Comment on Meta-analyses and the Problems of Duplicate Publication and Plagiarism by MK

In my field (road safety) we often need to consider the “grey” literature as well as peer reviewed publications, and this problem is common. It is not unusual for a non-peer reviewed conference paper to be recycled between conferences, or to be turned into a peer-reviewed publication with sometimes few changes. None of this is necessarily malpractice, because passage into the “true” scientific arena is seen as being a peer review publication, and many of the writers are practitioners rather than academics, but it means that we have to be watchful for duplication when reviewing literature or conducting meta-analyses. I guess it’s clear that this has to apply to the peer reviewed literature as well..