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Attitudes of researchers towards plagiarism: A study on a tertiary care hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Author(s) -
Marar Sumayyia D.,
Hamza Muaawia A.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
learned publishing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.06
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-4857
pISSN - 0953-1513
DOI - 10.1002/leap.1295
Subject(s) - reputation , respondent , tertiary care , psychology , trustworthiness , medical education , perception , ambiguity , family medicine , medicine , social psychology , political science , law , linguistics , philosophy , neuroscience
Plagiarism is one of the most common research misconducts and has many negative consequences. It can potentially destroy the reputation of an institution. Only a few studies have explored plagiarism in Saudi Arabia, and these have focused on academic institutions. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the attitudes of researchers towards plagiarism at a tertiary care hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, using the established Attitudes Towards Plagiarism questionnaire. The questionnaire contains demographic data along with 29 statements divided into three sections: positive attitude towards plagiarism, which reflects the approval and acceptance of plagiarism (12 items); negative attitude towards plagiarism, which reflects deprecation and condemnation of plagiarism (7 items); and subjective norms towards plagiarism, which reflects personal perception of the extent and acceptance of plagiarism in society (10 items). Responses were collected from 237 participants. The overall attitudes of researchers showed a disapproval for plagiarism in medical research but also revealed some ambiguity about self‐plagiarism and a belief that others were more likely to plagiarize than the respondent. Our findings suggest that awareness about different forms of plagiarism among researchers should be increased. We recommend that researchers' attitudes towards plagiarism should be investigated further in a rigorous association study.