Should authors be able to reuse the same text in multiple papers without citing the earlier source? Known as self-plagiarism, this practice is strongly discouraged in Applications in Plant Sciences (APPS) because it violates professional standards, is potentially deceptive, and lacks originality. The most frequent form of self-plagiarism in APPS submissions is text recycling, which depending on the extent and location of copied text, has consequences ranging from authors being required to rewrite duplicated text or add citations, to automatic rejection of a manuscript without review. Ultimately, avoidance of self-plagiarism will result in original articles that improve upon, and do not simply replicate, the existing literature.