Detection of plagiarism in database schemas using structural fingerprints

This research is concerned with plagiarism in software design. Specifically, the focus is on database design. Generally, producing plagiarized software may be done through illegal use of someone else´s source code or database design. Since it is hard to steal source code from the original author(s), the database schema is usually easier to be viewed, studied and hence plagiarized. Efficient design of a database schema requires an understanding of the application area, the data usage patterns, and the underlying database management system. Stealing the effort of this step may be rewarding to some. The main contribution of this paper is the suggestion of a software tool for detecting plagiarized database schemas using structural fingerprints of database tables.