Plagiarism in Personal Statements of Anesthesiology Residency Applicants

Abstract

Plagiarism by residency applicants in their personal statements, as well as sites that sell personal statements, have been described, and led in 2011 to advice to avoid plagiarism and the caution that plagiarism detection software was available. We screened personal statements of 467 anesthesiology residency applicants from 2013-2014 using Viper Plagiarism Scanner software, and studied them for plagiarism. After quotes and commonly used phrases were removed, 82 statements contained unoriginal content of 8 or more consecutive words. After the study, 13.6% of personal statements from non-United States medical school graduates, and 4.0% from United States medical school graduates, contained plagiarized material, a significant difference. Plagiarized content ranged up to 58%. Plagiarism continues to occur in anesthesiology residency personal statements, with a higher incidence among graduates of non-United States medical schools.

Plagiarised letters of recommendation submitted for the National Resident Matching Program

“…[3][4][5][6] Other studies have identified significant rates of plagiarism in personal statements. [7][8][9] Such behaviours are seen as a harbinger of future problems and are dealt with harshly.…”

Rate of Plagiarism in Personal Comments Essays of Applicants to a US Allopathic Medical School: an Observational Study

“…The 2% rate of plagiarism ("plagiarized high") in both US and non-US AMCAS applicants is less than the reported rates in personal statements of applicants to certain residency programs. 1,2 Parks and colleagues discovered that 13.6% of personal statements from non-US medical school graduates and 4.0% from US medical school graduates contained plagiarized material in applications to their anesthesiology residency program. 2 As a result of their study, they now screen the personal statements of every applicant and reject those found to have plagiarism.…”

“…1,2 Parks and colleagues discovered that 13.6% of personal statements from non-US medical school graduates and 4.0% from US medical school graduates contained plagiarized material in applications to their anesthesiology residency program. 2 As a result of their study, they now screen the personal statements of every applicant and reject those found to have plagiarism. Segal et al discovered plagiarism in 5.2% (95% CI, 4.6% to 5.9%) of statements submitted to their five Published online August 6, 2019 largest residency programs.…”

“…The sample size determination (n1 = n2 = 300) was based on the hypothesis that the rate of plagiarism (specifically, "plagiarized high") in the first group (n1 = US applicants) would be 7.5%, and 15% in the second group (n2 = non-US applicants), using the results of residency studies as a guide. 1,2 With a significance level of .05, two samples of 300 yield a power of approximately 83%. Pearson chi-square tests were used to compare proportions between the two groups and for continuous variables, Student's t test was used to compare means between the two groups, and Mann-Whitney rank sum test for ordinal data between groups.…”

“…Plagiarism is one type of a professionalism breach, and it has been reported to occur in the personal statements of residency applicants. 1,2 As there is no information in the literature about plagiarism in the personal comments essays of medical school applicants, the purpose of this study is to determine the rate of plagiarism in the personal comments essays of applications to an allopathic medical school in the United States (US).…”