The admissible amount of borrowings as a problem of organization of research work and of quality control

Abstract

The aim of the research . The determination of the permissible amount of non-original text in the automated verification of scientific documents for plagiarism has become a new, but already common phenomenon in Russia. The experience with the use of threshold values shows that it may have different effects on the final quality of such documents and therefore needs special consideration. The purpose of the article is to study the positive and negative consequences of using the allowable amount of borrowing. Methods and materials. Studying local normative acts, issued by national higher education institutions and the analysis of the results of anti-plagiarism tests carried out at the Russian State Library for research documents revealed certain peculiarities of application of the “threshold levels”. The results. The “threshold levels” usage would doubtlessly simplify the treatment of the plagiarism test results. In addition, authors of research works obtain a certain stimulus to more careful and thorough work over their papers, lecturers and academic advisors could detect compilation texts far easier than ever before. Meanwhile different organizations set different frames for volumes of borrowings when the same type of research work being considered, and there can be found no grounds related to the branches of science. The introduction of the restrictions on the amount of borrowing does not change the current Copyright legislation of the Russian Federation, nor does it make plagiarism legitimate.  In that respect a matter of a particular importance turns out to explain to students and postgraduates the main principles of scientific ethics and of the specific features of the plagiarism tests. A significant negative consequence of using the allowable amount of borrowing is that in different organizations the same text can be evaluated quite differently. The diversity of concepts of the admissible amount of borrowings makes it hard to compare the results of the plagiarism tests carried out at different establishments and determining a final level for the text quality. The admissible amount of borrowings would often correspond to the demand to quote other publications in the volumes justified by the aims of the quotation. The problems emerge when the number of the correct quotations satisfies the demand but their total volume exceeds the set frames. Another possible problem comes when the part of the borrowings fits those frames while the appropriateness of quotations remains questionable. The data on the borrowed volumes received by the primary computer plagiarism test cannot be considered objective if the volume of text taken by one author from another one’s work is viewed. To detect the degree of borrowings (either correct or incorrect) the report of the system on each of the documents is to be verified by the specialist. Since the year of 2009, the Russian State Library (RSL) has carried out over 4,000 plagiarism tests with usage of specialized software “Antiplagiat.RSL”. Documents were compared to the texts of the sources of the Digital Dissertation Library of the RSL, and the results of the tests revealed diverse forms of plagiarism. Conclusion. The organizational and methodological problems accompanying application of restrictions for borrowings remain unsolved for the moment. In addition, irrespective of the character of those restrictions the conclusion concerning the scientific value and the legitimacy of the research paper is to be made by the members of the academic community, not by the information systems.