Common Misconceptions about Text Recycling in Scientific Writing

Abstract

Among the fundamental principles of scientific publishing, originality is one of the most important. Every manuscript is expected to offer a unique contribution, something clearly different from what has already been published. We typically think about originality in terms of a paper's content: What does this manuscript add to the knowledge of the field? An article may offer some fundamentally new idea or evidence that substantially alters the field, but more often, advances are incremental. An example of such incremental advances is a series of articles investigating a new vaccine. Many papers are published before a promising vaccine gets to the stage of clinical trials. Then there will be many more studies: safety studies; pilot studies; studies on different populations, such as adults and children; studies about the efficacy of varying dosages; and so on. If done well, each new paper will offer important insights and inform future research. But from one study to the next, some things will stay the same: the essential problem being studied, the relevant prior research, the biochemistry of the vaccine, the method of vaccine delivery, and so on.