• Background/Summary:
On September 19, 2001, the documents below (certain passages now yellow-highlighted for ease of readers' comprehension) were submitted by Judy Weiser and David Krauss, to the Senior Editor of Routledge Publishers in England, introduced by a letter that began, "You will see from comparing the pages below that not only has Rosy Martin directly copied Weiser's words (without any credit or reference citation being given), but also failed to attribute internal references to two other people's writings [Jo Spence and David Krauss] that were included therein". This is considered "intentional theft of intellectual property", which in most countries is a crime ("fraudulent misrepresentation") -- and at the least, is seriously professionally unethical...
The documents demonstrate that on pages 162-163 of Rosy Martin's 1997 chapter in the Routledge book, "Feminist Approaches to Art Therapy" (edited by Susan Hogan), Ms. Martin intentionally copied not only a Section Title but also several long passages within that Section (several sentences at a time, word-for-word, in several places) from pages 9 to 11 of Weiser's 1993 book "PhotoTherapy Techniques: Exploring the Secrets of Personal Snapshots and Family Albums" (including Weiser's internal quotation therein from David Krauss' 1983 book, "Phototherapy in Mental Health", which Weiser had used with Krauss' permission and did properly reference when doing so).
In the initial complaint letter, it was explained that Weiser had first tried for many months to resolve this situation directly and amicably with Ms. Martin -- and it was only after informal resolution proved impossible, that Weiser informed Krauss and together they sent the formal complaint to Routledge Publishers (whose lawyers closely examined it and came to the same conclusion regarding the documents provided).
Being non-litigious, Weiser and Krauss decided to not pursue a formal lawsuit, but rather on August 22, 2002, they kindly agreed to end the case by accepting Routledge Publisher's proposed terms of solution, which were as follows:
• that Ms. Martin write a formal apology to them both,
• that an official "Erratum Notice" approved by Weiser and Krauss be agreed to in writing by Ms. Martin, and then published and circulated, as well as inserted onto the inside front cover of all copies of the offending book left in their stock and still stored in Distributors' warehouses [full copy of this Notice appears in the document section below, and includes the following: "Rosy Martin... would like to acknowledge that paragraphs... were taken directly, without proper attribution, from ... Judy Weiser’s 1993 book, PhotoTherapy techniques... Additionally, Ms Martin did not properly attribute the portions she copied from that same section, in which Weiser both summarized the work of David Krauss... and directly quoted him",
• that Routledge Publishers confirm that they have met their promise to "instruct Rosy Martin that in order not to breach UK copyright law she will need to apply for permission and attach the erratum slip if she reproduces the chapter (including the offending parts) -- or rework any handouts to include the acknowledgements that should have been included in the original chapter" [K. Hawes, June 7, 2002], and
• that all future reprints/re-issues of the Routledge book (or the Martin chapter therein) be amended to include the appropriate citations and references, with Weiser being sent a proof of the amended pages for approval pre-publication.Note: there was no signing of any confidentiality agreement required as terms of settlement; therefore all information regarding this case (including that given on this page or in these documents below), is in the public domain....
For those who think there is a possibility that this was all done "accidentally", please carefully read through the list below (all points illustrated "by number" in documents found later on this page) -- and try to conceive of this ALL having happened accidentally "by mistake" (Martin's explanation):
a) On p.9, in the Section "PhotoTherapy and Art Therapy: Similarities and Differences", where most of the plagiarism occurred (illustrated in the documents below), Martin used the same Section Title as Weiser's, and simply added one extra word "Re-enactment" (without acknowledging her source of the title itself) [see notation #1 on final three yellow-highlighted pages below, titled "Details"]
b) On p.9, in a sentence with a phrase that Weiser referenced as being from the combined writing of both Spence and Martin (together, 1988), Martin copied that line but completely removed the reference to Spence [see notation #2 on final three yellow-highlighted pages below, titled "Details"];
c) On p.9, Weiser introduced a summary of Krauss' theoretical writing with this phrase: "Krauss (1979, 1983) provides a detailed comparison and contrast of the two, and a summary of some of his points appears within the following discussion of the similarities and differences I have experienced" -- Martin removed this entire prefacing sentence and simply went from the sentence before it (which she also copied from Weiser) to the sentence after it, and began copying Weiser's words again (while omitting Weiser's note that part of what followed included summaries of Krauss [see notations #3 on final three yellow-highlighted pages below, titled "Details"];
d) On p.10-11, in a long two-paragraph quotation from David Krauss which Weiser had fully inset by using additional margin indentation, Martin instead copied Krauss' words as if they continued directly from "her" previous sentence, without any indication that she had begun a quote of his 1983 words. This long quotation Weiser herself had prefaced by first stating, "Krauss (1983) makes this observation:" -- Martin also removed that prefacing reference...[see notations #7 & #8 on final three yellow-highlighted pages below, titled "Details"].
..... and please remember that under the terms of her contract for writing the Chapter, Rosy Martin had to "sign off" that all contents were her own original writing or else fully and properly credited -- and she was required to proof her pages before publication to make sure there were no errors before it went to press. Under these conditions, it seems beyond imagination that all of these copied sentences, missing citation and prefacing references, lack of off-set paragraphs of direct quotations, removal of her own colleague Jo Spence's name for shared credit for a well-recognized phrase ("unconsciousness raising"), as well as a clear "change of voice" from her own to Weiser's in several locations, would all be missing and yet not noticed by someone carefully proofing their "own" chapter draft... is all this "accidental" or "a mistake"?? not very likely!
And in addition to all the above, there were also several additional instances of smaller phrases or lines of plagiarism sprinkled elsewhere on other pages of the Martin chapter, which Weiser decided not to even bother with pursuing while focusing on the bigger examples noted here. However, anyone who wants to see the entire list, is welcome to contact Weiser directly for more examples...
Finally, readers might want to see what David Krauss had to say to Routledge during the negotiations -- and Weiser heartily concurs!:
"The theft of our intellectual property goes beyond the pages of the book. Ms. Martin’s assuming authorship of our words gives her professional capital and allows her to derive a legitimacy she would not otherwise have. Clearly neither Weiser nor I have read everything in the field and therefore we have no knowledge one way or the other if any other unattributed authors’ writings appear in the book (or in any of Rosy Martin's other writings).
However, the intellectual material taken from our years of clinical experience and theoretical postulating, which have found their way into Ms. Martin’s writing, likely will enhance her options and opportunities for professional work and financial gain based at least in part on the fruits of our thinking [David Krauss, email letter of February 2, 2002].One last note... It is important to realize that Weiser confronted Martin (previously a friend!) with the evidence below, a full year before going forward to Routledge Publishers with this information -- giving Martin many months in which she could have admitted her guilt and offered an apology. Had Martin simply admitted her "intentional theft of intellectual property" instead of claiming it was accidental and a "mistake" made by others, Weiser would have accepted that apology (albeit with great disappointment) and would not have taken any further steps. It was Martin's refusal to offer such, that left Weiser no other choice but to approach Routledge with the documents below, which leave no doubt...
• Documents that illustrate the above points
Below now, are the various documents mentioned above, beginning with the formal Erratum Notice issued by Routledge Publishers, followed by the two pages of Martin's 1997 chapter that contain the worst of the plagiarisms, followed by the three pages of Weiser's 1993 book that Martin directly copied from.
Please note that those three pages appear twice below: first with only the copied portions highlighted in yellow, and then in the second set (titled "Details") there are complete annotations about each occurrence, matched by number to the numbers shown on Martin's pages 162-3.
The final document below is included for the sake of professional ethics; it is the "title" page of Martin's chapter, with her own handwriting indicating the publication information -- and her own handwritten "©" mark showing that she herself claims to own the writing therein... ironic, yes...
• The Formal "Erratum Notice" issued by Routledge Publishers:
• Martin's two pages (pp.162-3), with plagiarized portions highlighted in yellow (numbers alongside refer to matching numbers in later documents of Weiser's page "Details"):
• Weiser's three pages (pp.9-11) with copied portions highlighted in yellow, but no specific detail annotations:
Page 9:
Page 10:
Page 11:
• Weiser's three pages (pp.9-11), with numbers added to clarify notational details that match the numbers on Martins pages above:
Page 9 (Detail):
Page 10 (Detail):
Page 11 (Detail):
• Martin's title page, showing in her own handwriting, the publication information -- and "her" copyright mark:
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