Plagiarism

“everybody knows that this is simple intellectual theft”

Facile comparisons between college term papers and published books need to quit being quite so facile. They may continue as legitimate comparisons, just not in facile-mode. When a college student finds some sparkling prose online, and plonks it down in the middle of his otherwise tepid paper, making the stolen portion flash like a strobe light at the instructor, everybody knows that this is simple intellectual theft, clumsily done. That kind of straight across plagiarism can happen with books also, and does, with depressing regularity.
Douglas Wilson

“an essential part of a good editor’s responsibility is to anticipate the possibility of this kind of error, and check on it”

But at the same time, I was the one who edited them, putting them together in one sustained piece. The booklet was not a “two article” affair, with his name on his and mine on mine. There was one sustained argument from front to back. Both our names were on the cover. And I was the one who had the editorial responsibility for blending them. And even if this had been a “two article” booklet, I still would have been the editor, and an essential part of a good editor’s responsibility is to anticipate the possibility of this kind of error, and check on it. Accidents do happen, and an editor’s responsibility includes an active awareness of the fact that accidents happen, and to therefore check. I didn’t check, and I should have. Mea maxima culpa. I had not read Time on the Cross at that time, and given the nature of the errors, had I read that book we would have been spared a lot of grief.
Douglas Wilson

Omnibus V: The Medieval World

Edited by Gene Edward Veith, Douglas Wilson, and G. Tyler Fischer

Omnibus V, page 10

“The damage done to the faith by hypocrisy in high places is hard to overestimate. Too frequently reporters sift through the wreckage of Christian ministers and ministries that have imploded because of sexual or financial hypocrisy.” Continue reading →

Wednesday, May 11, 2016 |

“I want to take full responsibility for having my name on the cover of a book containing plagiarized sections”

Consequently, I want to take full responsibility for having my name on the cover of a book containing plagiarized sections, and where the contributions from the authors were undifferentiated. In such circumstances, when plagiarism is detected, the one who finds it has every right to look at the cover and decide right on the spot who is responsible. The names on the cover are the ones with the authorial responsibility, which is the primary responsibility according to contract, and the editorial imprint is the one with the publisher’s responsibility, also specified by contract. Further investigation might reveal where particular culpability lies, but the responsibility for the project flows (according to God’s design) to the names on the cover.
Douglas Wilson