I've seen cut-and-paste jobs with no attribution whatsoever, which are plagiarism if uncorrected. When I encounter those, I simply add quotation marks or substitute my own paraphrases and add citations; or I sometimes just chuck them out. If I like arguments and know that they are based on facts but don't like sources, I replace the author's sources by ones that are more credible. I look into footnotes and look up what's cited and see if the authors are accurately representing what's in the sources cited; when there are misrepresentations, I cut them out or write substitute sentences, both of which often require changing arguments substantially. Etc. Editors can and should do these to the best of their ability (ideally, it should be done by several individuals in the process of editing: copy editor, fact-checker, editor; but I make do with myself mostly, so what gets out at MRZine isn't and can't be perfect; but even if I had a full-time fact-checker, a full-time copy editor, etc. as my assistants, the result still wouldn't be perfect -- it's just the nature of enterprise). It does take time, and that's why I don't publish as many pieces per day as Jeff at CounterPunch, Albert at ZNet, Sunil at Dissident Voice, etc. do; but time is not such a concern at scholarly presses, book publishing houses, etc., which don't publish pieces daily.
<blockquote>The Committee was charged with investigating seven allegations: Allegation A: Misrepresentation of General Allotment Act of 1887 Allegation B: Misrepresentation of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 Allegation C: Captain John Smith and smallpox in New England, 1614-1618 Allegation D: Smallpox epidemic at Fort Clark and beyond, 1837-1840 Allegation E: Plagiarism of a pamphlet by the Dam the Dams group Allegation F: Plagiarism of Professor Rebecca Robbins Allegation G: Plagiarism of Professor Fay G. Cohen
<http://www.colorado.edu/news/reports/churchill/download/ChurchillReportSummary.pdf></blockquote>
These are types of problems that editors and fact-checkers could have spotted.
Just remember: in publishing, unlike blogging, authors don't have the final word over what gets out (its content, its style, its sources, its timing, etc.).
-- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>