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I am writing an open source software which will be published as a public Github repository (code+binaries) and the accompanying documentation will be available on ReadTheDocs.com platform. I am also planning to write a software paper based on the software and some sections of the paper (~25%) must describe the software.

It's standard practice for journals to run papers through a plagiarism checker. I am concerned that the result may flag the parts from the documentation as plagiarism because they will be similar.

Is there any way to make sure the similarity between parts of the documentation and the manuscript won't cause the paper to be rejected on grounds of (self-)plagiarism?

Edit: This question asks something similar about an Arxiv preprint. My question asks about technical documentation similar to this unrelated project, whereas Arxiv is an accepted medium for publishing preprints. Therefore, I don't see how this can be a duplicate.

Mohammadreza Khoshbin
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  • Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking. – Community Jan 06 '22 at 00:11
  • See also: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29723/what-is-the-acceptable-similarity-in-a-mathematics-phd-dissertation-when-checkin – Anonymous Physicist Jan 06 '22 at 00:28
  • https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/58417/do-authors-normally-check-their-own-papers-for-plagiarism?rq=1 – Anonymous Physicist Jan 06 '22 at 00:31
  • @AnonymousPhysicist The first is somehow related. Edited the question to include it and why it's not a duplicate. – Mohammadreza Khoshbin Jan 06 '22 at 15:07
  • The questions are duplicates because the answers are the same: Plagiarism checking software is the wrong way to check for plagiarism. If you wrote it and know what plagiarism is, then you know if you plagiarized. – Anonymous Physicist Jan 06 '22 at 15:37
  • Maybe also helpful: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2893/attitudes-towards-self-plagiarism – Anonymous Physicist Jan 06 '22 at 15:37
  • I disagree. Users of plagiarism checking software are asked to exercise personal judgment when reading the results. The particularities of the situation can and will impact the outcome. This makes the differences between the questions significant. Also, the widespread use of these tools renders philosophical debates regarding their applicability irrelevant. – Mohammadreza Khoshbin Jan 06 '22 at 15:53

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If you write the docs and retain copyright to them, then what you describe isn't really plagiarism. Plagiarism is attributing the ideas of others to yourself.

But, the similarities between the two will raise questions unless you cite the docs in the paper, which is a natural thing to do. Make sure you list yourself as author of the docs and all should be well.

The "citation" can be fairly generous, however: "Parts of the following are taken from ... written by this author".

Note also, that if you wait to publish the docs you will have the same problem but in the opposite order and the docs need to reference the paper. It is more complicated in that case, however, since you may need to give up copyright to get the paper published. That would limit the amount of "copying" you can do fairly.

It might be best, however, to paraphrase the docs within the paper, rather than just copy the same wording. It will seem more natural and raise fewer questions. But, technically, it isn't plagiarism, just similarity, since you are the author of both.

Buffy
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  • Thanks for the answer! Does this also hold for pictures? I'm thinking something like the following link from my other work: https://pyauxetic.readthedocs.io/en/latest/unit-cell-library/reentrant2d.html – Mohammadreza Khoshbin Jan 05 '22 at 23:44
  • Sorry, but I don't press links. If you create the pictures then you have copyright to them also, just like the text. But if they come from other sources you may need permission, as well as cite the source. – Buffy Jan 05 '22 at 23:51
  • Understandable. What I gather from your answer is that not only this is not a problem, but if the documentation is published prior to submission a number of copyright headaches can be avoided. Is that right? – Mohammadreza Khoshbin Jan 06 '22 at 00:01
  • That sounds right. Of course a publisher might balk if you overlap the paper too much with the docs - hence the paraphrasing advice. – Buffy Jan 06 '22 at 00:04