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| Year : 2008 | Volume
: 19
| Issue : 4 | Page : 283 |
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| Ethics in presentation: Teach the teachers first |
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B Sivapathasundharam
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Meenakshi Ammal Dental College and Hospital, Alapakkam Main Road, Maduravoyal, Chennai - 600 095, Tamil Nadu, India
Click here for correspondence address and email
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How to cite this article:
Sivapathasundharam B. Ethics in presentation: Teach the teachers first. Indian J Dent Res 2008;19:283 |
As you all know this quarter of the academic calendar is loaded with conferences. I had the chance to attend few conferences. I felt proud and happier indeed to see many presentations of original researches by post graduate students and young faculties and case series and review papers by senior professors. In this context, I would like to share few observations I made in these scientific deliberations.
The most important one being reference quoting. Citing the source of information not only helps the audience or readers to refer for the authenticity and further details, but also a moral practice of acknowledging the contributor of the information or idea. The expression of original idea is considered as intellectual property and using it without crediting the source, amount to literary theft or otherwise known as plagiarism.
Quoting the reference is mandatory for publication in journals. But most of the presenters in India including the teaching faculties care least to acknowledge the source of the scientific matter. Since none of the conference proceedings is recorded or published, the presenters escape from this disgraceful act. It is pathetic to mention that most of them do not know the importance and necessity of acknowledging the source and many of them have the idea that the reference quoting is reserved only for publication in books and journals. Any form of recorded expression, be it in books, journals compact discs, or other electronic storage devices is copyright protected. Utilizing them in writing or speech without proper credit is considered to be an academic misconduct or plagiarism. In majority of the presentations the so called acknowledgement slide thank the head of the department, and the organizers of the conference for giving the opportunity to present the paper, or their colleagues for the clerical work rendered. It is high time that the scientific speakers and the presenters should be educated on the nuances of plagiarism and is a punishable offence as is the case of copyright violation.
To avoid such sequences simply cite the source accurately, since insufficient and inaccurate citation is also considered as a type of plagiarism. When word-to-word extracts are taken, it should be quoted in italics or under quotation to make it distinct. When an image is used, it is preferable to get permission from the copyright owners. On occasions a well referenced and paraphrased work fall into the clutches of plagiarism when almost no original work is involved, and it happens in many review papers.
Like the instructions to authors announcement of the journals, the scientific committee of the conferences should insist on citing the references of scientific presentations when calling for abstracts. Teachers should be educated first, regarding the ethics of presentations and plagiarism.[Figure 1][5]
 References | |  |
| 1. | Gitanjali B. Plagiarism III. Indian J Pharmacol 2002;34:377-8.   |
| 2. | Sriganesh V, Iyer P. Plagiarism and medical writing. Indian J Radiol Imaging 2007;17:146-7. |
| 3. | Available from: http://www.plagiarism.org. [last accessed on 2008 Nov 22]. |
| 4. | Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_misconduct. [last accessed on 2008 Nov 22]. |
| 5. | Yilmaz I. Plagiarism? No, we're just borrowing better. Nature 2007;449:658. |
Correspondence Address:
B Sivapathasundharam
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Meenakshi Ammal Dental College and Hospital, Alapakkam Main Road, Maduravoyal, Chennai - 600 095, Tamil Nadu
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0970-9290.44525
[Figure 1] |
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| This article has been cited by | | 1 |
Counteracting plagiarism : Editorial |
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| B Baum, C Scully | | Oral Diseases. 2011; 17(8): 731 | | [VIEW] | [DOI] | |
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