Exploring the nuances of self-plagiarism, iThenticate, and text recycling: Opinion

It can be difficult for researchers to find information on how to avoid self-plagiarism, and using iThenticate can complicate matters, write Cary Moskovitz and Aaron Colton. The authors explain that one of the most widely accessed tools on self-plagiarism is a guide written by iThenticate, which is a plagiarism-detection platform. However, the article explains that accepting information from a for-profit plagiarism-detection business, which ends its paper with a pitch to use software to avoid self-plagiarism, is problematic. The article discusses some of the misrepresentations in iThenticate’s paper, focusing on ethical issues within the argument. The authors close by explaining how “text recycling” presents a better alternative than rewriting things poorly in order to avoid plagiarism detection by programs like iThenticate. Inside Higher Ed (International)