers? — EduBirdie.com
• Why is Plagiarism Less than 19% allowed? Is there any logic of 19%? | ResearchGate

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Learn how much plagiarism is allowed in 2023.

26 May 2022

Read our short article to find out how much plagiarism is allowed in academic work before it gets you in trouble!

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is taking someone else’s work and claiming it to be yours. So, it is essentially cheating. However, it's often critical to back up your thoughts and opinions in academic writing, especially when you are specifically asked to perform research e.g., a research paper, a case study, a thesis, dissertation, or general research essay, but you must be careful how you write text to avoid getting in trouble for cheating. Students may take information from books, online documents, a friend, or another student if they reference the other’s work accurately. A student may plagiarize intentionally or unintentionally e.g., students can be accused of plagiarism for forgetting to or being unable to correctly cite sources of information and students can (in extreme cases) be thrown off their course.

How Much Plagiarism is Allowed?

Plagiarism in general academic writing.

A plagiarism checker is used in academic writing to detect plagiarism and although educational professionals may tell a student that the allowed percentage is zero, the maximum amount of plagiarism that academic institutions generally consider acceptable in submissions is actually 15%. Academic institutions interpret the 15% statistic as unintentional plagiarism, and there is also a small percentage allowance for software faults, which can occur with such complicated and detailed technology. So, a plagiarism score of over 15% indicates that the student's work contains a significant amount of plagiarized material and that 1% more can be the difference between academic integrity and plagiarism . Worryingly, a plagiarism percentage of more than 20% is an immediate perceived indicator that text is intentionally plagiarized by the student to deceive their academic instructor or assessor and a penalty may be applied.

Plagiarism in Theses and Dissertations

When it comes to theses and dissertations, plagiarism is constantly monitored and should ideally be zero but 5% or under will normally be accepted. You may find yourself creating sentences that sound similar to those seen in other academic papers, which your teacher or lecturer may overlook, but if this happens too often you may face a penalty.

Plagiarism in Published Journals

In a published journal, plagiarism should again be zero and score of over 5% would possibly be unacceptable (just like theses and dissertations) but in the case of a published journal, legal action can be taken against plagiarized content.

Plagiarism in Blogs

Blog writing is a little more relaxed and a score of 30 percent or under will generally be considered acceptable.

Top Tips on How to Avoid Plagiarism

• Cite properly: A good student knows how to cite according to their educational establishments required citation style. Work may be cited in Harvard, APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, or another style and these can have different versions e.g., APA 6th, MLA 8th. Make sure you give in-text citations, e.g., Shelley, 2012 for every quote, fact, statistic, graph, diagram, photo, etc., that you take from another source and reference the source fully in your reference list e.g., Shelly (2012) The Meaning of Life, Blackbird Publications . Remember that direct quotes should normally be written within speech marks and paraphrased text counts as a quotation requiring citation, but you can omit the speech marks.
• Use a generator: An online citation generator can help you check you are citing work correctly and save your references as you go if you keep them open in a tab and update them each time you use a new source, but they are not completely foolproof or 100 percent accurate all the time, so be sure to double check them.
• Highlight copied text: If you copy and paste information into a document to paraphrase or refer to later, highlight the text in a distinct color (e.g., red for danger) until you have written it in your own words and cited it. This will remind you that it is copied content. It can be easy to forget and include the words of others in your work, especially when you are writing a large document.
• Proofread: Read your whole document beginning to end to check that you have included in-text citations and a reference list entry for every piece of information you have used from another source and that speech marks surround any direct quotes. 
• Detection tools: If you are worried your work could still show a result of more than 15%, try using an online plagiarism detection tool before submitting any work. This can provide you with an estimate of the plagiarism score and identify the plagiarized content for you to edit.

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Plagiarism in academic writing or any kind of writing can be a tricky area and it’s so easy to get caught out whether you intended to cheat or not! Students can get lost in large documents, lose track of what they have written, what they have copied and pasted, and where text, quotes, statistics, and other information came from. Plagiarism accusations are best avoided so be sure to cite other people’s work correctly and accurately as you go along and find out exactly how much plagiarism is allowed in college, rather than take risks that may be embarrassing or (more worryingly) could potentially cost you penalties or your college place.

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Plagiarism Checker by Quetext

Free plagiarism checker: how it works, enter text into plagiarism detection tool.

We make it simple. Just copy and paste all content from your document into our plagiarism checker and hit the ‘Check Plagiarism’ button to get started.

Evaluate text for plagiarism

Our plagiarism detection tool uses DeepSearch™ Technology to identify any content throughout your document that might be plagiarized. We identify plagiarized content by running the text through three steps:

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Accurate plagiarism results

After evaluating the text against billions of internet sources, you will be provided with a plagiarism score showing the percentage of text that is an exact or near-match to existing text online.

Resolve plagiarism risk and use citations

Our ColorGrade™ feedback feature highlights exact matches vs. near-exact or “fuzzy” matches with corresponding colors. From there, you can resolve plagiarism issues by deleting or altering the at-risk copy. Or, you can use our handy “Cite Source” feature to generate citations in MLA, APA, and Chicago formats and insert the citations directly into your document.

Plagiarism Checker Benefits

Whether producing original content or verifying that of others, there’s a lot to gain from using a plagiarism checker. Accurate, automatic detection of duplicate content facilitates the copy-checking process for teachers, students, content writers, and more. Results showing the exact percentage of plagiarized content allows users to see exactly how much text has been copied and where they need to re-word.

For Teachers

Before homework can be graded for quality, it must first be confirmed as original. Our easy-to-use tool arms teachers with a simple, effective way to verify and grade students’ work. Educators at all levels can benefit from ensuring academic integrity through a comprehensive plagiarism check. From K-12, all the way through higher education, teachers are faced with the task of verifying the originality of the work of dozens, if not hundreds, of students each year. Automating this process frees teachers up to focus on the quality of work, rather than be bogged down by its originality.

For Students

While the prevalence of academic plagiarism is on the rise, much of it is arguably unintentional. A simple, yet accurate and comprehensive, plagiarism checker offers students peace of mind when submitting written content for grading. It is much easier to do a quick check for potential plagiarism before submission rather than convince a teacher after the fact that your academic integrity is not in question. And Quetext even takes checking for plagiarism a step further, helping students identify and cite the source itself with our built-in citation generator.

For Copywriters

Plagiarism risk is not restricted to academia. Anyone tasked with writing for an individual or business has an ethical and legal responsibility to produce original content. On top of that, content writers are often tasked with producing content on topics outside of their wheelhouse, leaving them reliant on the work of others for their research. Our plagiarism checker gives content writers a quick and easy method to prevent copyright infringement. Checking even lengthy pieces of writing takes only a few minutes, keeping companies’ public content in check and writers’ integrity intact.

Types of Plagiarism

It’s important to understand that plagiarism expands far beyond just copying someone else’s work word-for-word. There are several different types of plagiarism that should be avoided.

Self-Plagiarism

Many believe that, as long as they produced the work at some point in the past, they can include it in future pieces. However, even if you were the original author, that original work must be cited in order to not be flagged as plagiarism. Treat your past self as a totally separate author; be sure to include all relevant citations and quotations, the same as you would for any other source.

Patchwork Plagiarism

Patchwork plagiarism is the act of piecing together a "patchwork" of existing content to form something new. Assembling unoriginal content in this manner often involves some paraphrasing, with only slight changes. This type of plagiarism can be tricky and can certainly occur unintentionally, especially in academia. Since academic writing is largely based on the research of others, a well-meaning student can inadvertently end up plagiarizing.

Mosaic Plagiarism

Mosaic plagiarism is synonymous with patchwork plagiarism. It describes the process of loosely rearranging or restating another's work without issuing proper credit. It can occur accidentally or intentionally. For authors, mosaic plagiarism endangers their academic integrity or reputation as a writer. For those checking content originality, such as teachers, mosaic plagiarism can easily appear to be original content, which can make mosaic plagiarism especially difficult to detect manually.

Accidental Plagiarism

Plagiarism doesn’t have to be intentional to still be considered plagiarism — even in early academia, where students are just learning how to properly cite others’ work. While there may be no ill intent from the student, most schools have policies explicitly treating accidental plagiarism the same as intentional plagiarism. Students are expected to know how to properly issue credit to other authors. Similarly, content writers risk damage to their reputation if they produce plagiarized content, regardless of intent.

Plagiarism Checker FAQ

What is plagiarism.

Plagiarism is representing someone else’s work as your own. In educational contexts, there are differing definitions of plagiarism depending on the institution. Plagiarism is considered a violation of academic integrity and a breach of journalistic ethics.

What percentage of a paper can be plagiarized (or copied) and still be considered unique?

Generally speaking, similar or exact copies of another source should be kept under 15% for the total text of the article/paper/essay. As a best practice, citations should be used whenever using another source word-for-word.

What’s the difference between deliberate and accidental plagiarism?

Deliberate plagiarism is purposely copying works from books, articles, webpages, or someone else’s paper and representing it as your original work. Alternatively, accidental plagiarism occurs in a few different ways:

• Incorrectly citing another person’s works
• Failing to paraphrase another person’s works - even when citing it correctly
• Reusing your own previous papers and inadvertently representing it as a new idea

What are the consequences of plagiarism?

The consequences for plagiarizing another person’s works vary. But broadly speaking, the types of consequences can be grouped by person and profession.

Plagiarism consequences for students

Maintaining academic integrity is a top priority for every educational institution. As already mentioned, ignorance of how to properly cite sources is not an excuse for plagiarism. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure they are submitting work that has not been plagiarized.

Failure to do so can result in disciplinary action, including an automatic failed grade, removal from a class, or expulsion from a school or university. Students who are allowed to continue at their institution following an act of plagiarism may encounter mistrust and additional scrutiny from teachers and instructors.

Plagiarism consequences for copywriters

Copywriters stake their reputation (and by extension, that of their client or company) on their writing. All copywriters must produce completely original content for their clients.

The consequences for plagiarism here are clear: Copywriters who plagiarize the content of others will quickly find it difficult to obtain paying assignments. Similar to academic situations, it is the copywriter’s own responsibility to ensure that their content is 100% original.

Plagiarism consequences for journalists

Journalists are held to exceptionally high standards of integrity in their writing. A journalist who produces plagiarized content jeopardizes the trust of their readers and publishers. Plagiarism can instantly reduce a journalist’s career by a large margin. The ethical and legal standards issued to journalists are clear: Produce original, well-cited content or find another field.

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Table of Contents

Plagiarism Checker Free

Prepostseo plagiarism checker is a reliable and accurate online tool that allows users like students, writers, and bloggers to check plagiarism for free. It provides quick results and comes with many useful features.

The words Limit For Our Tool is Explained Below:

What is Plagiarism?

As  Wikipedia says ,

“. ..plagiarism is the representation of another author's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work. ..”

According to Merriam-Webster ,

"...t o steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own: use (another's production) without crediting the source... "

Here is our own take on explaining plagiarism.

“Plagiarism is the act of taking someone’s content and utilizing it without giving them the due credit.”

Contrary to what many people think, plagiarism has nothing to do with permission. It doesn’t matter if any content is taken from a source without the permission of the author or not. As long as the borrowed content is properly cited and the author/source is accredited, it will not be said to be plagiarized.

It is a different matter altogether if the source or author in question has expressly prohibited the use of their content even with citations/credits. In such cases, using the content would not be proper in any capacity.

Plagiarism is an unethical act and it has many consequences. That is why it is necessary to check plagiarism in all types of content before finalizing it.

How Does Our Plagiarism Checker Work?

Our online plagiarism checker works by matching the provided input text against existing content from online sources. It then generates a plagiarism report according to the percentage of unique and plagiarized text in the content.

Prepostseo’s plagiarism tool checks for plagiarized content across online sources by using different search engines.

It is also capable of detecting paraphrased content along with exactly matching text. It identifies all types of plagiarism, i.e., incremental, patchwork, and accidental plagiarism.

How to Check Plagiarism For Free?

Follow the steps below to find plagiarized content using our online plagiarism checker.

• Copy your text and paste it into the given input box.

• If you want to exclude a specific URL, click on the Exclude URL button and paste the URL in the input box.
• You can exclude quoted text from the plagiarism check by clicking on the Exclude Quotes checkbox.
• Hit the Check Plagiarism button to start plagiarism detection. 

Understanding the Results

Our plagiarism scanner provides the plagiarism report in a lot of detail. To help you understand the results better, we’re going to discuss some of the main elements in detail.

Percentage of plagiarized content It shows the exact percentage of plagiarism found in the content. If there is any paraphrased plagiarism in the text, it will get included in the overall percentage. Percentage of unique content The results also show the exact percentage of unique content in the given text. Both the percentages are shown at the top of the results.

Matched sources By clicking on the Matched Sources tab, you can easily see all URLs and documents from where plagiarism is found. You can also see the matched URLsby clicking on any of the red-underlined sentences/phrases.

Key Features of Our Plagiarism Checking Tool

Some of the key features of our plagiarism toolare given below:

01. Upload File to Check Plagiarism

You can upload files from local storage to check for plagiarism. Our tool supports various file types such as .doc, .docx, .pdf, .txt, etc.

02. Exclude Specific URL

Our plagiarism checker allows you to exclude specific websites and webpages from being detected. This can be useful if you want to ignore your own website from being scanned when checking for plagiarism.

03. Exclude Quotes

The ‘Exclude Quotes’ option is available to stop the tool from checking quoted content for plagiarism. It helps to get a more accurate plagiarism percentage.

04. Word Count and Clear Field Option

The words of the content are calculated in real-time to confirm how much text you are checking. If you want to clear the field for a fresh start, you can click on the Delete icon to erase the input.

05. Downloadable Plagiarism Reports

You can download the plagiarism reports in HTML and PDF format. Click on the Download Report button to get the full report with percentage.

06. Provides an Option to Make the Content Unique

After checking for plagiarism, you click on the Make it unique button.

This will open our paraphrasing tool that you can use to paraphrase your content to eliminate plagiarism.

07. Provides an Option to Rewrite the Plagiarized Content

Our sentence rewriter rephrases plagiarized content to make it unique. Click on the plagiarized sentence, then click on the ‘Rewrite’ button to make content unique and free from plagiarism.

08. Citation Generator

Create citations for your text quickly and easily using the in-built citation generator. To use, simply click on the plagiarized sentence and then select the ‘Cite it’ option to open the citation generator .

09. Multiple Language Support

Our tool is available in multiple languages. You can check for plagiarism in various languages including French, Dutch, Spanish and many more.

10. Chrome Extension

Our free plagiarism checker offers a Google Chrome extension. You can use the extension to check plagiarism in any content on a website without opening the actual tool itself.

11. Plagiarism Checker API

You can integrate our plagiarism API  with your website or online platform for smooth and seamless plagiarism detection.

12. WordPress Plugin

This plagiarism check is also available as a  WordPress plugin . You can set it up with your WordPress website to check for plagiarism easily.

13. Mobile Apps

You can download our mobile app on your phone and check plagiarism anywhere. we offer:

• Android App

14. Desktop Application

Our plagiarism checking tool is also available as a desktop application. You can use it as a:

Windows Application

MAC Application

Prepostseo plagiarism Detector can be used by

Students can use this online plagiarism checker to find out if their assignments have any plagiarism in them. For students, plagiarism can lead to many different problems and consequences. They can face trouble from their teachers and institutes.

Our tool helps them to ensure the uniqueness of their write-ups. In a lot of cases, institutes have certain tolerance limits for plagiarism. Some institutes put it at 10% whereas others put it at 15%. Students can use our tool to make sure the plagiarism in their write-ups is less than the set limit.Moreover, students can also use our Essay writer to create 100% unique and immersive essays in no time.

Teachers can use this tool to check if their students are submitting the original work or just copying it from the internet. Students can often get inclined to take content from the Internet - and they can also do some mix and matching from multiple sources to avoid detection. Teachers can use our online tools to easily find out if the submitted work is unique or copied.

Researchers

Researchers, like other academic writers and professionals, have to write various types of papers. Unlike other types of creative writing, research writing is based on utilizing the research material and then creating the write-up. Due to this, plagiarism can often occur.

By using our free online plagiarism checker, researchers can ensure that the content they create is unique and original. This can help them avoid getting in trouble due to plagiarism.  

Content writers & bloggers

Content uniqueness is highly important for content writers and bloggers. When creating content for clients, writers have to ensure that their work is free of plagiarism. If their content is plagiarized, it can put their career in jeopardy. The same goes for bloggers. If bloggers publish plagiarized content on their websites, it can get their SERP rankings lowered. In severe cases, it can even get their sites delisted.

Both writers and bloggers can run a simple plagiarism check on their content before finalizing it using our online tool.

How effective is our plagiarism detection software?

Our online plagiarism detector is one of the most accurate and reliable tools available on the internet. Due to its AI functionality, it can even find paraphrased sentences in your text other than the exact matches.

How should plagiarism be avoided?

You can avoid plagiarism by simply rewriting the duplicated sentences in your work. You can also cite the source or put the particular sentence in quotation marks. However, you can do this after you find out which parts of your work are plagiarized using an online plagiarism checker.

Which plagiarism checker is used by universities?

Different educational institutes use various tools to check plagiarism. Some of them use Turnitin while others can use Copyscape.

Which plagiarism checker is the best in 2024?

The plagiarism detection tool by Prepostseo is one of the best tools available in 2024. It provides accurate results and it also has a lot of useful features.

How can I check a pdf for plagiarism?

You can check your PDF for plagiarism using the PDF plagiarism checker by Prepostseo.

• Click on the ‘Upload’ button and select a PDF from your local storage.
• Solve the reCAPTCHA and hit the Check Plagiarism button
• Get the plagiarism report with the percentage.