Understanding of plagiarism among North-African university hospital doctors (UHDs): A pilot study

ABSTRACT

No previous North-African study has evaluated the UHDs understanding of plagiarism (UP). This descriptive study aimed to assess UP among Tunisian UHDs. UHDs were recruited via electronic mails sent to all the Tunisian UHDs through the national health networks and by convenience sampling via a questionnaire provided directly to some UHDs. The French survey, available from the Laval University website, includes 11 questions related to UP, with three-choice answers (yes/no/may be). One point was awarded for each correct answer. A total score lower than six corresponded to a low level of UP. 96 UHDs (69 females) responded to the survey either through emails (39.6%) or by filled in the paper (60.4%). The mean ±SD (95% confidence interval) score of UP was considered low at 5.4 ± 1.9 (5.0 to 5.8); 74% of the participants had a low UP. The UP score was significantly different between the categories of assistants and professors. Data comparison between subjective and objective assessments revealed that significant percentages of UHDs underestimated their low UP. This was more marked in the professors’ category. There was no significant correlation between the UP total score and the UHDs’ age or professional experience. To conclude, plagiarism is not well-known to North African UHDs.

Abbreviations: MD: medical doctor; MSc: master of sciences; PhD: doctor of philosophy; r: Spearman correlation coefficient; SD: standard deviation; UHDs: university hospital doctors; UP: understanding of plagiarism; 95% CI: 95% confidence interval

KEYWORDS:

• University doctors
• intellectual property
• North Africa
• scientific misconduct
• fraud
• dunning-kruger effect

Authors’ contributions

MK, LB, MBK, TM, and HBS conceived the study, participated in its design, collected data, performed the statistical analysis, coordinate the study, and helped to draft the manuscript.

All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Names of the institutions at which the research was conducted: Faculty of Dental Medicine, University of Monastir, and Faculty of Medicine, University of Sousse, Tunisia.

Acknowledgments

Authors wish to thank Professor Samir Boukattaya for his invaluable contribution in the improvement of the quality of the writing in the present article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

The research has been determined to be exempt from human subjects research review. According to the Farhat Hached University Hospital’s Ethics Committee, there is no need for an approval. The accomplishment of the questionnaire by each participant was taken as a form of individual consent to contribute to this study

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.