NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS CLOSEOUT MEMORANDUM Case Number: A14020003 Page 1 ofl We received an allegation that a PJl plagiarized from a paper2 into his NSF proposal3. The PI told us he had been impressed with the paper and wrote detailed notes on it to discuss in his proposal. He acknowledged his wording was too similar to the paper's, and the end result was unprofessional and inappropriate. He said he did not intend to plagiarize: he referenced and cited the paper in the proposal, and he suggested to NSF that two of the paper's authors be considered as reviewers. Given the PI's explanation, together with the small amount of copied text, we conclude the PI's actions do not constitute research misconduct. We sent the PI a letter advising him to be more cautious when making notes and relying on them in his composition. According, this case is closed with no further action taken. NSF OIG Form 2 (11102)
Plagiarism (Verbatim)
Published by the National Science Foundation, Office of Inspector General on 2014-11-28.
Below is a raw (and likely hideous) rendition of the original report. (PDF)