Research Insights
NSF CAREER Applicants Cautioned About Plagiarism in Proposals
An investigative scientist for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Office of the Inspector General reported at a recent workshop that the predominant type of research misconduct seen by the NSF is plagiarism.
An investigative scientist for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Office of the Inspector General reported at a recent workshop that the predominant type of research misconduct seen by the NSF is plagiarism.
The scientist, Scott Moore, went on to say that “inexperienced” researchers, in particular, are more likely to submit proposals that contain plagiarized material. For example, approximately 2-3% of NSF proposals in a given year contain actionable plagiarized sections, yet 10-15% of these are submitted by individuals within 5 years of starting their academic career.
CAREER proposals were singled out by Moore during the workshop as having the highest levels of actionable plagiarism. Oftentimes, expert reviewers for NSF discover that CAREER applicants submit proposals plagiarizing the reviewers’ work! NSF also uses plagiarism-detection software to randomly check proposal submissions. All researchers are reminded to take a few minutes and ensure that proposals to any sponsor contain proper citations and attributions, as required. Source: Report on Research Compliance (Vol. 10, No.8, August, 2013)