Martina Mavrinac

To explore the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding plagiarism in a large culturally diverse sample of researchers who participated in the AuthorAID MOOC on Research Writing. An online survey was designed and delivered through Google Forms to the participants in the AuthorAID MOOC on Research Writing during April to June 2017. A total of 765 participants completed the survey, and 746 responses were included in the analysis. Almost all participants reported knowledge of the term “plagiarism”, and 89.1% of them understand the meaning of the term before joining the course. Most participants reported that their university does not provide access to plagiarism detection software, and 35% participants admitted they had been involved in plagiarism during their education. Overall attitudes toward plagiarism indicated low acceptance of plagiarism. Moreover, low scores were reported for approval attitude, disapproval attitude, and knowledge of subjective norms. The most common reason for plagiarizing was lack of time, and the most common consequence was the perception that “those who plagiarize are not respected or seen positively”. Developing country researchers appear to be familiar with the concept of plagiarism, but knowledge among the participants surveyed here was incomplete. Knowledge about plagiarism and awareness of its harmfulness must be improved, because there is an obvious relationship between attitudes toward plagiarism and knowledge, reasons and consequences. The use of plagiarism-detection software can raise awareness about plagiarism.

This study aims to assess the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Attitudes Toward Plagiarism Questionnaire among Iranian medical sciences postgraduate students and faculty members. In this study, the ATPQ developed by Mavrinac et al. in 2010 was translated into Persian. After assessment of face and content validity, we distributed the ATPQ draft among 286 Iranian medical science postgraduate students and faculty members. Explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis were applied, and Cronbach's alpha was used to measure the reliability of the ATPQ. All the items of our English version of the ATPQ were approved by the developer of the original ATPQ, and two were revised in the cognitive interview. Construct validity assessment showed that three items were not seriously involved in the extracted factors. The Persian version of the ATPQ had 26 items, five factors and a Cronbach's alpha of 0.81%, and the combined value explained 38.24% of the total variance of this scale. Two new factors of “perceived control” and “attitude toward self-plagiarism” were extracted and incorporated into the Persian version. To conclude, the ATPQ is a valid, reliable, and convenient instrument to determine attitudes toward plagiarism among Iranian medical science postgraduate students and faculty members.