Make sure you get the agreement of anyone else who contributed to the original
work. This could include co-authors, editors, and publishers.
Tell the new publications that you will be re-using some of your own work. Again,
this could include co-authors, editors, and publishers. Make sure you have their
agreement. You might need to use special wording to note their consent.
Ensure that you fully cite the original work. It should be clear that the new article
reproduces earlier content, and that you have the agreement of your co-authors,
etc. This will stop readers from being misled.
Later, make sure that you do not claim credit twice for the same work. For
example, in your CV or in grant applications, you should point out the link between
the two publications.
Additionally, in case you miss out on citing your paper thoroughly even while using
your own paper as a reference, you must use online plagiarism checker tools and
cite where due.
You should also be prepared to defend your choice to re-use your own work, as it is
likely to be questioned. Even if you have thought about all the points above, you could
still run into problems. A journal might choose to reject your work on the grounds of self-
plagiarism, even if you think your choice is ok; as in this case, for example.
What Do You Think?
In my opinion, researchers need to be very careful if they choose to re-use their own
work. They should keep honesty in mind at all times if they are to avoid self-plagiarism.
It is of vital importance that the reader is not misled. Furthermore, they should be sure
that choosing to re-use their own work is truly of benefit to the scientific community.
Perhaps, they should consider using the time and effort they would spend on avoiding
self-plagiarism in new projects, instead.
Do you need to be sure that you have avoided plagiarism? A plagiarism check, such as
the service offered by Enago, can be helpful.
Do you think you have ever committed self-plagiarism? (Be honest!) Or have you
spotted it in other’s work? Do you think self-plagiarism is an ethical problem, or should
researchers be free to re-use their own work? Share your thoughts and opinions in the
comments below. You can also visit our Q&A forum for frequently asked questions
related to different aspects of research writing and publishing answered by our team that
comprises subject-matter experts, eminent researchers, and publication experts.
Cite this article
Enago Academy, Self-plagiarism: How Much Is Too Much?. Enago
Academy. 2019/11/22. https://www.enago.com/academy/self-plagiarism-how-much-is-too-much/
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Copyright: Enago Academy under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license