Beyond Literary Theft – Selected Aspects of the Contemporary Debate on Academic Plagiarism in Slovenia

When seeking the most effective response to plagiarism in an academic community, academic institutions need to re-examine their founding mission and core values. Traditionally among them is the constant striving of members of the academic community towards academic excellence. Excellence presupposes high quality creative works produced within the institution that comply with pre-set standards. Written academic works are partially based on the original ideas and concepts of academic authors and necessarily also on the accumulated knowledge encompassed by previous creative works. Academic excellence requires a clear distinction between these two categories and directs members of the community towards intellectual honesty when using the works of other authors. The problem of academic plagiarism is age-old. However, in our contemporary, technologically advanced society, which challenges some of the core principles of the (legal) protection of creative works (such as originality and copying), plagiarism is gaining new meanings. Academic institutions throughout the world are being challenged to either re-examine or establish new mechanisms for the monitoring and prevention of plagiarism. As autonomous teaching institutions, universities have two decisive functions. Firstly, they independently determine their internal standards and regulations related to the quality of written works produced within their community. Secondly, as part of managing the learning process, academic institutions instruct and teach the members of their community about the (mis)use of creative works. The responses of academic institutions to the problem of plagiarism are diverse and address general problems as well as nation/institution-specific issues. In Slovene academic institutions this debate is relatively new and the first anti-plagiarism guidelines are being drafted.