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Plagiarism Identified In JOMS Article
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR J Oral Maxillofac Surg 72:2098-2101, 2014
PLAGIARISM IDENTIFIED IN JOMS ARTICLE To the Editor:—I am writing with a concern about potential plagiarism. My father and I published an article last year about a technique for addressing excessive gingival display.1 When reading the article by Gabric Panduric et al2 published in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, we were pleased to see our work cited but, on closer inspection, found that the authors went well beyond citation. Our concern is twofold. First, their claimed ‘‘novel,’’ ‘‘reversible trial’’ technique is exactly our technique and in fact the term we coined. Second, virtually the entire Surgical Procedure section is a verbatim copy of ours, as are the final 8 to 10 lines of the Patient Profile. We have no doubt that the Journal values academic integrity as highly as we do and thought that this must be brought to your attention.
On behalf of my colleagues, I express a deep regret because our intention was certainly not to plagiarize Dr Jacobs and his father’s work, but rather to use their great technique, and cite it repeatedly, for our patient with similar indications, thus showing the possibility of gummy smile treatment using laserassisted surgery and avoiding an invasive surgery such as orthognathic surgery. In addition, it is virtually impossible to plagiarize the clinical case report because of the individuality of each patient and surgical indications and the differences in each surgeon’s skills and experience. Furthermore, the purpose of publishing scientific and clinical articles should be the presentation of novel techniques, materials, and methods, with the tendency to promote their wide acceptance by colleagues and their application in everyday clinical practice. I apologize to Dr Jacobs and his father, on my personal behalf and on behalf of my colleagues, if they believed their work was plagiarized, although our real intention was to emphasize, not plagiarize, their work.
BRYAN JACOBS, DMD, MS PAUL JACOBS, DDS Chicago, IL
References
DRAGANA GABRIC PANDURIC, PHD, DMD Assistant Professor Zagreb, Croatia
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.joms.2014.08.008
1. Jacobs PJ, Jacobs BP: Lip repositioning with reversible trial for the management of excessive gingival display: A case series. Int J Periodontics Restorative Dent 33:169, 2013 2. Gabric Panduric D, Blaskovic M, Brozovic J, Susic M: Surgical treatment of excessive gingival display using lip repositioning technique and laser gingivectomy as an alternative to orthognathic surgery. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 72:404.e1, 2014
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.joms.2014.07.044
In reply—I am writing with regard to the plagiarism allegation made by Drs Bryan Jacobs and Paul Jacobs in their Letter to the Editor. I deeply regret the allegation, particularly because Dr Jacobs’s article and work were cited in the Introduction and the Discussion. By using the term ‘‘novel’’ in our article, we did not mean ‘‘new, explained or used for the first time,’’ but rather a technique recently published in the literature (and cited). In the Surgical Procedure and Patient sections, we used the same surgical technique as cited in the Discussion, but with different laser parameters, and the incisions were started from the laser-assisted frenectomy lines. Regarding postoperative instructions, we used the same patient description as published in Dr Jacob’s work, but used the same instructions for most of our surgical patients. Similarity in sentence structure is unquestionable, but the work also was cited in the Discussion when explaining the presurgical evaluation and immediate postsurgical treatment.
INFERIOR ALVEOLAR NERVE FUNCTION AFTER SAGITTAL SPLIT OSTEOTOMY To the Editor:—In their recent article, Monnazzi et al1 concluded that ‘ . there was no statistically significant difference in the sensitivity of the labiomental area (inferior alveolar nerve distribution) regarding the instrument (reciprocating saw or piezosurgery instrument) used to perform the (sagittal split mandibular ramus) osteotomy (SSRO).’’ The most important point in this study, in our opinion, is contained in the authors’ statement in Materials and Methods: ‘‘. the split was performed using Smith spreaders (superior and inferior border separators); the use of osteotomes and chisels was avoided. .’’ The risk of injury to the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) during the performance of the SSRO is well known.2 From our extensive experience with this operation and the analysis of our large series of IAN injuries associated with the SSRO, it has been shown clinically that the IAN has a variable course and position within the mandible vertically and horizontally vis-a-vis the lateral junction between the cortical and cancellous bone.2,3 Therefore, it has been our recommendation that the critical steps in protecting the IAN while separating the proximal and distal segments of the mandible during the SSRO include 1) obtaining good preoperative imaging studies that visualize the position of the IAN within the anterior
Letters to the Editor must be in reference to a specific article or editorial that has been published by the Journal. Letters must be submitted within 6 weeks of the article’s print publication or, for an online-only article, within 8 weeks of the date it first appeared online. Letters must be submitted electronically via the Elsevier Editorial System at http://ees.elsevier.com/ joms. Letters are subject to editing and those exceeding 500 words may be shortened or not accepted due to length. One photograph may accompany the letter if it is essential to understanding the subject. Letters should not duplicate similar material or material published elsewhere. There is no guarantee that any letter will be published. Prepublication proofs will not be provided. Submitting a Letter to the Editor constitutes the author’s permission for its publication in any issue or edition of the journal, in any form or medium.
2098
PLAGIARISM IDENTIFIED IN JOMS ARTICLE To the Editor:—I am writing with a concern about potential plagiarism. My father and I published an article last year about a technique for addressing excessive gingival display.1 When reading the article by Gabric Panduric et al2 published in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, we were pleased to see our work cited but, on closer inspection, found that the authors went well beyond citation. Our concern is twofold. First, their claimed ‘‘novel,’’ ‘‘reversible trial’’ technique is exactly our technique and in fact the term we coined. Second, virtually the entire Surgical Procedure section is a verbatim copy of ours, as are the final 8 to 10 lines of the Patient Profile. We have no doubt that the Journal values academic integrity as highly as we do and thought that this must be brought to your attention.
On behalf of my colleagues, I express a deep regret because our intention was certainly not to plagiarize Dr Jacobs and his father’s work, but rather to use their great technique, and cite it repeatedly, for our patient with similar indications, thus showing the possibility of gummy smile treatment using laserassisted surgery and avoiding an invasive surgery such as orthognathic surgery. In addition, it is virtually impossible to plagiarize the clinical case report because of the individuality of each patient and surgical indications and the differences in each surgeon’s skills and experience. Furthermore, the purpose of publishing scientific and clinical articles should be the presentation of novel techniques, materials, and methods, with the tendency to promote their wide acceptance by colleagues and their application in everyday clinical practice. I apologize to Dr Jacobs and his father, on my personal behalf and on behalf of my colleagues, if they believed their work was plagiarized, although our real intention was to emphasize, not plagiarize, their work.
BRYAN JACOBS, DMD, MS PAUL JACOBS, DDS Chicago, IL
References
DRAGANA GABRIC PANDURIC, PHD, DMD Assistant Professor Zagreb, Croatia
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.joms.2014.08.008
1. Jacobs PJ, Jacobs BP: Lip repositioning with reversible trial for the management of excessive gingival display: A case series. Int J Periodontics Restorative Dent 33:169, 2013 2. Gabric Panduric D, Blaskovic M, Brozovic J, Susic M: Surgical treatment of excessive gingival display using lip repositioning technique and laser gingivectomy as an alternative to orthognathic surgery. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 72:404.e1, 2014
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.joms.2014.07.044
In reply—I am writing with regard to the plagiarism allegation made by Drs Bryan Jacobs and Paul Jacobs in their Letter to the Editor. I deeply regret the allegation, particularly because Dr Jacobs’s article and work were cited in the Introduction and the Discussion. By using the term ‘‘novel’’ in our article, we did not mean ‘‘new, explained or used for the first time,’’ but rather a technique recently published in the literature (and cited). In the Surgical Procedure and Patient sections, we used the same surgical technique as cited in the Discussion, but with different laser parameters, and the incisions were started from the laser-assisted frenectomy lines. Regarding postoperative instructions, we used the same patient description as published in Dr Jacob’s work, but used the same instructions for most of our surgical patients. Similarity in sentence structure is unquestionable, but the work also was cited in the Discussion when explaining the presurgical evaluation and immediate postsurgical treatment.
INFERIOR ALVEOLAR NERVE FUNCTION AFTER SAGITTAL SPLIT OSTEOTOMY To the Editor:—In their recent article, Monnazzi et al1 concluded that ‘ . there was no statistically significant difference in the sensitivity of the labiomental area (inferior alveolar nerve distribution) regarding the instrument (reciprocating saw or piezosurgery instrument) used to perform the (sagittal split mandibular ramus) osteotomy (SSRO).’’ The most important point in this study, in our opinion, is contained in the authors’ statement in Materials and Methods: ‘‘. the split was performed using Smith spreaders (superior and inferior border separators); the use of osteotomes and chisels was avoided. .’’ The risk of injury to the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) during the performance of the SSRO is well known.2 From our extensive experience with this operation and the analysis of our large series of IAN injuries associated with the SSRO, it has been shown clinically that the IAN has a variable course and position within the mandible vertically and horizontally vis-a-vis the lateral junction between the cortical and cancellous bone.2,3 Therefore, it has been our recommendation that the critical steps in protecting the IAN while separating the proximal and distal segments of the mandible during the SSRO include 1) obtaining good preoperative imaging studies that visualize the position of the IAN within the anterior
Letters to the Editor must be in reference to a specific article or editorial that has been published by the Journal. Letters must be submitted within 6 weeks of the article’s print publication or, for an online-only article, within 8 weeks of the date it first appeared online. Letters must be submitted electronically via the Elsevier Editorial System at http://ees.elsevier.com/ joms. Letters are subject to editing and those exceeding 500 words may be shortened or not accepted due to length. One photograph may accompany the letter if it is essential to understanding the subject. Letters should not duplicate similar material or material published elsewhere. There is no guarantee that any letter will be published. Prepublication proofs will not be provided. Submitting a Letter to the Editor constitutes the author’s permission for its publication in any issue or edition of the journal, in any form or medium.
2098