Using plagiarism detection software and software support in science and education

Abstract:

The development of computer technologies allows not only easy access to information, but also its abuse. The problem is particularly evident in areas such as science, computer science and literature. Plagiarism is defined as appropriation of other’s ideas or text without acknowledging the source and claiming to be one’s own. During the 1980s, the development of plagiarism detection software came as an answer to the plagiarism issues. Today, there are two major groups of plagiarism detection software: one for detection of academic and the other for detection of scientific plagiarism. TurnitIn and SafeAssign are representatives of the first group, and eTBLAST and CrossCheck are representatives of the latter. Plagiarism detection software consists of an algorithm that detects similarities and searches related databases and web pages for sources of potential plagiarism. Although there are numerous advantages to plagiarism detection software, there are still shortcomings that have to be overcome. 

Key words:
algorithms; plagiarism; scientific misconduct; software