Redefining plagiarism; A friend or a foe?

Abstract

Plagiarism is a universal phenomenon, not strictly restricted to medical writing, but encompassing almost all fields of life. Over a period of time, it has become customary to talk very loudly about it and even condemn it as a sin. A review of the past and present scientific knowledge as well as literature confirms that plagiarism has been and is still in wide practice in developed as well as undeveloped countries. The availability of scientific knowledge on the internet has made it easier to plagiarise as well as to identify plagiarized material. On the otherhand  much of the research methodology, reviews, discussion parts of original articles and even larger books and monographs do contain parts of copied material from already published material. This editorial review the prevalence of and the measures to control the plagiarism, and stresses a need to draw fresh lines in between good and bad plagiarism.