How do oncology journals approach plagiarism? A website review.

Abstract

Background: Journals and publishers vary in the methods they use to detect plagiarism, when they implement these methods, and how they respond when plagiarism is suspected both before and after publication. This study aims to determine the policies and procedures of oncology journals for detecting and responding to suspected plagiarism in unpublished and published manuscripts.

Methods: We reviewed the websites of each journal in the Oncology category of Journal Citation Reports' Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) to determine how they detect and respond to suspected plagiarism. We collected data from each journal's website, or publisher webpages directly linked from journal websites, to ascertain what information about plagiarism policies and procedures is publicly available.

Results: There are 241 extant oncology journals included in SCIE, of which 224 (92.95%) have a plagiarism policy or mention plagiarism. Text similarity software or other plagiarism checking methods are mentioned by 207 of these (92.41%, and 85.89% of the 241 total journals examined). These text similarity checks occur most frequently at manuscript submission or initial editorial review. Journal or journal-linked publisher webpages frequently report following guidelines from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (135, 56.01%).

Conclusions: Oncology journals report similar methods for identifying and responding to plagiarism, with some variation based on the breadth, location, and timing of plagiarism detection. Journal policies and procedures are often informed by guidance from professional organizations, like COPE.