COMMUNICATIONS

Academic impropriety is never permissible. Nobody has ever openly approved of improper practices. I get the impression, though, that the voices being raised against such activities are getting ever louder.

In fact, over the past few years, research institutions have been hosting targeted training sessions. Each institution is now being quizzed about the measures they are taking to prevent impropriety. We are also working on our own counter-measures. More and more institutions are articulating their positions in the form of charters and statements.

However, comparing such statements reveals that they are very similar. It seems that each is copying the other. One looks in vain for an organization striking out with its own distinctive language.

“Let us not plagiarize, or fail to cite the work of others.” It seems that institutions are copying these kinds of statements from one another. The call to guard against the theft of intellectual property is itself the product of misappropriation. If this is indeed the case, then it makes for a delicious irony.