Between the educational mission of the university library and Turnitin surveillance: addressing academic plagiarism in São Paulo state universities

Abstract

This article addresses academic plagiarism as a form of misconduct that compromises the integrity of scientific research. It analyzes the implications arising from four types of plagiarism and emphasizes that the isolated use of Turnitin software is not sufficient to curb this practice. The institutional context of the research involves the libraries of public universities in the state of São Paulo, which are incorporated into this discussion as a locus of empirical investigation. Based on the scientific literature, the study draws primarily on approaches to the concept of academic plagiarism developed by authors such as Krokoscz, Wachowicz, and Costa. The organizations cited with regard to research integrity are the Committee on Publication Ethics and the São Paulo Research Foundation. Regarding the methodological approach, a qualitative, descriptive, and exploratory design was adopted, aiming to analyze academic plagiarism in its relationship with the university library. The research articulates the conceptual discussion of academic plagiarism and the institutional role of the university library with an empirical component based on the analysis of pages retrieved from the electronic portals of the three aforementioned universities. For the analysis, the most representative content from these pages was selected in order to identify actions and resources aimed at the prevention and mitigation of plagiarism, as well as to examine how these initiatives are articulated with library activities. The results indicate the absence of preventive actions, programs, or policies aimed at developing comprehensive competencies on the topic. However, it was found that, in each university, the approach to the problem is limited to providing Turnitin as a tool for subsequent verification. The study shows that the discussion of academic plagiarism is multifaceted and involves sensitive issues. It highlights the potential of public university libraries in São Paulo as strategic agents for the development of information literacy related to plagiarism prevention, from a preventive perspective, given that corrective interventions centered on the use of software currently predominate. It also underscores the need to expand the protagonism of these libraries through training initiatives on the subject.