Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of using someone else's work without an acknowledgement and trying to pass it off as original work.

The term generally refers to creative or scientific writing, and not to music or art, though the concept continues to apply in those fields. Use of copyrighted material is normally referred to simply as breach of copyright, but the term plagiarism can apply to work that is out of copyright. Acknowledged quotations or paraphrases are not considered as plagiarism, nor are translations if identified as such.

Plagiarism has been demonstrated among authors of articles in scientific journals. At a lower level, it has become a particular problem with the development of the internet, and its use by students seeking for shortcuts to information. Universities have had to take precautions against this.