How is plagiarism defined?

§ 51 (2) items 31 and 32 of the Universities Act 2002 (Universitätsgesetz, UG):

"31. An act of plagiarism is unquestionably committed, when text, content, or ideas are used and presented as one’s own. This encompasses in particular the appropriation and use of text, theories, hypotheses, findings or data by directly quoting, paraphrasing or translating them without appropriate acknowledgement and reference to the source and the original author.

32. Academic dishonesty has been unquestionably committed when ghost-writing services have been used or data and results have been fabricated or falsified.“

Plagiarism under study regulations and copyright law

Pursuant to the relevant study-related regulations, the requirement of originality, as defined by the applicable laws, is the main criterion for assessing cases of (suspected) plagiarism. Student work here includes all written papers completed as part of an academic program, for instance seminar papers, bachelor’s theses, master’s theses, and doctoral dissertations (cf. in particular § 51 [2] items 7, 8, and 13 of the Universities Act 2002). Copyrights are violated if other people’s ideas are presented without referencing the sources (cf. § 57 [2] of the Austrian Copyright Act [Urheberrechtsgesetz, UrhG]).

Directive on plagiarism and academic fraud and the resulting legal consequences issued by the Vice-Rector, Academic Programs and Student Affairs

The Directive issued by the Vice-Rector for Academic Programs and Student Affairs provides a common legal basis for dealing with all cases of (suspected) plagiarism and ghostwriting at WU. It forms part of WU’s anti-plagiarism initiative and defines the appropriate legal consequences that apply in such cases.

• Directive on Plagiarism and Other Types of Academic Fraud in Academic Theses