Managing plagiarism
What should you do if you discover that your work on QUT ePrints has been plagiarised?
Below is a process that describes some steps that former QUT higher degree research students can take in response to identifying that their work has been plagiarised.
- Notify QUT immediately. In particular, address your concerns directly to the University's Copyright Officer and copy in the relevant Liaison Librarian for their information.
- This is a top priority - Initiate a takedown request directed to the website, repository, open access journal or similar where the plagiarism was published. There is usually a contact to be found somewhere within these platforms. Alternatively a bit of detective work with Google can find a contact. This is something that the University's Copyright Officer is always happy to assist with. In addition to this step the person may wish to consider additional courses of action as follows.
- Inform your thesis supervisory team or faculty and seek suggestions.
- Contact the plagiarising author directly. This has no guarantee of a response. However, it may be the only means to request that all references to the offending article be struck from publications lists, etc.
- Contact the institution the plagiarising author is affiliated with. This has no guarantee of a response. However, it may be the only means to request that all references to the offending article be struck from publications lists, etc.
- Consider legal remedies. Again, no guarantee of outcome but depending on the degree of perceived harm it might be a consideration.
Former QUT students, as owners of their copyright, will be responsible for these actions. QUT has a strong policy direction against plagiarism and we are committed to assisting you as far as practicable.
