Promoting Best Research Practices Amongst Palms Scientists in Nigeria: the issue of Plagiarism

The aim of this paper is to investigate the level and reasons of plagiarism of literature among palm scientists in Nigeria. The questionnaire was adopted to gather data in this study. The questionnaire was administered by the researcher to scientists that have published at least one palm article. Usable data were collected from 40 Palms Scientists that used the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research Library to access research information between May 2007 and March, 2009. Plagiarized papers were content analyzed to verify claims. Results of detailed investigation from the respondents who indicated that their papers were plagiarized revealed that one of the scientist’s paper was actually plagiarized by his colleague by re-sending their already published work in a book where the plagiarist was a second author to a journal for second publication with the plagiarist name now as first author. This is double publication and plagiarism of authorship. The reason for plagiarism was due to unscrupulous behaviour of the scientists trying to outwit his colleagues to gain unwarranted merits which is against the principle of best research practices and capable of creating distrust among scientists. This study concludes that plagiarism of palms literature exists in Nigeria but on a very low level. This means that most palms scientists in Nigeria uphold ethical standard in carrying out research. The study therefore recommends proper scrutiny of papers submitted for promotions, outright cancellation of plagiarized papers, and withdrawal of intellectual right to such works among others to serve as deterrent.