Plagiarism and Other Literary Missteps in Medicine and Particularly in Anesthesia

Abstract

Recently, with the great abundance of publications, a noticeable number of scientific papers that have been previously published partially or in whole, by other author or authors have appeared demonstrating plagiarism. When either a paragraph or complete article is reproduced, it is considered that the content has been stolen from the author and the original publication. Different degrees and varieties of plagiarism have been defined, and even “auto plagiarism” has been defined which is not so alarming. However, including more than 6 exact consecutive words from another text written by other author should be considered plagiarism. Once identified and checked, several medical journals and scientific organizations have sanctioned plagiarism in different ways; in some countries plagiarism is not even considered a crime and it is simply assumed as a conceptual problem. However, in other countries, in some universities, and medical organizations, it has been sanctioned with the retraction of the published paper, and notification of the plagiarist’s employer (for example the University, hospital, government agency and scientific or trade organization). Commonly, the punishment is the retraction of the paper in the journal, dismissal of the plagiarist from the academic center (University) and or destitution in one or more appointments he may have had. Maybe in the future, fines or lawsuits resulting in economic compensation to the original author could be instated. Another issue is the responsibility of editors who allow such actions, particularly if it is a common event.