Plagiarism in the system of academic integrity in medical research (part 2)

Background. In the context of the globalization of digital technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and chatbots, the issue of ensuring academic integrity in medical research and protection against pseudoscientific results and plagiarism is becoming increasingly relevant. Purpose – тo characterize modern perspectives on the multifaceted phenomenon of academic plagiarism in medical research. Materials and Methods. To achieve the objective, analytical methods were used to process scientific publications from international digital resources such as Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, and NCBI PubMed, as well as scientific resources from the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, regulatory documents of Ukraine, and other publications. The study period covered 2014–2024. The search strategy was based on key terms such as «academic plagiarism», «plagiarism AND medicine», as well as «ChatGPT plagiarism AND medicine», «ChatGPT plagiarism», and «artificial intelligence and plagiarism». Scientific articles on the application of ChatGPT began appearing in 2023. In total, for the topic «ChatGPT plagiarism», 288 documents were found in WoS, 493 in Scopus, and 100 in NCBI PubMed. Regarding medical topics, significantly fewer were found: 61 documents in WoS, 173 in Scopus, and 87 in NCBI PubMed. The selection criteria for publications included the exclusion of duplicates and the relevance of the article's topic to academic plagiarism, with preference given to review articles. Results. The study characterized the role of artificial intelligence and chatbots, particularly ChatGPT, in academic plagiarism. The main functions of ChatGPT for scientists were outlined, types of plagiarism using AI were characterized, the risks of plagiarism using chatbots were highlighted, etc. An assessment was made of the danger of the potential impact of ChatGPT on the quality of scientific articles, and the guiding principles of well-known international organizations regarding the role of AI in research and publications, in particular the Committee on Publication Ethics and the World Association of Medical Editors for editors of scientific publications, were presented. In the legal aspect of the problem, the emphasis was placed on the correlation between the «idea» and «form» of a scientific work as important elements for qualifying a violation of rights. An assessment of plagiarism detection tools, their capabilities, and their significance in the fight against plagiarism was also provided. Conclusions. The development of AI presents new opportunities for science while simultaneously posing challenges related to ensuring academic integrity. AI-based tools, such as ChatGPT, significantly facilitate the creation of plagiarism. This necessitates the development of new approaches for detecting and preventing academic misconduct. Addressing this issue requires coordinated efforts between authors, scientific journals, educational institutions, and AI technology developers. Our study provides an overview of the possibilities for the ethical use of AI chatbots by researchers in the scientific environment. In particular, the importance of the following was emphasized: creating support structures in Ukraine to prevent academic misconduct; expanding educational initiatives aimed at teaching researchers how to effectively and ethically integrate AI chatbots into scientific processes; and ensuring a balance between using AI as a tool to accelerate research and adhering to ethical principles. Special attention should be given to integrating AI into medical research, as this field is among the most critical for society.