More instances of plagiarism found in Agus books

After Simon & Schuster and author David B Agus halted distribution of all formats of The Book of Animal Secrets: Nature’s Lessons for a Long and Happy Life due to plagiarism issues, three previous books by Agus are also to be revised because they contain instances of plagiarism.

The titles are The End of Illness, A Short Guide to a Long Life and The Lucky Years (all published by Simon & Schuster in the US and also issued in the UK).

The LA Times said it had found more than 120 instances of plagiarism in Agus’ books during its investigation but Simon & Schuster US told The Bookseller that they had first been alerted to the “issues” in the three books by the author himself.

The publisher said: “After learning of issues in the text of The Book of Animal Secrets, Dr Agus conducted a search of his three previous works and discovered multiple passages that were either unsourced or that used other author’s language. He immediately alerted Simon & Schuster to these issues, posted new sourcing notes for these books to his website, and will work with the publisher to revise the relevant passages so that new editions may be issued.”

The publisher added that “In a separate statement, Dr Agus’ collaborator has accepted full responsibility for these errors: we regret their inclusion in the books.”

The books were all produced with writer Kristin Loberg. The LA Times reported that Loberg had taken the blame. In a statement published by the newspaper, she said: “I accept complete responsibility for any errors my work may have contained."

Loberg added: “I apologise from the bottom of my heart to the authors, publishers, creators of works that were not appropriately credited, and those interested in the important public health issues addressed by these books.”

Agus told the newspaper: “I am grateful that my collaborator has confirmed that I did not contribute to, nor was I aware of, any of the plagiarised or non-attributed passages in my books”.

Simon & Schuster US said that "any corrections, revisions or changes to works co-authored by Loberg will be applied across editions in all territories."

Beyond Agus’ books, Loberg has co-authored and collaborated on at least 45 books on the market with other publishers, the LA Times reported. The majority of these were published in the last 15 years.