Standardizing terminology for text recycling in research writing

Abstract

Because research in science, engineering and medical fields advances incrementally, researchers routinely write papers that build directly on their prior work. While each new research article is expected to make a novel contribution, researchers often need to repeat some material—method details, background and so on—from their previous articles, a practice called ‘text recycling’. While increasing awareness of text recycling has led to the proliferation of policies, journal editorials and scholarly articles addressing the practice, these documents tend to employ inconsistent terminology—using different terms to name the same key ideas and, even more problematic, using the same terms with different meanings. These inconsistencies make it difficult for readers to know precisely how the ideas or expectations articulated in one document relate to those of others. This paper first clarifies the problems with current terminology, showing how key terms are used inconsistently across publisher policies for authors, guidelines for editors and textbooks on research ethics. It then offers a new taxonomy of text‐recycling practices with terms designed to align with the acceptability of these practices in common research writing and publishing contexts.

¿Autoplagio o texto reciclado? Algunas implicaciones inesperadas de la digitalización de la ciencia

“…"Use of the term 'self-plagiarism' is unhelpful since it implies theft which is nonsensical when applied to one' sown work and conflates acceptable and unacceptable behaviour". ["El uso del término "autoplagio" no es útil, ya que implica un robo que no tiene sentido cuando se aplica al propio trabajo y combina un comportamiento aceptable e inaceptable"] (Moskovitz, 2021).…”

The Registration Continuum in Personality Disorder Studies: Theory, Rationale, and Template

“…Furthermore, registering a study in greater detail will speed the writing of manuscripts from that study. The information from registrations can be repurposed ethically into manuscripts through developmental recycling (Moskovitz, 2021), particularly in method sections (Moskovitz & Hall, 2021), as the purposes of the registration and publication are distinct but require repetition of the text to ensure fidelity to the meaning of the registration (Pieper et al, 2021). Some researchers may be concerned that excessive disclosure will REGISTRATION CONTINUUM IN PERSONALTY DISORDER RESEARCH 6 lead to being to their ideas being appropriated by other research teams.…”

Carta. Por un cambio en la evaluación de la investigación científica: “no tirar al niño junto con el agua sucia”

“…Hay usos aceptables de contenido reciclado, tanto desde el punto de vista ético como legal como argumenta en un detallado estudio Moskovitz (2021), cosa que no ocurre con el plagio. Luego, el término que debemos usar es el de texto o contenido "reciclado", tal como recomiendan los expertos (Moskovitz, 2021;BioMed Central;COPE, s.f.) nunca el de autoplagio que además es un oxímoron.…”