Self-Plagiarism in Project Studies: A Call for Action and Reflection

As Callahan (2018, p. 306) states, “whether a real issue of ethical concern or a moral panic, self-plagiarism has captured the attention of authors, editors, publishers, and plagiarism-detection software companies,” and has led to fierce debates on the judgment of fair reuse of one’s own work. This editorial will revisit these debates and explain the views and expectations of the Project Management Journal® (PMJ). This is part of a series of editorials designed to guide future submissions to PMJ® and inform project scholars about relevant topics related to the craft of research. Here, we discuss the concept of self-plagiarism and its institutionalization. We, the editorial board of PMJ, then propose the four principles we will use to judge self-plagiarism: ownership, honesty, originality, and academic citizenship. These principles build on our discussions about plagiarism (Geraldi, 2021). We encourage authors, reviewers, and readers to engage with the principles to help us in the prevention of and response to cases of self-plagiarism.