Duplicate publication, also known as self-plagiarism, occurs when an author reuses significant, identical portions of their own previously published work in a new manuscript without citing the original work. While this practice is not always considered unethical, it can harm the scientific community in several ways.
For one, duplicate publication misleads readers by giving the impression that the findings in the new manuscript are novel when they may not be. This can lead to incorrect conclusions or interpretations being drawn from the data. Additionally, duplicate publication wastes the time and resources of other researchers who may unknowingly duplicate efforts that have already been conducted.
Finally, duplicate publication can damage an author's reputation if they are caught reusing their own work without proper attribution. Not only does this practice violate academic honesty standards, but it also calls into question an author's research integrity. As such, duplicate publication can have far-reaching negative consequences for both individual authors and the scientific community as a whole.