Thread: Question about proper referencing/acknowledgment of colleagues within a thesis

When a student who is a member of a larger research collaboration does a research project and writes a single-author dissertation for the purpose of attaining an academic qualification, is it permissible for the student to use the work of others in the collaboration over the course of the thesis work and fail to reference, acknowledge, or even mention the work?

If so, what is the extent of the work that it is permissible for the student to use in such a way? Clearly, it would not be possible to acknowledge every tiny little contribution toward the work, but if a student uses work and ideas from others in order to obtain data and results, and those results would not be possible without said work (software, for example), is it necessary to reference and/or acknowledge that work? If the student uses such work, and fails to provide mention of the use of the work, can this be considered plagiarism?

I would appreciate if if senior scientists, professors, and others who are fully aware of the applicable rules, laws and common scientific practices would contribute to the discussion.

Thank you.

Most institutions give very explicit instructions to doctoral candidates about this.

I'd be very wary about relying on advice from people who are not
a) in your particular discipline ... and
b) from your particular institution.

Proceed with care.

The reason I ask is that there are no written guidelines whatsoever regarding this specific matter (use of work from collaboration members) from the institution or anywhere online that I have found. It does say on the instructions given by the institution that work of other people should be referenced if used, but it does not specify what must be done if those people are members of the same collaboration. Because there seems to be a tradition about this among large multi-national experimental collaborations, I have determined that it cannot be a rule of just one institution, but a more widespread practice, and that is why I have asked in a public forum.

It would be very useful to get opinions from researchers on this. I am not looking for a conclusive legal determination, just to know what is common practice within research. Thanks.

I think it’s sheer common courtesy to give credit where andwhen it’s due.