





































       V38 N1 / 2023 

©2023 American Medical Writers Association. All rights reserved.  
ISSN 2163-5315

AMWAJournal.org     34

Vee White
Vee White Editorial, Philadelphia, PA

Andrea Klingler
Curtis Learning LLC, Philadelphia, PA

By Eloise DeHaan
If I were to write this piece without crediting medical editor 

Vee White and medical and science editor Andrea Klingler 

for their research and presentation, it would be plagiarism.

 The two shared their expertise about plagiarism at 

AMWA’s Medical Writing & Communication Conference, 

November 3, 2022, in Denver. 

 Plagiarism is “[when] an author documents or reports 

ideas, words, data, or graphics, whether published or 

unpublished, of another as [their] own without giving 

appropriate credit or attribution” (AMA Manual of Style, 

11th edition, Section 5.4).1

 Between 2019 and 2020, White and Klingler surveyed 

260 writers, editors, and publishing professionals about pla-

giarism. The largest proportion of responses came from the 

United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom but included 

widespread places such as Japan, Cyprus, and Uruguay. 

 The survey found that writers fear plagiarism’s conse-

quences most (Figure). Among 38 medical or science writer 

respondents, the largest proportion, 84%, thought the biggest 

consequence of plagiarism was that they would lose their job. 

 Gaps were obvious between how confident publish-

ers were in writers’ and editors’ ability to produce plagia-

rism-free product and the confidence of editors and writers 

themselves to do so, with publishers being more skeptical. 

Session Report 
What Is Plagiarism? Putting Out Fires Around This Hot Topic

CONFERENCE

Figure. The Plagiarist. Cartoon reprinted with permission under a CC-BY NC license from Iva Cheung.2

http://www.amwajournal.org


AMWAJournal.org     35What Is Plagiarism?

 Furthermore, among the subset of 79 medical/science 

communicators who were “extremely or very confident in 

their understanding of and their ability to avoid/identify 

[plagiarism], 26 (33%) had no or intentional-only training.”2

 The presenters explained that intentional plagiarism is 

knowingly taking credit for someone else’s work. It is pre-

senting someone else’s words, sentence, structure, or idea 

as your own. Unintentional plagiarism is done without 

intention and can be the result of poor paraphrasing,  

careless work like forgetting to insert a citation, or cultural 

differences. 

 Publishers’ top tactic for avoiding plagiarism in new 

content was to put clauses about the issue into their con-

tracts with writers (71% of publisher respondents chose this 

option). For catching plagiarism in existing content, pub-

lishers depended on an editor’s keen eye (82% of respon-

dents) and plagiarism-detecting software (74%). 

 Although the survey respondents tended to be highly 

experienced in their occupation, most reported receiving 

training on this subject in an academic setting, some as far 

back as in grammar school. Minimal anti-plagiarism train-

ing seems to be offered to writers and editors. With even less 

training in unintentional plagiarism, editors lack knowledge 

of this issue. Editors do, however, implement specific strate-

gies to identify plagiarism.

White and Klingler offer tips to help writers avoid plagiarism2:

• Keep copied verbatim text separate.

• Remember to cite public domain and unpublished 

material too.

• Summarize, analyze, and synthesize.

• Remember that plagiarism includes more than words.

• Be careful when reusing your own previously pub-

lished material.

They also counsel editors on how to help writers when  

plagiarism is an issue2:

• Prepare with concrete examples.

• Start the conversation with a different word.

• Ask questions.

• Avoid assumptions.

• Open discussion before deciding next steps.

See the Plagiarism Survey Project’s website at  

www.veewhite.com/plagiarism-survey.

Eloise DeHaan is Medical Copyeditor and Stakeholder 
Engagement Coordinator, Horizon Scanning, at ECRI, 
Plymouth Meeting, PA. 

Author declaration and disclosures: The author notes no  
commercial associations that may pose a conflict of interest in 
relation to this article.

Author contact: edehaan@ecri.org

References
1. Flanagin A. 5.4 Scientific misconduct. In: AMA Manual of Style: 

A Guide for Authors and Editors. 11th ed. AMA Manual of Style; 
2020. doi:10.1093/jama/9780190246556.003.0005

2. The plagiarist. Iva Cheung. Published 2022. https://ivacheung.
com/2022/03/the-plagiarist/. Accessed 19 January 2023. 

3. White V, Klingler A. What is plagiarism? Putting out fires around 
this hot topic. Presented at: Medical Writing & Communication 
Conference; November 2-5, 2022; Denver, CO. 

General Principles of 
Word Usage

www.amwa.org/online_learning
Choose the right word for accuracy and clarity.

http://www.amwajournal.org
http://www.veewhite.com/plagiarism-survey
https://ivacheung.com/2022/03/the-plagiarist/
https://ivacheung.com/2022/03/the-plagiarist/



