title: Plagiarism in law and medicine: challenges for scholarship, academia, publishers and regulators.
abstract: The phenomenon of plagiarism has evolved as a major problem in many fields with the increasing accessibility of material on the internet. It poses dilemmas for those involved in secondary and tertiary education, as well as for book publishers and those who edit journals. This editorial reviews important recent decisions in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia by courts and regulatory bodies in respect of doctors and lawyers who have engaged in plagiarism in various ways both while undergraduates and in the course of their professional careers. It reflects on the phenomenon of plagiarism, the challenges involved in its detection and the steps that can be taken to reduce its incidence.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Freckelton
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D002170:Canada; D006801:Humans; D033241:Lawyers / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D010820:Physicians / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D015714:Plagiarism; D011643:Publishing / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D013334:Students / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006113:United Kingdom