Federal funding agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), are paying close attention during the review of submitted materials (ex: proposals, reports, and publications) for plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, and text recycling. The federal agencies can take swift and severe actions when plagiarism (including self-plagiarism) is discovered, including but not limited to the return of awards and funding, years of significant oversight of the Principal Investigator and the research team, and the barring of the research team from submitting grants.
Pitt investigators are encouraged to pay close attention to text use and references and to use iThenticate, a plagiarism-detection software to screen written material for originality. iThenticate is used by federal government agencies such as NSF to check for instances of plagiarism in submitted proposals.
The Office of Sponsored Programs creates and maintains iThenticate accounts on behalf of the University of Pittsburgh research community. Access the registration form and available training resources.
See the University’s Guidelines for the Responsible Conduct of Research and the related iThenticate Tip of the Week for more information.