I'm trying to write up for a journal some research that I presented at a conference in 2008 - the paper was included in the conference proceedings but there is a follow-up element (basically to see if a change in attitude which came about has translated to a change in bahaviour). I'm struggling with how to include the lit review element of the conference paper in the followup paper. Do I have to rewrite it all to avoid plagiarism or can I use relevant chunks of it as it is my work? I really don't want (even if I had the time) to do a completely new lit review and so far I have found very little new work in the area.

Hi there

Yeh, this is an interesting issue I've also been grappling with. I'm writing up and wanting to include large chunks of articles that I've published and am also working out how to do this. I think you do need to rewrite the material - which you'll probably find you need to do anyway, so that it's a bit longer/shorter, emphasises other points etc etc. I've found most work doesn't neatly slot in verbatim anyway. When I've done this, I've added a footnote saying "This section adapted from Sue2604, 2009). If I am directly quoting myself, I do reference it properly. I've discussed it with my sup, and she wasn't able to give me a lot of guidance - surprisingly, since academics do this all the time. But this is how I'm approaching it.

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As far as I know, it is quite alright to put something along the lines of:

"The literature review section of this paper is partly/mainly composed for author's previous research"

or if you wish to be less specific

"Some parts of this paper are adapted from author's previously published research paper"

I'm also wondering about this. I have 2 papers on the same issue, although the actual literature is different - there is a beginning paragraph giving some background statistics of the overall problem. I guess I will just slightly re-word but if it goes into publication, it will be SO obvious - but I can't exactly put in different stats!?

I also asked a very experienced colleague about this (on facebook chat) whether you have to rewrite it if it has been previously been published and she said "no of course not" but then went off line - I will try to talk to her this week and if I get any advice on how we get round it will post an update.

I have published two papers in different journals using same literature. but fundamental changes ave to be made in the methodology and the theoretical framework. adding new literaature is essential. for sneaks i used same introductory statistics coz some things cant change but can get latest statistics