Here is the verdict on DOC Cop from Debora Weber-Wulff of HTW Berlin who conducts tests on digital tools for plagiarism:

 

(from my paper on the utility of software detection systems (2008):

 

DocCop only achieved 17 points in the test, although it invests an enormous amount of time into obtaining useless results. It chooses a window on the text to be tested, tests the text underneath this window (without punctuation or umlauts), and then slides the window forward a character at a time, retesting the text now underneath the window. The reports take a very long time (the worst was 32 hours) and only one submission can be made at a time. The result is sent in an enormous E-Mail that contains all of the substrings tested and only links to the search machines with the relevant text. Since you have to search again and evaluate yourself, it would be quicker to do this without the software.

 

We tried to test them 2010 and they got mad at us (wrong methodology, whatever) and turned off our access. We don't test if they won't cooperate.

 

If you are interested in her work see copy-shake-paste blog:

http://copy-shake-paste.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/plagiarism-detection-software-test-2013.html

 

Irene

 

 

 

 

From: DOC Cop Plagiarism Detection <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 5 May 2014 01:04:21 BST
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: DOC Cop - Collusion and Plagiarism Detection

Dear Dr. Reddy,
I thought you might find my collusion and plagiarism detection tool (www.doccop.com) useful in your role at the University of South Wales. DOC Cop is in use by academics, editors, librarians, teachers and students from around the world.
DOC Cop does not charge a fee (file check) and does not retain material submitted for investigation beyond the time it takes to check for collusion or plagiarism.
Sincerely,
Mark McCrohon
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