The University has licensed iThenticate, a leading technology that helps scholars and researchers at Princeton verify the originality of their own academic writing and mitigate the risk of plagiarism. This tool is available only for the individual use of authors, or co-authors, to check their own work for similar or duplicate content published elsewhere. iThenticate is available to all regularly enrolled graduate students, excluding visiting students and Visiting Student Research Collaborators (VSCRs). What is iThenticate?Who in the Princeton community has access to iThenticate?What are the guidelines for using iThenticate?May I use Princeton’s iThenticate to check the documents published by other people, such as faculty, academic professionals, and students at Princeton or elsewhere? How do I access iThenticate at Princeton?How do I use iThenticate?What kind of manual analysis should I expect to perform on the output produced by iThenticate?If I have past publications, should I run them through iThenticate? How can I use iThenticate to analyze my written work that I am preparing for submission?Whom should I contact if I have any questions about iThenticate?How much does it cost to use iThenticate? How should students expect those costs to be covered?What should I do if iThenticate reveals overlap between my own writing and that of another author (or group of co-authors) that has not been quoted, cited, and/or attributed per the conventions in my discipline?What responsibilities do I have to any co-authors of my publications, such as sharing the results of the iThenticate analysis and subsequent manual analysis?How does using iThenticate affect my control over, or rights with respect to, the materials that I run through it? To what extent is the confidentiality of submitted documents preserved? How secure is the software? For example, can my uploaded document be retrieved during a hack by a third party? Are the documents I run through iThenticate made available to generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools or software more broadly? Will Princeton keep a record of those who use the software? At Princeton, who should be contacted to address questions or comments about the above FAQs, or to report any possible instances of plagiarism in association with written work submitted to iThenticate? iThenticate FAQs for Graduate Students This section has been created to provide more information about iThenticate, its availability, and guidelines for its individual use. What is iThenticate? iThenticate is a leading provider of professional plagiarism detection and prevention technology used worldwide by scholarly publishers and research institutions to help scholars and researchers verify the originality of their own academic writing and mitigate the risk of plagiarism. For more information, visit the iThenticate guide. [Note: Please ignore the user setup instructions in the guide. To login to iThenticate, please reference How to log into iThenticate] Who in the Princeton community has access to iThenticate? iThenticate is available to all regularly-enrolled graduate students, excluding visiting students and Visiting Student Research Collaborators (VSCRs). iThenticate is also available to all faculty and academic professionals appointed by the Office of the Dean of the Faculty, excluding visitors. What are the guidelines for using iThenticate? iThenticate is available exclusively for the individual use of authors or co-authors to check their own work for similar or duplicate content published elsewhere. May I use Princeton’s iThenticate to check the documents published by other people, such as faculty, academic professionals, and students at Princeton or elsewhere? No. The University has licensed iThenticate to enable approved users to check their own academic writings. It is prohibited to use University-provided access to iThenticate to check documents drafted, written, or published by others. Any use of University-provided access to iThenticate inconsistent with these guidelines will result in termination of the user’s access. In addition, misuse of this University resource may result in disciplinary action. How do I access iThenticate at Princeton? To access iThenticate, please reference How to log into iThenticate If you receive an error message or are unable to log in please open a ticket in Service Now choosing iThenticate from the drop-down menu of business applications. The first time you log in to iThenticate, you will see the terms and conditions Turnitin End-User License Agreement (EULA). The EULA is a mandatory part of the login process and cannot be bypassed. You are required to agree to it prior to proceeding.[Note: Please ignore the user setup instructions in the guide. To login to iThenticate, please reference How to log into iThenticate] How do I use iThenticate? Please visit the iThenticate user guide for more information. What kind of manual analysis should I expect to perform on the output produced by iThenticate? After you run a file through the program, you will receive a “similarity report.” Instructions on how to view the similarity report are located in the Accessing the Similarity Report guide. An overview of how to interpret the similarity report is at the Understanding the Similarity Report page. You should expect that the similarity report will contain potential matches for your work. The presence of potential matches in a similarity report does not necessarily mean that the work was plagiarized, only that the algorithm has detected matched textual elements in the iThenticate database. You must examine each match to determine whether there is an unattributed duplication of text that could constitute plagiarism. If I have past publications, should I run them through iThenticate? No. University-provided access to iThenticate is not intended for the review of already-published manuscripts. How can I use iThenticate to analyze my written work that I am preparing for submission? Instructions on how to upload a file are located in the Uploading a file guide. Whom should I contact if I have any questions about iThenticate? For technical questions on how to use iThenticate, please open a ticket in Service Now, choosing iThenticate from the drop-down menu of business applications. How much does it cost to use iThenticate? How should students expect those costs to be covered? The University is currently covering the cost for all graduate students to use iThenticate. What should I do if iThenticate reveals overlap between my own writing and that of another author (or group of co-authors) that has not been quoted, cited, and/or attributed per the conventions in my discipline? If you discover textual overlap between your written work and a publication by another author (or group of co-authors), you must take steps to mitigate the risk of plagiarism from your written work prior to any type of submission. This could include coursework, a publication, or thesis chapters. Please address any instances of overlap before your written work is submitted in any form.You should seek guidance on how to identify and avoid plagiarism. It is strongly recommended that graduate students engage with their adviser and other faculty members in the field to ensure that they are following the conventions of their academic field. You can also consult any available guidelines provided by the principal professional associations or societies in your academic field(s). What responsibilities do I have to any co-authors of my publications, such as sharing the results of the iThenticate analysis and subsequent manual analysis? You should confer with your co-authors if iThenticate reveals overlap between the text in your co-authored publication and the text of another publication. How does using iThenticate affect my control over, or rights with respect to, the materials that I run through it? Materials submitted to iThenticate are owned and controlled by the authors who submit them. Materials are stored in a private Princeton database hosted by the vendor, and authors can remove these materials at any time. For questions on how to remove your materials, please open a ticket in Service Now, choosing iThenticate from the drop-down menu of business applications. To what extent is the confidentiality of submitted documents preserved? How secure is the software? For example, can my uploaded document be retrieved during a hack by a third party? The vendor is contractually obligated to keep Princeton materials confidential, and all documents are encrypted when uploaded to iThenticate. The University cannot guarantee that documents you choose to submit will never be accessed or used inappropriately by a third party. Users upload documents at their own risk. Are the documents I run through iThenticate made available to generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools or software more broadly? According to iThenticate, generative AI tools do not use the unpublished documents housed only in the private Princeton database hosted by the vendor. Will Princeton keep a record of those who use the software? Yes, usage records are logged within iThenticate, including the user’s email address and other information about the material reviewed. Accordingly, iThenticate cannot be used anonymously. At Princeton, who should be contacted to address questions or comments about the above FAQs, or to report any possible instances of plagiarism in association with written work submitted to iThenticate? You should report the issue to the Office of the Dean of the Graduate School at [email protected], which will route the concern to the appropriate staff member.
