How can documents be removed from Turnitin?

Documents submitted to Turnitin can be removed from the database upon request. This applies to documents submitted via:

• Brightspace (Assignments)
• The standalone version of Turnitin
• Submissions via Osiris-case

When is removal necessary?

In most cases, removal is not necessary. However, it may be desirable in situations such as:

• If the setting “Do not store submitted papers” was accidentally not selected
• If a document needs to be resubmitted for plagiarism checking, for example after revisions
• If a document was incorrectly stored in the database

If a document is already stored in the Turnitin database, this may result in a high similarity score when the same document is submitted again.

How does removal work?

Removing documents from the Turnitin database cannot be done by instructors or students themselves.

The following process applies:

1. Contact the key user for plagiarism control within your faculty
2. Clearly indicate:
   • Which document it concerns
   • In which course or environment it was submitted
   • Why removal is necessary
3. The key user will then submit a request to have the document removed from the Turnitin database

Important to know

• Removal is always done manually upon request
• After removal, the document can be submitted again without being recognized as a matching source

Prevention is better than cure

To prevent documents from being unintentionally stored in the database, you can choose the following setting when creating an assignment:

• “Do not store submitted papers” (in Brightspace or Turnitin)

This prevents the document from being stored in the Turnitin database. For more information, see: Confidential documents in Turnitin