Statement Concerning Plagiarism
Emerging Infectious Diseases considers plagiarism (the use of another author’s words or ideas without attribution) to be scientific misconduct, and the journal generally follows the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Regarding “text recycling,” the use of the same text in more than one of an author’s own publications, EID generally follows the guidelines of COPE. The journal considers each instance of plagiarism or text recycling on a case-by-case basis and in context.
We cannot provide a particular similarity score or percent of text duplication that we would deem to be plagiarism or text recycling. At a minimum, when authors use recycled text―for instance in describing methods that they or other researchers have previously used―EID requires that all authors be transparent and careful to acknowledge the source of the text in a citation.
Authors may contact EID at eideditor@cdc.gov to discuss other concerns regarding plagiarism in their articles.