There are numerous approaches to the use of plagiarism detection software and to the provision of services designed to prevent the occurrence of plagiarism and violations of good scientific practice, which may vary from university to university. PlagStop.nrw has set itself the goal of bundling the different approaches in order to ensure an efficient utilization potential of the project results. Within the framework of various workshops offered during the project period, universities and university members not involved in the consortium should also be given the opportunity to actively participate in the discourse. In this way, various local experiences and requirements can be absorbed and consolidated and incorporated into the further project plan.

First workshop: 17.05.2022 and 14.06.2022(summary of results).

Second workshop: 17.01.2023(summary of results)

In the project PlagStop.nrw, the software PlagAware was procured for the Hoschule Niederrhein.

The software offers:

• Submission via dashboard or Moodle plugin (currently not yet available).
• Source comparison on the internet and own databases (work submitted and saved in the past)
• Report generation (easy to understand overview with percentages and possibly plagiarized sources)

Current status: Acquired and being tested

If you are interested in testing, please contact: Jane.Schaller(at)hs-niederrhein.de

After the degree of the project a guideline will be available, which should support universities in the future to integrate a plagiarism detection software sustainably into the university operation under consideration of all basic conditions.

The guideline will be based on the practical experience gained with the plagiarism detection software used at the various university locations during the project implementation and will equally take into account all organizational processes required for a holistic implementation of the plagiarism detection software.

To ensure that the guidelines cover the widest possible range of experience and thus take into account the different needs and framework conditions of other universities, one plagiarism detection software will be implemented, tested and evaluated at each of the participating universities in the consortium. The University of Cologne will coordinate the evaluation of the plagiarism detection software used. The local framework conditions for the use of the plagiarism detection software developed during the project implementation as well as the results of the software-based plagiarism examinations will all be included in the guidelines.

In the testing of the plagiarism detection software used, the function of an LMS PlugIn takes on an important role. By installing a plugIn of the plagiarism detection software into the familiar infrastructure of an LMS, the use of the plagiarism detection software can be optimized and integrated into already existing workflows. The university of applied sciences Dortmund will coordinate the integration of the PlugIn into existing LMS.

Background

In the preliminary project PlagStop.nrw , surveys were conducted in the form of guideline-based expert interviews as well as a state-wide online survey. The surveys aimed to determine the current state of dealing with plagiarism at the state universities and the potential use of software solutions for identifying plagiarism. The surveys revealed that there is a great demand for software solutions in particular, as the large number of student papers and a highly differentiated source situation make it difficult to track all sources by hand. Despite initiatives to introduce plagiarism detection software, many university campuses usually do not use it in the long term because there is usually a lack of uniform and systematized processes for using and handling it.

This is where the main project PlagStop.nrw comes in - Based on the results of the surveys, a primary goal of the main project is to support universities in the holistic implementation of a software system to prevent plagiarism in a sustainable and efficient way. Processes and framework conditions are to be created that reduce the amount of work involved in implementing plagiarism detection software and optimize its use.

As part of the project, digital materials on plagiarism prevention will be created for both students and lecturers, which will be made available as OER via ORCA.nrw for free re-use. The materials are intended to provide information on current developments in the areas of plagiarism and good scientific practice , as well as assistance on how to proactively prevent the occurrence of plagiarism and violations of good scientific practice.

The materials will be created in a participatory manner by all participating universities in the consortium - the University of Duisburg-Essen and Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences will coordinate the creation of the digital materials on plagiarism prevention. Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf will coordinate the development of the accompanying materials.

Digital self-study modules for students

Plagiarism in student work is often unknowingly induced. A constantly changing and growing source landscape and the increasing free availability of electronic sources on the Internet favor potential citation errors and thus the emergence of plagiarism. Ten digital self-study modules are designed to teach current methods and practices of good scientific practice. In addition to providing information, students will also have the opportunity to apply and deepen their knowledge of plagiarism and good scientific practice :

• What is considered plagiarism, what are the types and severities of plagiarism?
• Consequences: Evaluation of plagiarism as a violation of good scientific practice, i.e. failed attempt, violation of copyright, misdemeanor, blocking by scientific publishers, etc.
• Offers for prevention: Scientific literature research, use and evaluation of sources in printed and digital form, subject-specific use of literature and associated citation types, training in the use of programs for literature management (e.g. Citavi or EndNote), inclusion / feedback with existing offers for the creation of scientific texts, e.g. writing workshops.

Accompanying materials for lecturers

With the consistent use of plagiarism detection software, the identification of plagiarism can be facilitated, but in addition to the technical performance of a software, it requires equally a trained use and evaluation of the results by the users. For lecturers and other users of the universities, various accompanying materials for the use of the software are to be developed. In addition, information material for lecturers on how to deal with plagiarism at universities will be provided:

• Manual for the use of plagiarism detection software
• Concept for the interpretation of the analysis results of the plagiarism detection software
• Instructions for dealing with the analysis results of the plagiarism detection software
• General information on dealing with suspected cases and plagiarism

When using plagiarism detection software, it is possible to create a local university database in which all work submitted by the university is stored and can be reused for future comparison with other work. In this way, plagiarism that originates within a university can also be identified. As a result of the networking that goes hand in hand with progressive digitization, e.g. via social media, work produced at other universities is increasingly becoming available as a potential source, thus encouraging the emergence of plagiarism.

A legal opinion should therefore clarify whether it is possible to merge several local university databases into a consortium database or, alternatively, to establish a new joint database for the works of the participating universities.

You can view the results here.