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LEARNING, TEACHING AND LEADERSHIP

A blog for educators, researchers and other thinkers by Sarah Elaine Eaton,
Ph.D.
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PROMOTION TO PROFESSOR: REFLECTING ON A THREE-DECADE JOURNEY

June 25, 2024

It has been a while since I have blogged. Life has been non-stop this year, but
I wanted to take a moment to share some good news. I have been promoted to the
rank of Professor, effective July 1, 2024. A few months back, I was also named
as the Werklund Research Professor, which is a prestigious research chair in the
Werklund School of Education.

I have long had a passion for integrity and ethics. I am grateful to have an
opportunity to focus on ethics in my scholarship, advocacy, and leadership. The
Werklund Research Professorship is a prestigious research chair, internally
funded through the philanthropic generosity of Dr. David Werklund, the named
patron of the Werklund School of Education. To the best of my knowledge, this is
the first time anywhere in the world that a research chair role has focused on
academic and research integrity. I am honoured to take up this work to advance
scholarship related to ethics and integrity in higher education.

I was a first-generation student. Neither of my parents finished high school.
When I was a child, my mother drilled into me that there was nothing more
important than getting an education, working hard, and being independent. I have
written about this, and part of my early life here. I started working when I was
15 and my first job was in a grocery store. When I first applied to university
after graduating from secondary school, I had no idea how to go about filling
out the application. Like many first-in-family students, I did not even know
what questions to ask. I received modest scholarships throughout my studies, but
I also worked, often at multiple part-time jobs, to pay the bills (including
tuition), buy books, and put food on the table. I wasn’t something that I felt
was a hardship, it was just something I did.

The promotion to full professor comes after 30 years of teaching at the
University of Calgary. From 1994 to 2016, I taught on contract as a sessional
instructor. After 22 years of precarious employment, I secured a tenure-track
role in 2016. In 2020, I was promoted to associate professor with tenure. When
considered in the context of the entirety of career, advancements are neither
quick, nor easy. For more than two decades, I worked on semester-to-semester
contracts, never knowing for sure if I would be employed in the following term
until the contract actually came through. I established and successfully ran a
consulting company that I maintained for twenty years, serving clients in
industry, non-profit, and government. I enjoyed that work (mostly), but there
were many aspects of running a business that I was horrible at.

There are plenty of things I am not good at, but I have always excelled at
writing, reading, and synthesizing large amounts of information. I love working
with students and I am well suited to online teaching and graduate supervision.
I have not always had the luxury of being able to do work that I am good at and
I recognize that it is a privilege to have a job where I can use my talents. For
me, being a professor more than a job, though. It has been a lifelong dream. The
reality of higher education is much harsher, more exhausting, and outright
merciless than I ever imagined, and yet, I still want to be here.

One reason for this, is that there is much work to be done to preserve and
sustain ethics and integrity in science, scholarly publication, teaching,
learning, and educational administration. Generative artificial intelligence
(Gen AI) has brought new twists on perennial challenges. Systemic barriers to
academic success persist and there is plenty of research to show that corrupt
and unfair systems can contribute to academic and research misconduct. Although
I am interested in helping individuals uphold academic integrity, it is a fool’s
errand to ignore the systemic inequities, barriers, and discrimination that are
embedded into educational systems that perpetuate harm.

As I reflect back and plan forward, my goal now is to focus on doing what I can
to leave the higher education system better than I found it. I plan to do this
by raising awareness about systemic ethical issues and advocating for change to
benefit students and staff, particularly those from equity-deserving groups. I
look forward to continuing and expanding international collaborations
(especially with colleagues at CRADLE Deakin University, where I hold the role
of Honorary Associate Professor) and mentoring and supervising doctoral
students, along with teaching and serving in leadership roles in the coming
years.

____________________________

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Sarah Elaine Eaton, PhD, is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education
at the University of Calgary, Canada. Opinions are my own and do not represent
those of my employer.

Sarah Elaine Eaton, PhD, Editor-in-Chief, International Journal for Educational
Integrity

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A SCHOLAR’S THOUGHTS ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA AND BLOGGING

March 2, 2024

Over the years I have received well-meaning, but ultimately inaccurate — or even
harmful — advice from superiors or colleagues at work and friends about how to
“do” social media and blogging. I have been reflecting on this topic a lot
lately. Here are some things I have been told (which are totally bogus) and my
responses to them.

“FACEBOOK SHOULD BE FOR PERSONAL STUFF. KEEP WORK POSTS TO LINKEDIN OR
TWITTER/X.”

This is bullshit. Your social media accounts are for whatever you want them to
be for. I have had people unfriend or unfollow me on Facebook because they only
want to see photos of my personal life. I share some posts about personal things
occasionally, but not often… and that’s my choice.

I share stuff on social media channels, in part, to connect with people who have
similar interests to me. If those things don’t interest you, I respect that, but
don’t preach to me about how to use my own social media accounts.

“BLOGGING ABOUT WORK-RELATED TOPICS ISN’T A HOBBY. YOU NEED NON-WORK-RELATED
HOBBIES.”

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I remember a senior administrator telling me this. They were criticizing me when
I said that I like to blog as a hobby. They opined that hobbies should not have
anything to do with work. Your hobbies — what you do outside of work to relax,
blow off steam, or decompress — is your own business. If it happens to relate to
work, that is also your own business.

I like blogging about things I am interested in. I happen to be interested in
topics that relate to my job — ethics, integrity, higher education, etc. No one
pays me to blog, so it is not technically work. It’s my blog and I’ll write
about whatever I damn well please.

For the record, I have some hobbies that do not relate to my profession, but I
may not post about them online. I don’t post photos of every meal I cook, even
though cooking is one of my hobbies. What I share on social channels does not
represent the entirety of my life.

WELL-MEANING BUT MISPLACED ADVICE ABOUT ONLINE ACTIVITY

I have found wonderful online communities and individuals whom I would not have
connected with any other way, if it were not for social media. In some cases,
there are individuals whom I have never met in person, but yet I feel an
affinity for, because we share similar interests and have meaningful
conversations and interactions about things that are mutually important to us.
Over the years, I have found that when I have met someone in real life for the
first time that I have had a connection with online about a topic of mutual
interest, the real-life encounter is easy, authentic, and often fun.

Conversely, there are people in my social media circles whom I originally met in
person that I am not all that close to, or haven’t seen in years or decades.
Some of these individuals seem to think it is OK to offer unsolicited advice
about how to use my own social media accounts when the reality is that they
don’t genuinely care much about me. If they did, they would know that I would
find it more supportive if they just appreciated me for who I am, rather than
who they want me to be.

CONCLUDING COMMENTS

I am really lucky that I enjoy my work — a lot. I have a great job that happens
to align brilliantly with my strengths, expertise, and interests. I recognize
this is a privilege and even a luxury. Not everyone has such luxury. Someone
said to me recently, “When your interests, passion, and expertise line up with
your job, you have hit the proverbial jackpot.”

That comment caused me to reflect on these criticisms in a new way. Before the
neoliberalization of higher education, being a scholar was as much a lifestyle
as it was a job. Being a scholar is part of my identity. It is part of who I am
and I recognize that this a tremendous privilege. There are many things wrong
with higher education and the system, as a whole, does not afford most of us the
luxury of being scholars. There are many things that I am not good at, and some
of them I am downright lousy at. But when it comes to things I am passionate
about (e.g., academic integrity), I’m full on — all the time. And you know what?
That. Is. Perfectly. OK.

For what it is worth, it has taken me years, no… decades, to get to a place
where I can just say that.

Photo by Stanley Morales on Pexels.com

So, I’m just going to own it. I have worked hard — exceptionally hard — for the
life that I have, which is that of a scholar. It is not perfect, by any stretch.
I dreamed of being a professor from the time I was little. I may not sit around
sipping brandy while sitting in a leather chair in a library with shelves lined
from floor to ceiling with books. That reality does not exist — at least not for
me. My version of being a scholar includes having a messy desk, half-read books
strewn all over my untidy house, and active engagement with my online
communities, my social media, and my blog.

I am in a stage of my career now, as a tenured associate professor, that I can
say things that I felt too vulnerable to say as a precariously-employed or
untenured academic. This blog post is for anyone out there who has been
chastised or criticized by administrators, colleagues, or anyone else who has
made you feel “less than” for being yourself in online spaces and communities.
If you want to blog or post about topics that matter to you, I’m right there
with you. If those topics relate to your work, that’s cool with me – and this
should also be OK to others. If your employer does not oblige you or expect
these things from you and you are engaging in these activities because they feel
meaningful and important to you, then all the power to you. You may be giving of
yourself, your expertise, and your wisdom in ways that extend beyond the
requirements of your job – and that can actually be a pretty special and
generous thing to do.

What I ask of my colleagues and superiors is that you accept me for who I am.
The same goes for colleagues and others who also may be similar to me,
colleagues who engage in online and social media activities about stuff that is
important to them – especially when it might relate to advocacy, activism, and
improving the lives of other people (in my case, students). Reserve your
judgements about who a person should be and appreciate them for who they
actually are. In my opinion, that is a more genuine form of acceptance, support,
and even friendship. In the meantime, I am just going to sit here on a Saturday
morning and keep blogging about stuff that matters to me…

____________________________

Share this post: A Scholar’s Thoughts About Social Media and Blogging –
https://drsaraheaton.wordpress.com/2024/03/02/a-scholars-thoughts-about-social-media-and-blogging/

This blog has had over 3.6 million views thanks to readers like you. If you
enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton, PhD, is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education
at the University of Calgary, Canada. Opinions are my own and do not represent
those of my employer.

Sarah Elaine Eaton, PhD, Editor-in-Chief, International Journal for Educational
Integrity

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SELF-PLAGIARISM: PUBLISHING WORKS BASED ON A THESIS OR DISSERTATION

January 28, 2024

A question I am often asked is: Is it considered self-plagiarism to publish an
article or some other output from one’s thesis?

I will start with a disclaimer: The contents of this post may not represent the
views of my employer, an editor, or a publisher. There is no singular or
universally accepted definition of self-plagiarism. This post is based on my
expertise as a scholar of plagiarism and academic misconduct. I have written
about self-plagiarism in this peer-reviewed article and I dedicate an entire
chapter to the topic my book, Plagiarism in Higher Education: Tackling Tough
Topics in Academic Integrity.

In this post, I use the word “thesis” to include any kind of student final
summative written work including dissertations or other forms of final projects.
A thesis can refer to undergraduate (often honours) work or graduate work, which
is also called post-graduate work in some countries. In this post, I am talking
specifically about student academic work that is supervised by a professor and
receives approval and validation through formal evaluation such as a written
appraisal of the work, an examination and/or an oral defence.

In this post I am talking more about a thesis with a traditional format (e.g.,
five or six chapters) than about a manuscript-based thesis (also called “thesis
by publication” or “PhD by publication”). The queries I get about
self-plagiarism are almost always about theses that follow a historically
dominant structure with chapters that remains prevalent in the humanities and
social sciences.

With these details covered, let’s get to the good stuff. Firstly, it is both
expected and encouraged that students will publish from their thesis. After the
oral defence or final thesis evaluation, the student’s work can be further
refined and developed in order for it to be ready for publication. In many
cases, student work may require substantive revisions (or even a complete
overhaul) before it is suitable for publication in a journal or a book. It is
foolhardy to assume that just because a student thesis has passed that it is
automatically suitable for publication elsewhere. In some cases, there is still
a lot of work to be done.

Here are the few things to think about after the thesis has been approved by the
university authorities:

ARCHIVING THE THESIS IN A DIGITAL REPOSITORY

Our friendly institutional librarians at the University of Calgary have
clarified for me on a previous occasion that theses are considered
“unpublished”. Adding a thesis to a digital repository means it is “archived”,
but not “published”. Learning that distinction was helpful for me.

REQUEST AN EMBARGO ON THE RELEASE OF THE THESIS INTO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

Students can ask for an embargo on the release of the thesis until the results
are published (e.g., journal article, book chapter or any other format). There
seems to be a distressing but growing predatory practice around graduate student
theses (or the data therein) being misappropriated, repackaged, and published
under someone else’s name. I have heard of two such instances recently and,
anecdotally, it seems this practice is growing internationally, though I have no
data to substantiate this assertion.

This recommendation stems not from protecting oneself from self-plagiarism, but
rather from predatory “bad actors” who have the intention of harvesting your
work before you yourself have published it.

An embargo on a thesis should be requested for a reasonable and finite period of
time, with the goal of making the research publicly accessible at some point
within a couple of years of graduation, unless there is a compelling reason to
extend the embargo longer than that.

ADVICE ABOUT HOW TO AVOID ALLEGATIONS OF SELF-PLAGIARISM

To avoid questions about academic or research misconduct, and specifically
self-plagiarism, that can emerge when a student publish works derived from their
thesis, there are two points to consider: communication and transparency. Both
points should be taken into consideration.

COMMUNICATION: CORRESPOND WITH THE EDITOR PRIOR TO SUBMISSION

I recommend that students/graduates correspond with the journal editors prior
to, or at the time of manuscript submission, in writing, to ensure full
transparency. State clearly that the manuscript is drawn from the thesis and
parts of it may be replicated exactly (e.g., methods section). Other parts of
the manuscript may be derived (and/or significantly revised) from the thesis and
if that is the case, offer some details, but avoid going overboard. Ask directly
if such a submission would be considered by the journal / publisher. There is no
harm is being clear and transparent with journal editors in this regard.

If the journal editor says no, then consider withdrawing the manuscript and
trying a different publication. It is important to recognize that editors have
the authority to make such judgements, so don’t be rude or try to convince the
editor that their decision is wrong. Maintain a polite and professional tone at
all times. Thank them for considering your request and move on.

If the editor says yes, then you are ready to proceed. Ensure you are attending
to the matter of transparency during the preparation of your manuscript.

If you communicate with an editor orally (e.g., a face-to-face conversation or a
video call), follow up in writing to document the conversation. Ask for
confirmation that you have understood the agreement correctly.

I recommend keeping a record of your written correspondence in case you ever
need it again in the future.

TRANSPARENCY: DECLARE THE RE-USE OF PREVIOUS CONTENT IN THE MANUSCRIPT ITSELF

As you prepare your manuscript for submission, ensure you are being transparent
about the re-use of content derived from your thesis. This can be done in a
couple of ways:

Explicit transparency statement: Add a declaration to the
article/chapter/knowledge output stating that it is derived from your thesis.
This way, you are declaring there may be some duplication helps to mitigate
concerns about self-plagiarizing. You do not need be excessive with your
statement. You can keep it short and simple. Here is some sample text that you
are welcome to use, re-use, or adapt (as in, I am openly giving anyone
permission to use or adapt this statement):

“This work is derived from my doctoral dissertation. Portions of the text
resemble or may replicate the original text from my unpublished PhD thesis and
have been reproduced as such with the permission of the editors”.

Note that if you use this statement verbatim, it may (ironically) be picked up
by text-matching software used by publishers (i.e., flagged for possible
plagiarism). I won’t take responsibility for that, so use some judgement in how
you prepare your transparency statement.

Attribution: Self-citation is a contested issue in academic publication and it
is prudent to avoid over-citing oneself. There are some circumstances in which
self-citation is appropriate and this is one of them. When you are deriving work
from your thesis, it is appropriate to cite your thesis in the list of
references of your publication.

Be careful and attentive when it comes to attribution in publications derived
from your thesis. You still need to cite any original works that your thesis
drew from. I once saw a manuscript derived from a student thesis and the only
work listed in the references was the student thesis! This is disrespectful to
the authors of any original works the student thesis was drawn from, so be sure
to give credit where it is due. Ensure you give attribution to the authors whose
work informed your thesis and any subsequent publications.

This does not mean that you need to replicate the entire bibliography from your
thesis in subsequent publications, unless, of course, you are specifically
citing every single source in the publication. Instead, be meticulous and
mindful to ensure that the specific sources that inform subsequent publications
are cited appropriately. Details matter, and if you are going to publish from
your thesis, it is worth it to focus on producing the highest quality
publication possible.

Finally, assuming that you have a good relationship with your supervisor, I
recommend that you keep them informed. In some cases, co-publication with the
supervisor may be appropriate, but not in all cases. Co-publishing with one’s
supervisor is a topic for another blog post, so I won’t delve deep into those
complexities here. Suffice to say that staying in touch with your supervisor
about the publication of your work may be beneficial to you, depending on the
circumstances.

The bottom line is that concerns about self-plagiarism might be solved with open
communication and transparency.

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PLAGIARISM WITCH HUNTS CAUSE HARM

January 7, 2024

We are at the end of the first week of January 2024 and so far, the media (at
least in North America) has made plagiarism a topic of the year. Claudine Gay,
the (now former) President of Harvard University resigned on January 2. Her case
has been written about extensively in the news and I won’t repeat all the
details here. I will highlight one point that is relevant for this post. Writing
for the New Yorker, Emma Green highlights that “what ultimately brought Gay down
wasn’t the furor over her testimony. It was accusations of plagiarism in her
scholarly work, which has focused in part on Black political participation.”
I’ve given media commentary on this case here and here.

One of the people who campaigned against Gay on social media was William Ackman,
a billionaire hedge fund manager. Next thing we hear in the media is that
Ackman’s wife, Neri Oxman, a former M.I.T. professor, has been accused of
plagiarism. Ackman counters by saying that he will ensure that all professors at
M.I.T., including its president, will have all their work reviewed for
plagiarism and he will fund the efforts to do so.

WHAT IS PLAGIARISM?

Before I go any further, let’s back for a moment and talk about what plagiarism
actually is. In my book, Plagiarism in Higher Education: Tackling Tough Topic in
Higher Education, I explore the historical and contemporary understandings of
plagiarism. I’ve also researched academic misconduct and integrity policies. In
one study, I conducted an in-depth comparative analysis of the definitions of
plagiarism at twenty (20) different universities. From my research, I can say
with certainty that there is no singular or universally accepted definition of
plagiarism. Some universities say plagiarism is only about copying text without
attribution, whereas others might go further including the plagiarism of ideas,
computer code, or musical composition.

We all think we are talking about the same thing when we say the word,
“plagiarism”, but that isn’t necessarily the case. What most people can agree on
is that copy-and-paste without attribution is generally viewed as being
unacceptable, regardless if it is intentional or just sloppy scholarship. What
we do about plagiarism when we find it is another matter about which there is no
consensus.

THE WEAPONIZATION OF PLAGIARISM

Jonathan Bailey hit the nail on the head earlier this week when he said that
plagiarism has been weaponized. Plagiarism investigations post-graduation are
less about student success than they are about discrediting and causing harm to
the person being investigated. I have yet to see a plagiarism investigation
conducted after someone has graduated that is not a search-and-destroy mission.
Side note: Phill Dawson has a great chapter on surveillance and the
weaponization of academic integrity in his book, Defending Assessment Security
in a Digital World. If you haven’t already read Phill’s book, I highly recommend
it.

Plagiarism allegations can be shrouded in moral righteousness, but as Ackerman
has recently shown, someone with enough resources and motivation can take
plagiarism investigations to a whole new level. Scrutinizing the work of the
professoriate at scale for plagiarism would be unprecedented. If Ackerman
follows through, it could mean that every university president and professor in
the United States and beyond could have their academic work from their student
days scrutinized like never before.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STUDENT PLAGIARISM AND PROFESSIONAL PLAGIARISM?

This could no doubt be a topic of great debate, but for me, the answer is pretty
straightforward. Students are still learning. It is our job as educators to
ensure students have every opportunity to learn. There’s oodles of research to
show that first-year university students are more likely to cheat and commit
plagiarism than senior students. First-year students need more support to learn
writing, citing, and referencing skills to help them be successful as they move
through their post-secondary programs.

As students advance through their academic programs we expect them to build
their knowledge, skills, and competencies. By the time someone graduates, we, as
an academic community and a society, expect that they have the skills and
knowledge they need to be able to engage in professional work. That’s the basic
idea behind graduation: you have successfully completed your academic program
and you are now qualified to work in your chosen field.

As a result, we hold professors and administrators to higher academic and
professional standards than students. Presumably, professors have already
learned the foundations of their field of study, as well as basic understandings
of academic and research integrity. In other words, by the time someone is a
professor, they should know better.

POST-FACTO PLAGIARISM ALLEGATIONS AND INVESTIGATIONS

A retroactive investigation into a person’s academic work while they were a
student is often an exercise in discrediting someone in their current
professional role. Pointing fingers after the fact is rarely helpful. Addressing
allegations of student academic misconduct is the responsibility of the
educational institution. Failing to do so reflects poorly on the institution, as
much as on the student (or alum) who allegedly engaged in misconduct. There have
been cases in which universities have rescinded degrees after graduation upon a
finding of academic misconduct proven long after convocation. I recall one such
case from my own university some years ago. In other words, there is a lot at
stake.

I am not suggesting that post-graduation cases of plagiarism or other forms of
academic misconduct should be ignored or swept under the rug. I am saying that
if an allegation of misconduct is not brought forward or investigated until
after graduation, the opportunity for student learning has been lost, and the
consequences can be devastating for the individual whose work comes under
scrutiny.

WHERE ARE ALL THE GRADUATE SUPERVISORS?

In the cases of Claudine Gay and Neri Oxman, the allegations of plagiarism
focused, at least in part, on their graduate theses. As a plagiarism scholar who
is also a professor and a graduate supervisor, I cannot help but ask myself:
What about the academic advisors who supervised these dissertations? Why is no
one talking to them?

PhD dissertations do not just get posted in an online public archive without
scrutiny. There are multiple levels of reviews and revisions, as well as a
rigorous examination at the end. At any respectable university, the thesis is
examined, in writing, by oral defence, or both, by academics who have expertise
related to the thesis. The graduate supervisor, and often others, sign off on
the work. Sometimes, there is a signature page that becomes part of the front
matter of a thesis before it is archived in the public record. The signatures
from supervisors and examiners serve as a public attestation of quality of the
approved thesis.

If you ask me, every person who signs off on a graduate student thesis bears
some responsibility for its quality. This is not to say that we should absolve
students of their responsibility to act with integrity, but I am saying that
student plagiarism is as much a collective responsibility of the academic
community as it is an individual one. Why are journalists not asking the
graduate supervisors or professors for commentary about their former students?
Surely, any graduate supervisor who believes in their former student’s work and
its worth would be willing to stand up and defend not only the student, but
their own competence as PhD supervisors — especially after they have supported
the doctoral studies and signed off on the work?

HUMAN RIGHTS, ANYONE?

In North America we have been obsessed with witch hunts for centuries. So far,
2024 is shaping up to be the year when plagiarism becomes the weapon of the
right/righteous to prosecute and punish. The accused are publicly shamed and
humiliated as investigations become the latest scandal for the media to cover.

In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations states that
even in criminal matters, “Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and
public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of
his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.” (See Article
10). Yet, when it comes to public intellectuals and high-profile academics,
members of the public and media act as judge and jury, and the right to a fair
and impartial investigation gets thrown out the window in favour of a witch
hunt.

Article 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, goes on to say,
“Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent
until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all
the guarantees necessary for his defence.” Somehow, public allegations of
academic misconduct rarely allow for the presumption of innocence. Individuals
who are publicly accused of plagiarism are presumed to be guilty and are forced
to prove their own innocence. (Also sounds a bit like a witch hunt, right?) In
other words, intellectuals subjected to public allegations of plagiarism are
sometimes treated worse than common criminals.

And let’s not forget the first and most important part of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, “All human beings are born free and equal in
dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act
towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” (Article 1).

Those of us who regularly serve on academic and research misconduct panels know
that following due process is an essential aspect of the work. Even when there
are findings of misconduct and individuals are held responsible, we focus on the
behaviour and not the person. Academic and research misconduct investigations
and hearings, when done ethically, are often complex and difficult undertakings.
Misconduct hearing members have a responsibility to proceed with care and
caution, weighing multiple and sometimes conflicting details. We distinguish
between a person’s actions and their value as a human being. Even when there is
a finding of misconduct, we do not judge a person as being good or evil; we do
our best to uphold human rights, which includes the right to dignity.

In public scandals about academic misconduct and plagiarism, individuals under
scrutiny can be quickly stripped of their dignity, their reputation, and their
livelihood. I am not suggesting that misconduct should not be investigated and
addressed, but I am suggesting that when we, as a society, fail to uphold basic
human rights when investigating plagiarism and other forms of academic
misconduct, we have lost our humanity. Upholding human rights should be a
fundamental aspect of all misconduct investigations.

REFERENCES

CBC News. (2018, September 19). Alberta judge upholds university’s right to
rescind master’s degree over plagiarism.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-judge-university-plagiarism-masters-degree-1.4830594

Bill Ackman to check all MIT faculty members for plagiarism after wife Neri
Oxman accused of copying parts of thesis. (2024, January 6). South China Morning
Post.
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3247498/bill-ackman-check-all-mit-faculty-members-plagiarism-after-wife-neri-oxman-accused-copying-parts

Dawson, P. (2021). Defending assessment security in a digital world: Preventing
e-cheating and supporting academic integrity in higher education. Routledge.

Green, E. (2024, January 5). Why some academics are reluctant to call Claudine
Gay a plagiairst. New Yorker.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-some-academics-are-reluctant-to-call-claudine-gay-a-plagiarist

Haidar, E. H., & Kettles, C. E. (2024, January 3). Harvard President Claudine
Gay Resigns, Shortest Tenure in University History. Harvard Crimson.
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/1/3/claudine-gay-resign-harvard/

Hartocollis, A., & Betts, A. (2024, January 5). Wife of Investor Who Pushed for
Harvard President’s Exit Is Accused of Plagiarism. New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/05/us/plagiarism-bill-ackman-neri-oxman-claudine-gay-harvard.html

Mazer, J. P., & Hunt, S. K. (2012). Tracking plagiarism electronically:
First-year students’ perceptions of academic dishonesty and reports of cheating
behaviour in the basic communication course. International Journal for
Educational Integrity, 8(2), 57-68.
https://ojs.unisa.edu.au/index.php/IJEI/article/view/810/

McMutrie, B. (2024, January 4). A Brief Guide to How Colleges Adjudicate
Plagiarism Cases. Chronicle of Higher Education.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-brief-guide-to-how-colleges-adjudicate-plagiarism-cases

Romo, V. (2024, January 3). Claudine Gay’s resignation highlights the trouble
with regulating academic writing. NPR.
https://www.npr.org/2024/01/03/1222588885/harvard-president-claudine-gay-resigns-plagiarism

United Nations. (n.d.). Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

____________________________

Share this post: Plagiarism Witch Hunts Cause Harm
https://drsaraheaton.wordpress.com/2024/01/07/plagiarism-witch-hunts-cause-harm/

This blog has had over 3 million views thanks to readers like you. If you
enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton, PhD, is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education
at the University of Calgary, Canada. Opinions are my own and do not represent
those of my employer.

Sarah Elaine Eaton, PhD, Editor-in-Chief, International Journal for Educational
Integrity

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HOW TO GET YOUR ACADEMIC ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN A HIGH QUALITY JOURNAL

January 2, 2024

This month marks the beginning of my fourth year as editor-in-chief of the
International Journal for Educational Integrity. Before that I served as
co-editor and before that, I served as a reviewer and article author. Last year,
the journal received its first impact factor (4.6), putting it in the 95th
percentile of all journals in the field of educational research. Since that
happened, the number of submissions the journal has received seems to have
skyrocketed. Every week I am reviewing submissions from authors eager to have
their work published in a Q1 (top quartile) academic journal. In this post I
offer five tips on how to get your work published in a top-ranking journal.

TIP #1: READ THE AIMS AND SCOPE

Ensure your manuscript fits with the aims and scope of the journal. The number
one reason I reject manuscripts outright without sending them for peer review is
that the topic of the manuscript has no relevance whatsoever to our journal.
Reputable journals publish their aims and scope on their website. As an example,
here are the Aims and Scope of the International Journal for Educational
Integrity.

As an interdisciplinary journal, we receive submissions from just about every
academic field you can imagine, but just because a journal is interdisciplinary
does not mean that anything goes. When I get a manuscript about the efficacy
rates of a pesticide or new developments related to geo-spatial heat maps, I
reject it automatically because the topic is outside the scope of our journal.
Manuscripts that are about education broadly, but that have no direct connection
to ethics and integrity, also get a desk rejection.

If you want to publish your article in a high quality journal, ensure it aligns
with the aims and scope of the journal.

TIP #2: FOCUS ON QUALITY

Poor-quality writing is one of the main reasons manuscripts get a desk
rejection. Ensure the quality of your manuscript is your top priority. Markers
of quality include, but are not limited to, writing that is comprehensible and
error-free. (The odd typo can be fixed during the revision process.) Quality
also means including a literature review that demonstrates that you understand
previous scholarship in the field, a detailed methods section, and an in-depth
analysis. The findings should show original contributions to the field, along
with the limitations of the work.

Articles that are theoretical or conceptual in nature should still have a clear
structure and be organized in a way that the reader can follow. The
problem/gap/hook heuristic is one way to frame a conceptual article so that the
value to the reader is clear.

Submissions that are difficult to read, either because of poor writing or
because they lack organization, are more likely to be rejected. This does not
mean that all articles have to follow a cookie-cutter formula. Unconventional
articles can be interesting and valuable, but the reader still has to be able to
follow them.

TIP #3: FOLLOW THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Ensure your submission fits with the submission guidelines of the journal. Do
not wait for a desk rejection and then tell the editor you can reformat the
manuscript. Submit according to the guidelines.

I have had prospective authors argue with me via e-mail when I reject or request
a revision to their submissions on the basis that their manuscript does not
follow the journal’s guidelines. Arguing with an editor about how you do not
have time or interest in submitting according to the journal’s guidelines is
unlikely to persuade an editor that your submission should be reviewed. Saying
that you will revise or reformat the submission only if your article is accepted
is a fast track to a rejection.

TIP #4: DO YOUR HOMEWORK

Read recently published articles in the journal to understand what kinds of
submissions make the cut. It can also be helpful to understand who the editors
and editorial board members are and how their expertise contributes to the
journal.

I reviewed a submission that claimed that female students were inherently prone
to academic cheating because of their gender. (The main argument was that women
are more morally corrupt than men.) Um…. Pardon me?!

Needless to say that the submission was problematic (and rejected) for a number
of reasons, not the least of which was a lack of scientific basis for the claims
made in the submission. As I conducted my preliminary editorial review, it
occurred to me that the authors probably had no idea that the editor was a
woman… And why would they, when only 8% of editors-in-chief of academic journals
are women? It might not have even occurred to them to check. (If they had, they
could have saved themselves the trouble of submitting…)

A quick check of the Editorial Board can give you a glimpse into who provides
leadership for a journal. Reviewing the information about the editorial board is
likely to provide an incomplete picture at best, but it can be helpful.

TIP #5: PROVIDE VALUE

Ensure that your manuscript adds something new to the existing knowledge base.
The best academic articles provide value to the reader and the wider scientific
or scholarly community. Always keep your reader in mind. One reason submissions
get rejected is that the authors are so self-absorbed in themselves and their
own ideas or goals is that they fail to consider individual readers as well as
the collective readership of the journal as a whole.

When prospective authors beg me to publish their article because they need a
publication to graduate, get hired, keep their jobs, or get promoted, my heart
aches. This is a sign of systemic dysfunction of academia in general, but it is
a one that a journal editor cannot solve. The article itself must provide value
to the reader or the piece is unlikely to get published. The more value you can
provide to the readers, the more likely it is your manuscript will be published
in a high-quality journal.

There are lots of other things to say about how to get your work published in a
high-quality academic journal, but I’ll stop for now, as this covers some of the
basics. I hope these tips are helpful for getting your academic work published
in the coming year(s).

____________________________

Share this post: How to Get Your Academic Article Published in a High Quality
Journal –
https://drsaraheaton.wordpress.com/2024/01/02/how-to-get-your-academic-article-published-in-a-high-quality-journal/

This blog has had over 3 million views thanks to readers like you. If you
enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton, PhD, is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education
at the University of Calgary, Canada. Opinions are my own and do not represent
those of my employer.

Sarah Elaine Eaton, PhD, Editor-in-Chief, International Journal for Educational
Integrity

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Quality Journal | higher ed, International Journal for Educational Integrity |
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