Plagiarism is the demeaning act of copying and pasting data (including images et. cetera.) from external sources without providing reference or credits to the authors of the original work. International Journal of Computer Applications has observed an increase in submissions of plagiarized research papers not just from students but from academicians as well. This creates a serious credibility crisis within the global academia community. The need of publishing paper in recognized journals such as International Journal of Computer Applications (IJCA) and for that matter, other reputed scientific journals published by IEEE, ACM et. cetera, authors are increasingly adopting such practices without knowledge of the repercussions.
Plagiarism of any form is considered as academic dishonesty and an infringement of journalistic ethics; which is usually followed by serious repercussions. Since journals such as IJCA are circulated on the worldwide scale, the misconducts of the violators not only affect their careers but also bring tremendous amount of disrespect to their respective countries.
Usually lack of proper training and oversight has lead to an increase in the occurrences of this menace. Most countries don’t have proper statutory bodies to regulate the copyright activities in the scientific community. Being part of the international academic discipline, it is our responsibility to educate the upcoming authors and researchers on plagiarism. It should not be assumed that all concerns are aware of plagiarism and its consequences. The junior researchers must be educated that even if the original words are paraphrased or revised, the original authors should still be given due credits. The benefits of citing sources must also be conveyed to them. Citing sources reflects that the authors have conducted original research efforts and have referred and studied peer papers and previous works before reaching their conclusions. Citing sources also strengthens the researchers' position and credibility. The practice of citing sources also imbibes that the authors respect the work of the peer researchers and their intellectual properties. International education systems must incorporate such anti-plagiarism programs to ascertain the future of scientific development.
Science and innovation progresses by building on the work of others. It is highly imperative to respect and honor the work and efforts of the authors and researchers in the scientific community.
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