miscopy

Miscopy is a term used to describe the act or result of copying text or data incorrectly. It arises in contexts such as transcription, data entry, journalism, publishing, and automated workflows where content is duplicated or moved from one place to another. The term combines the prefix mis- with copy, and is used to discuss errors that occur during copying, pasting, or transferring information rather than during original composition.

Causes of miscopy include human error such as misreading source material, typographical mistakes, and manuscript skimming. Automated processes can also introduce miscopy through optical character recognition (OCR) errors, faulty synchronization in copy-paste operations, or software bugs that duplicate or omit sections of content. Miscopy can affect quotations, numbers, dates, or any factual element carried from a source.

The consequences range from minor editorial corrections to significant data integrity and credibility issues. In publishing, miscopy can lead to misquotations or factual inaccuracies. In data management, it can compromise records, analytics, and compliance. Mitigation relies on careful proofreading, source verification, and cross-checking against original materials. Tools such as diff utilities, version control, and OCR error correction workflows help detect and correct miscopy by highlighting discrepancies between source and copied content.

See also misquotation, data integrity, copy editing, OCR errors.