[LINK] Plagiarism and Encyclopaedias [WAS Wikipedia Critic ...]

[Roger Clarke]

To the extent that there's an authoritative definition in Australia, 
this one is probably it:

"To plagiarize shall be understood to mean the presentation of the 
documented words or ideas of another as his or her own, without 
attribution appropriate for the medium of presentation. ... A 
researcher or reviewer shall not intentionally or recklessly ... 
plagiarize"  (AVCC, 1997)

I published a paper earlier this year on 'plagiarism by academics'. 
(Most of the plentiful literature comprises academics complaining 
about students, rather than getting their own house in order):
http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/SOS/Plag0602.html

I argued that:
(a)  the issue is a lot more complicated than people think
(b)  serious plagiarism occurs, but most isn't all that grievous
(c)  appropriate approaches depend on a number of factors, including
      the nature of the work

In discussing the nature of the work, I left out encyclopaedias!
http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/SOS/Plag0602.html#RTFToC29

But they approximate to textbooks, and I included a specific proposal 
relating to "Evaluation Criteria for Plagiarism in a Textbook":
http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/SOS/Plag0602.html#RTFToC24

The most common approach adopted by textbook authors is "no citation 
within the text, but attribution to the source in notes at the end of 
each chapter or the book as a whole", and it's appropriate and 
effective.  So that would seem a sensible default approach or 
benchmark for encyclopaedias as well.

Generally, one would expect a reference work to:
(a)  draw on other works
(b)  include a lot of information that is generally known
(c)  make the information readily accessible
      (and of course smothering it in references conflicts with that aim)

The need for attribution increases with:
(a)  the originality of the copied material
(b)  the size of the copied material
http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/SOS/Plag0602.html#RTFToC31

In the case of an encyclopaedia, copying without attribution doesn't 
seem to me to be an issue except where:
**  there is verbatim or near-verbatim copying of:
     -   whole articles
     -   segments of substantial size (e.g. at least a key paragraph)
**  copying of ideas that are highly original

Even in these cases, it would appear that general attribution (i.e. 
no attribution within the text, but "inclusion of details of the 
source in a reasonably adjacent bibliography, e.g. in a recommended 
reading list at the end of the [article]") would be quite sufficient:
http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/SOS/Plag0602.html#RTFToC32

As a test, the discovery that a sentence in an encyclopaedia is a 
verbatim or near-verbatim copy of one in a text-book, an 
authoritative academic article or another encyclopaedia, shouldn't 
really upset readers;  and it shouldn't really upset the 
copyright-owner either - although if the source was *that* useful, it 
would seem appropriate to include the source in the article's 
reference-list.

The segment on copyright accords with what Glen Turner wrote:
http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/SOS/Plag0602.html#RTFToC17

Briefly, "the presence or absence of permission to republish has no 
simple relationship to the question of plagiarism, and in many cases 
may have no relationship at all", and just because the approach 
adopted is reasonable behaviour from the viewpoint of plagiarism 
doesn't mean that copyright-owners and their agents are precluded 
from issuing media releases, sending nastygrams, suing, and even 
maybe winning.

-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/
			            
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Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW