Cranberg refers to an American Association for the Advancement of Science survey that asked: "Should there be established procedures to deal with cases of alleged plagiarism or utilization of the work of others without credit given?" According to Cranberg, 59.7 percent of the respondents said yes, 19.2 percent said no, 16.5 percent said they didn't know, and 4.5 percent declined to answer. This sampling, he says, may be the best evidence we have of the incidence of plagiarism, and he proceeds to speculate that the 40 percent who failed to answer yes "would rather not be called to account for their own plagiaristic acts."
It may be possible to think of a few other reasons. After all, a person may condemn pornography and yet be reluctant to tamper with the First Amendment. As for establishing procedures for dealing with plagiarism in science, perhaps the 40 percent were merely concerned that ...
