Survey on attitude of dental professionals about plagiarism in Maharashtra, India

PURPOSE: Plagiarism is a type of research misconduct that consists of copying other's work or ideas without giving them proper credit. The rise of plagiarism cases has become a serious concern in the scientific world. Hence, a cross-sectional survey was carried out to assess the attitude among dental faculty members and postgraduate (PG) students toward plagiarism. Objectives were to compare the attitudes of dental faculty members and PG students toward plagiarism and to analyze the association of attitude toward plagiarism (ATP) with age, gender, and number of publications of the participants. MATERIALS AND METHODS: ATP was measured using a self-administered questionnaire consisting of two sections; first section consisting of demographic details of the participants and second section consisting of the ATP questionnaire measuring positive attitude, negative attitude, and subjective norms. Ninety faculty members and 126 PG students from four dental institutions participated in the study. The data were analyzed using Chi-square test and linear regression analysis. RESULTS: PG students showed more positive attitude and less negative ATP as compared to faculty members. Positive ATP decreased with increase in age (β = −0.147; P = 0.008), number of publications (β = −0.195; P = 0.001), and from males to females (β = −1.209; P = 0.044) whereas negative ATP increased with age (β =0.093; P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: The study showed negligence of PG students toward plagiarism which calls for improvement in awareness regarding plagiarism and research education.