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February 27, 2006 —
Assistant professor of English John Lesko recently founded a new scholarly journal titled Plagiary: Cross-Disciplinary Studies in Plagiarism, Fabrication, and Falsification.
Lesko developed the idea a few years back but finally got the chance to get working on the project this past summer.
"With the number of cases coming up involving not just plagiarism but fabrications and frauds," he says, "I just thought 'why don't we have a publication devoted to these sorts of things?'"
So Lesko began asking around to see if others were interested in getting on board with the journal. He began making contacts and received a number of responses indicating that others were also interested in the project. The idea was for Plagiary to begin as a free online version at www.plagiary.org before being published in a hard copy volume at the end of this and each subsequent year.
According to the Web site, the journal is "Devoted specifically to the scholarly, cross-disciplinary study of plagiary and related behaviors across the disciplines, articles in Plagiary address the issue of fraudulent contributions to disciplinary discourse communities and the potential (and actual) corruption of the professional literature and other genres of discourse as a result of such derivative and/or fraudulent 'contributions' to discoursal interchange."
Currently, Plagiary is accepting submissions for publication.
"We are not just limited to plagiarism," Lesko says of the journal. "We'll look at issues from scientific fraud, to journalistic fabrication, to academic integrity and cheating. I'd like to hope that this publication will kind of forge the way ahead in this area of study."
The journal is already creating a buzz around the discipline, as several prominent publications have requested to interview Lesko regarding the journal. An article on Plagiary appeared in the Feb. 6 issue of The New York Times and he is scheduled to do an interview this week for The Sunday Telegraph, one of the United Kingdom's leading newspapers.
Lesko is no stranger to such publicity, though. His work has been previously cited in numerous scholarly publications and newspaper articles, and he appeared on CNBC in November to discuss a case of plagiarism involving actor turned author Chris Elliot.
Despite all the attention he is getting, Lesko still maintains a certain sense of humor towards plagiarism, evident in his other Web site, FamousPlagiarists.com.
Beginning as a book idea, FamousPlagiarists.com looks at examples of proven and alleged plagiarism from high-profile cases such as journalist Jayson Blair to lesser known instances involving authors, entertainers, and politicians. Throughout, Lesko interjects humor and images to display a lighter side of academics.
"Sometimes, we academics and scholars tend to take ourselves too seriously and I think there's a lighter side to this," he says. "You get the idea that academics are these somber individuals and bookworms ... I'm not that type of guy."
Lesko also says that his site speaks to the popular audience, making use of spoofs and jokes. One such spoof is that of the Homeland Security Terror-Alert Chart, which utilizes a color coding system to indicate terrorist threat levels. FamousPlagiarists.com also uses such a system, color coding threat levels for the War on Plagiarism.
"I wanted my site to be different than some of the other sites out there where you just have a kind of dull listing of cases with references," Lesko says. "What seems to have made this site successful is the combination of images with the bit of humor. Folks seem to like that more than just something overly scholarly."
FamousPlagiarists.com has also been affected by the recent coverage of Plagiary. Lesko says the traffic at the site is at an all-time high and the idea of turning it into a book again looks promising. After the book idea received a lukewarm response because of liability issues, Lesko was contacted last week by a book agent who wishes to shop the idea to publishers.
Lesko's passion for his study has yet to wane in the 12 years he's been researching it. What began as a research topic for his graduate work at Bowling Green University and later became his doctorate thesis at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Lesko's work on plagiarism has gone farther than he would have ever envisioned. In fact, his work with plagiarism has grown so extensive that he has even coined his own terms for his study. Lesko considers himself a plagiarologist, which of course means his work is in the field of plagiarology - the study of plagiarism.
Lesko has even submitted the words to Oxford in hopes of getting them included in the dictionary. While he would not be too upset if his request was declined, he admits he is still excited about the idea.
Despite the humor at FamousPlagiarists.com and the excitement of creating new words, Lesko still sees the serious side of plagiarism. He tries to inform his students in the classroom about plagiarism and has frequent discussions on ways to prevent unintentional plagiarism and why to avoid the purposeful kind.
Lesko suggests taking good notes and keeping thorough records of research and to get a good handbook to learn the proper ways to reference the work of others. As for intentional plagiarism, Lesko suggests students just not do it.
"Things will get found out, so just don't take chances," he says. "Let your accomplishments be based on honest labor, intellectual or otherwise."
Overall, Lesko is happy with what has happened in the recent past and is excited about what's to come in the future.
"I'm not one to toot my own horn," he says. "This coverage hasn't come about by me going out and trying to make a name for myself. I'm in it for the service aspect. I see it as rendering a professional service."
Still, Lesko understands that his experience and knowledge make him a prominent name in the field of plagiarology.
"I think if I'm not there yet as far as becoming a leading expert," he says, "I will probably see myself becoming such in the future."
One other benefit seen from his work is the recognition the University receives, which Lesko believes is deserved since he has received a great deal of help along the way.
"There has been a lot of positive recognition which I think accrues to both me and the institution as well," Lesko says. "They're seeing that we have an interest in academic integrity. In that regard, we are seeing some recognition, and deservedly so."