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Avoid plagiarism - for researchers

Plagiarism and good academic practice

As a researcher at Aarhus University good academic practice is a must. Good academic practice requires academic integrity, good research conduct and loyal collegial conduct.

The use of another person's material, idea, discovery as one’s own is plagiarism and plagiarism is a violation of good academic practice.

Read more on responsible conduct of research at Aarhus University.

More on plagiarism

Researcher portal

What is Plagiarism? When can we identify an instance of plagiarism? What is self-plagiarism? On Researcher portal (Forskerportalen.dk) you can obtain answers to these and many other legal and ethical questions relating to your research. Researcher portal is developed by the Committee for the Protection of Scientific Work (UBVA).

Self-plagiarism

Do you know the rules for, when and how you can re-use text written by yourself? It could be in articles, phd-thesis or something similar? Forskerportalen has gathered a lot of information about just that, so you can avoid self-plagiarism.

Material from UBVA

The Committee for Protection of Scientific Work (UBVA) is a standing committee of academics in charge of academic interests in copyright and patent law. The website is only in Danish.

The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations and their members can obtain assistance from UBVA in specific cases of copyright and patent law. 

The Danish Code of Conduct for Research Integrity

A national code of conduct to help ensure credibility, integrity and quality of Danish research through common principles and standards of good academic practice.

The code is to be used in public and private research institutions, including universities, the research council system, research foundations and companies.

Guide to ethical writing

"Avoiding plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and other questionable writing practices: A guide to ethical writing" - from U.S. Department of Health and Human services

Reference management

If, as a researcher, you manage your references properly – for example, if you adequately indicate the source of any citations and refer precisely to the source of any material you have made use of, you can avoid plagiarism.

Anti-plagiarism tools

Ouriginal (formerly Urkund) 

Ouriginal is a licensed system for the analysis of plagiarism in student assignments and exams. It is available to all lecturers at AU via Digital Exam and Wiseflow.

iThenticate

To ensure a high academic standard Graduate School, ArtsGraduate School of Health, Graduate School of Natural Sciences and Graduate School of Technical Sciences screen all PhD-theses using the tool iThenticate. The screening is carried out at Arts by AU Library, Nobelparken, at Health by AU Library, Health Sciences and at Natural Sciences and Technical Sciences by AU Library, Ny Munkegade. If plagiarism is suspected the thesis will subsequently be assessed by the Graduate School.

Need help?

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact the liason librarian associated with your field, who will be happy to assist you with your questions.

Alternatively, you are always welcome to contact your local library.