Science ethics education: effects of a short lecture on plagiarism on the knowledge of young medical researchers.

PURPOSE Plagiarism is the most common form of scientific fraud. It is agreed that the best preventive measure is education of young scientists on basic principles of responsible conduct of research and writing. The purpose of this article was to contribute to the students' knowledge and adoption of the rules of scientific writing. METHODS A 45 min lecture was delivered to 98 attendees during 3 courses on science ethics. Before and after the course the attendees fulfilled an especially designed questionnaire with 13 questions, specifically related to the definition and various types of plagiarism and self-plagiarism. RESULTS Although considering themselves as insufficiently educated in science ethics, the majority of the attendees responded correctly to almost all questions even before the course, with percentages of correct responses to the specific question varying from 45.9-85.7%. After completion of the course, these percentages were significantly (p<0.01) higher, ranging from 66.3-98.8%. The percentage of improvement of the knowledge about plagiarism ranged from 9.18- 42.86%. The percentage of impairment ranged from 1.02- 16.33%, the latter being related to the question on correct citing unpublished materials of other people; only for this question the percentage of impairment (16.33%) was greater than the percentage of improvement (11.22%). CONCLUSION Even a short lecture focused on plagiarism contributed to the students' awareness that there are many forms of plagiarism, and that plagiarism is a serious violation of science ethics. This result confirms the largely accepted opinion that education is the best means in preventing plagiarism.