Why Plagiarism Still Matters

If you read or hear about a plagiarism story, it will likely fall into one of three categories.

The first category is politically motivated attacks that weaponize plagiarism to discredit a candidate or an ideology. These have been especially common in recent months in the form of attacks on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and other diversity initiatives.

The second category is scandals involving celebrities and other famous individuals. Though there is often overlap with political scandals, sometimes celebrities become headline news simply because of their fame. This includes the Jane Goodall scandal of 2013.

Finally, there are more generic stories about how ubiquitous plagiarism is in a specific space. These were especially common during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, and researchers have examined its impacts on academic and research integrity.

However, all these stories have a common reaction: Burnout and fatigue.

Even people who specialize in plagiarism have reached the point of burnout. I include myself in that statement. After 19 years of reporting on plagiarism, copyright and related issues, even I find myself feeling overwhelmed.

The natural response is to assume that plagiarism doesn’t matter. Why should anyone care if everyone is doing it and the consequences are so minimal? What’s the point of even caring about plagiarism?

However, plagiarism still matters. While it may matter more in some spaces than others, there are practical reasons why we should continue to care about plagiarism, no matter how hard it gets.

In Academic Spaces

The danger of plagiarism is pretty straightforward in academic spaces. No researcher is working in a vacuum; everyone is building on the work that came before them. While that earlier work does deserve acknowledgment, the bigger question is, what happens if that earlier work turns out to be flawed?

This is not a hypothetical question. One reason the plagiarism allegations against concussion researcher Paul McCrory were so serious was that he presented outdated research as new. His plagiarism set the study of CTE back significantly, likely causing permanent injuries in some athletes.

Plagiarism in research breaks the chain of information that ties a work to its predecessors. It also takes up limited publication space and can crowd out novel research.

Finally, much of an academic’s clout is based on their publication history. But if that history isn’t authentic, others cannot judge their expertise.

This is just as true in the classroom as in the research lab. Essays and other written assignments gauge a student’s knowledge and understanding. Plagiarism (and other forms of cheating) short-circuits that and not only gives students grades they haven’t earned but also denies them the help and understanding they need.

Authenticity matters when learning. Because when learning becomes inauthentic, it isn’t learning at all.

In Creative Spaces

In creative spaces, plagiarism often works much differently. Every creative field has certain components that are freely copied and used. A novelist is no more a plagiarist for utilizing the hero’s journey than a photographer is for using the golden ratio.

However, there is a point where a creator crosses the line. They go from taking tropes and standards to copying another’s creativity. This can include blatantly copying content, as we have seen on the Photo Stealers website, or taking someone’s experience and turning it into a fictional story.

The lines are often murky and reasonable people can disagree about them. However, they are still important. These conversations cut to the very core of what it means to be a creative person. If we are just tools for rewriting and regurgitating what we’ve seen before, we are no different than modern AI systems.

However, if we are bringing something unique and creative to the table, then it deserves recognition and reward. Plagiarism, however, denies those things.

If creative plagiarism is acceptable, then there is little point in creativity. If one can not get recognition or reward for what they create, then why create? This is similar to the question at the heart of the recent Internet Archive decision.

While it’s true that these ethical boundaries are often gray and challenging, it’s because they deal with difficult questions about what it means to be a creator. If those issues are worth exploring, then plagiarism is worth addressing.

Other Spaces

Finally, many will ask questions about other kinds of spaces. For example, it’s generally acceptable to repost memes without attribution on social media. Jokes are routinely shared without acknowledgment of the creator. Lawyers and legal professionals often copy one another with no attribution at all.

To be clear, there has never been one standard of plagiarism. Every type of work and every space has its own set of rules.

In spaces where originality is highly valued and important, there are strict standards for citation. In places where originality is not expected, those standards become much more loose or even disappear.

There’s no “one size fits all” rule here. You wouldn’t add footnotes to a friendly email or cite an academic paper using links. The standards that exist come from a mix of technical limitations, the importance of originality and the ethical standards of the community.

Citation rules (or lack thereof) are important. They speak to what the space is trying to achieve, the expectations of originality and what the space conveys to those viewing it. It’s a mixture of creator values, audience expectations and technical practicality.

Those values are worth upholding as they deal directly with what those creators are trying to accomplish and what those viewer hope to receive.

Bottom Line

Plagiarism, fundamentally, is a lie. It is the presenting work as yours when, in fact, it is not.

But if we remove that component from it, plagiarism still speaks to originality. A plagiarized work is, by nature, not original (at least not wholly). That is perfectly fine in some spaces, but in many, it is not.

If we value originality, we must also value plagiarism, citation and attribution. You cannot have originality without knowing what is and is not original.

In the end, that is what plagiarism is about. It’s about someone violating the norms of a space when it comes to attribution and, thus, presenting a duplicative work as a novel.

While it is understandably tough to care, that is still something that is valuable even essential for both creative and scientific progress.