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Published online 22 October 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/4551019a
Iranian paper sparks sense of deja vu
Allegations of plagiarism prompt journal to retract report.
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It is sad to read this news. However, I had very similar experience, when I reviewed a manuscript of another Iranian author submitted to the same journal. The manuscript was 98% similar to the paper the same author published year before, only the title and abstract changed. Even the typos and grammatical errors were the same.
Similar to comments on another news thread, do you think there are cultural underpinings of this? Or is it really obvious "cheating"?
The editor-in-chief of the Iranian Journal has done the right thing, retracting a plagiarized article after the revelation of Déjà Vu by the Nature News. Such action can deter researchers from the seemingly rampant and increasing worldwide abuse of the copyrights of the authentic writers. It is an absolutely necessary warning albeit painful to some. Hopefully, this will serve as a strong reminder for the would-be ?cut-and-paste? authors. (Tan Boon Tee)
The editor-in-chief of the Iranian Journal has done the right thing, retracting a plagiarized article after the revelation of Déjà Vu by the Nature News. Such action can deter researchers from the seemingly rampant and increasing worldwide abuse of the copyrights of the authentic writers. It is an absolutely necessary warning albeit painful to some. Hopefully, this will serve as a strong reminder for the would-be ?cut-and-paste? authors. (Tan Boon Tee)
It could of been an honest oversight.
I believe it is inappropriate to sully a whole scientific community because of the actions of a single researcher. It would have been odd to find a title 'American paper sparks a sense of deja vu', even though there are entries in the data base with affiliation in the US. I wonder if this news would have appeared at all if it was not for the fact that this particular person had such a notorious role in contemporary history. After all, there are many entries in the deja vu database.
I am not sure if I understand what exactly the problem is. A "review paper" IS a paper reviewing other researchers' original works. The author "stitches" other authors' text and data, some times verbatim, together and demonstrates the advances in the field. This is perfectly normal. S/he does not have to add any of her/his own work in the review article. Has she 'claimed' unreferenced parts of her article to be hers? Or has she just not referenced them appropriately? If the latter is the case, you don't call it plagiarism. The author is normally called upon to make corrections. Although not common, but it does happen sometimes. The editor in chief and his reviewers should also have clarified with the author before printing.
please don't lump all Iranian scientists into a one group. people from around the world, including US, take shortcuts. since there is now software to catch such gross infractions and teams of watchers are perusing the literature i'd suggest all researchers actually read their submissions before publication. a little over a year ago warnings were made public that this sort of behavior was not going to be tolerated any longer.
I agree with Ricardo. It's so sad that this story tries to tie up Ebtekar's role in politics with the fact that she has plagiarised. The two have nothing to do with each other and the story comes across as trying to portray Iranians as plagiarising hostage-holding militants!
Plagiarism is wrong and should not be tolerated. The publication of this person has been retracted. She proved that she is devoid of integrity and knowledge. So, is the author of this report, in my opinion, Mr. Declan Butler. With his scientific PhD, he embarks on a politicised discussion by bringing up the issue of hostages which took place 28 years ago. I wonder if other authors involved in plagiarism are also portrayed this way: their country?s atrocities towards other nations are brought up?! As for Mr. Butlter knowledge, he does not know the language spoken in Iran is called Persian and not Farsi. How many of scientific people here write about Germany and say, Deutsch-language and Deutsch-Blog?!!
Sad news, even if it is an honest mistake it still is sad in one way or another. However, I, as an Iranian scientist and a nature reader, am indeed disappointed by this title. Mr. Butler, it is simply wrong and unwise to disgrace a whole scientific community due to individuals.
All of this handwringing about plagiarism is an artifact of western imperialism. After the horrifying colonialism of Europe and America, it is a wonder that scientists from oppressed countries publish at all. Thus, plagiarism is a natural response to the centuries of oppression. To forbid plagiarism would be to perpetuate the cycle of colonial violence in an intellectual forum. I dont think that the paper should be retracted and I will make sure to reference this paper even if it is not relevant to the manuscript that I am writing. I call on all people who support international justice to follow my example
Well, I am not surprised to read this article at all. I am also not surprised where the fraud happened, actually I expected this. This should not mean that I think that there is no fraud in the western scientific community, actually I think there is a lot (e.g. the Sames-Sezen-case in which the first author delivered amazing but manipulated data which no one could reproduce). In my opinion, everywhere one exceeds a critical mass of people you will have a percentage of cheaters. What is striking here is, that it comes from a region which is not commonly known for their scientific productivity. So the question should be allowed, if there is some kind of pressure from Iranian government on the productivity of their scientist (to prove their predominance over the west) or if there might be other, perhaps, cultural reasons.
Well, I am not surprised to read this article at all. I am also not surprised where the fraud happened, actually I expected this. This should not mean that I think that there is no fraud in the western scientific community, actually I think there is a lot (e.g. the Sames-Sezen-case in which the first author delivered amazing but manipulated data which no one could reproduce). In my opinion, everywhere one exceeds a critical mass of people you will have a percentage of cheaters. What is striking here is, that it comes from a region which is not commonly known for their scientific productivity. So the question should be allowed, if there is some kind of pressure from Iranian government on the productivity of their scientist (to prove their predominance over the west) or if there might be other, perhaps, cultural reasons.