Plagiarism from Wikipedia
Contributors to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, often referred to as Wikipedians, license their submitted content under a Creative Commons license, which permits re-use as long as attribution is given. However, there have been a number of occasions when persons have failed to give the necessary attribution and attempted to pass off material from Wikipedia as their own work. Such plagiarism is a violation of the Creative Commons license and, when discovered, can be a reason for embarrassment, professional sanctions, or legal issues.
In educational settings, students sometimes copy Wikipedia to fulfill class assignments.[1] A 2011 study by Turnitin found that Wikipedia was the most copied website by both secondary and higher education students.[2]
Notable instances[edit]
Many notable individuals and institutions have been credibly said to have committed plagiarism from Wikipedia.
- David Agus[3]
- Chris Anderson[4]
- Jill Bialosky[5]
- Monica Crowley[6][7]
- Elsevier retracted a 2020 book for plagiarizing many large passages from Wikipedia[8]
- Five Star Movement (Italian political party)[9]
- Jane Goodall[10]
- Michel Houellebecq[11]
- International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) was accused of copying confidential examiner marking guides from Wikipedia[12]
- Internet Research Agency[13]
- Benny Johnson[14]
- Siniša Mali, Serbian Finance Minister, who was found by the University of Belgrade to have plagiarized his Ph.D. thesis[15]
- John McCain[16]
- Yana Milev[17]
- Okayama Prefectural Assembly[18]
- Oxford University Press[19]
- Neri Oxman[20]
- Rand Paul[21]
- The Pentagon[22]
- Rachel Reeves[23]
- Santa Clara County grant writer[24]
- Peter Schweizer, in his 2018 book Secret Empires[25]
- Government of the United Kingdom, in its 2022 "Levelling Up" white paper[26]
- Gerónimo Vargas Aignasse[27][28][29]
- Fabiola Yáñez[30]
- Alejandro Zaera-Polo[31]
- James Somerton
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "Should students be allowed to use Wikipedia as a source?". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 2018-08-13. Retrieved 2018-08-13.
- ^ "Wikipedia, Yahoo Answers Tops for Academic Copying - Plagiarism Today". Plagiarism Today. 2011-11-03. Archived from the original on 2018-08-13. Retrieved 2018-08-13.
- ^ "A famed oncologist's bestselling new health book about 'animal secrets' got yanked off the shelves after the LA Times discovered he copied from Wikipedia". Yahoo News. 6 March 2023. Archived from the original on 27 November 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
- ^ Rich, Motoko (June 24, 2009), "Chris Anderson apologizes for plagiarizing Wikipedia", The New York Times, archived from the original on February 8, 2018, retrieved February 8, 2018
- ^ Zax, Talya (October 4, 2017), "Poet Jill Bialosky Faces Plagiarism Accusations Over New Memoir", The Forward, archived from the original on February 8, 2018, retrieved February 8, 2018
- ^ "Trump pick Monica Crowley plagiarized multiple sources in 2012 book", CNNMoney, 2018-02-07, archived from the original on 2020-06-21, retrieved 2018-02-07
- ^ "Why plagiarism took down Monica Crowley, Trump's pick for a top national security post", The Washington Post, 2017-01-16, archived from the original on 2018-02-08, retrieved 2018-02-07
- ^ "Elsevier retracts entire book that plagiarized heavily from Wikipedia". Retraction Watch. 2021-05-28. Archived from the original on 2022-09-24. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
- ^ "Italy's Five Star Movement accused of plagiarizing Wikipedia and rivals' political speeches in election programme", The Local Italy, February 8, 2018, archived from the original on August 13, 2018, retrieved August 13, 2018
- ^ Flood, Alison (2013-03-25), "Jane Goodall book held back after accusations of plagiarism", The Guardian, archived from the original on 2018-02-09, retrieved 2018-02-07
- ^ Lichfield, John (2010-09-08), "I stole from Wikipedia but it's not plagiarism, says Houellebecq", The Independent, archived from the original on 2010-09-11, retrieved 2018-02-07
- ^ Stewart, William (October 8, 2010), "IB lifted exam marking guides from Wikipedia", The Times Educational Supplement, p. 1,
An IB examiner who spoke to The TES said they were "shocked" to discover there were "serious examples of academic dishonesty", throughout the document with guides for 14 of the 24 questions containing large sections copied wholesale from unattributed websites, including Wikipedia. The TES has learned that the mark scheme is one of at least three being urgently investigated by the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) over plagiarism allegations as part of a "wide review" into the issue.
- ^ Alba, Davey (March 29, 2020). "How Russia's Troll Farm Is Changing Tactics Before the Fall Election". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 2, 2022. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
The Kremlin-backed Internet Research Agency, which interfered in the 2016 election, is using different methods to hide itself better...Now Russian operators are trying to avoid detection by copying and pasting chunks of texts from other sources directly into their posts. When Facebook took down 50 accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency in October [2019], many of the posts featured text copied from Wikipedia.
- ^ Coscarelli, Joe (July 29, 2014), "Plagiarizing Wikipedia Is Still Plagiarism, at BuzzFeed or the New York Times", New York magazine, archived from the original on February 8, 2018, retrieved February 8, 2018
- ^ "Serbia finance minister plagiarised thesis - university", Times of Malta, November 21, 2019, archived from the original on November 22, 2019, retrieved January 22, 2020
- ^ "Did McCain Plagiarize His Georgia Speech From Wikipedia?", The Huffington Post, September 11, 2008, archived from the original on March 3, 2016, retrieved January 14, 2018
- ^ Weber, Stefan (2022-11-21). "Plagiatsfall an der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien". DOZ. DR. STEFAN WEBER (in German). Archived from the original on 2022-11-22. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
- ^ "Okayama Pref. lawmakers copied Wikipedia entries in official reports on US trip", Mainichi Shimbun, January 31, 2018, archived from the original on 2018-03-13
- ^ The Covert World of People Trying to Edit Wikipedia—for Pay, The Atlantic, August 11, 2015, archived from the original on June 1, 2016, retrieved December 25, 2019
- ^ Long, Katherine; Newsham, Jack; Parakul, Narimes (5 January 2024). "Academic celebrity Neri Oxman plagiarized from Wikipedia, scholars, a textbook, and other sources without any attribution". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2024-01-06. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
- ^ Peters, Jeremy W. (2013-10-31), "Senator Rand Paul Is Accused of Plagiarizing His Lines From Wikipedia", The New York Times, archived from the original on 2023-02-19, retrieved 2018-02-07
- ^ Wong, Kristina (2016-11-17), "Intel chairman: Pentagon plagiarized Wikipedia in report to Congress", The Hill, archived from the original on 2018-02-08, retrieved 2018-02-07
- ^ Keynes, Soumya; Parker, George (26 October 2023). "New book from shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves lifts from Wikipedia". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 6 January 2024. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
- ^ Amanda Bartlett (June 5, 2022). "Bay Area woman paid to write county history book reportedly plagiarized from Wikipedia, SF news outlets". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved January 6, 2024.
After the 580-page manuscript was finally submitted by Jean McCorquodale last January, the Mercury News found that many excerpts were allegedly copied word-for-word from the websites she was drawing her research from, including a section from the Wikipedia page for politician Jonathan D. Stevenson, a paragraph from a History Channel article about the Spanish-American War's Treaty of Paris and segments from another page on the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation website.
- ^ Markay, Lachlan. "Book Alleging Biden Corruption in Ukraine Lifted Passages From Wikipedia". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on October 3, 2019.
The Daily Beast found more than a dozen instances in which Secret Empires, the bestselling book by investigative journalist Peter Schweizer, copied nearly complete sentences or sizable portions of them verbatim or near-verbatim from other sources. In a number of instances, those sources were uncited Wikipedia pages created before the book's publication in early 2018.
- ^ "Parts of Michael Gove's levelling-up plan copied from Wikipedia". The Independent. 2022-02-04. Archived from the original on 2022-12-13. Retrieved 2022-02-04.
- ^ Masnick, Mike (May 14, 2010), Argentinian Politician's Proposal For New Anti-Plagiarism Law Plagiarizes Wikipedia, Techdirt, archived from the original on February 8, 2018, retrieved February 8, 2018
- ^ "Un diputado K presentó un proyecto de ley contra el plagio, plagiado" [A deputy who presented a bill against plagiarism, plagiarized]. Clarín. May 14, 2010. Archived from the original on May 19, 2010. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
- ^ "Gerónimo Vargas Aignasse - Presentó un proyecto contra el plagio y plagió a Wikipedia" [Gerónimo Vargas Aignasse-presented a project against plagiarism and plagiarized Wikipedia]. Todo Noticias. May 16, 2010. Archived from the original on May 21, 2010.
- ^ "La Primera dama de Argentina plagia presuntamente 20 páginas de Wikipedia para su tesis". abc (in Spanish). 2021-05-31. Archived from the original on 2021-06-01. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
- ^ Fairs, Marcus (20 March 2015), "Princeton accuses former architecture dean of making "inaccurate" plagiarism statement", Dezeen, archived from the original on 8 February 2018, retrieved 14 January 2018
