Plagiarism has been a difficulty that academicians and even the governments have been fighting for long. Since the dawn of plagiarism softwares, it has become difficult for the copycat students to clear their PhD research thesis and even for the professors who believe in copying their material, getting their research papers cleared have gone way difficult! Indian Government, the Human Resource Development Ministry, has taken a serious note of the ongoing plagiarism problem in the academic field and it has notified several punishable offences in the terms of plagiarism. This is something that every research scholar, every professor and every academician should note!
The revised and updated rules against plagiarism that UGC, after the approval of HRD Ministry, India, has implemented talks of severe punishment to the accused of such offence. The new rules can even see the degrees being suspended or put on hold or even denied.
10% of plagiarism in the non-core areas is still allowed. However, if the plagiarism increases and remains somewhere between 10-40%, the student will have to resubmit the thesis within a period of six months. Making it even tougher for the students who are found with 40-60% of plagiarism in their content, the said student will be denied any resubmission for a period of one year. Moreover, in case of plagiarism being above 60%, there can also be a cancellation of registration from the program for which a student is enrolled!
Also taking a tough stand on the plagiarism by academicians and professors, new rules will bar the manuscripts by professors which have 10-40% plagiarism reported. A professor with more than 40% and lesser than 60% plagiarism in his or her paper will not be allowed to supervise any new M.Phil, PhD or even Masters student for two years and may also lose his or her annual hike! (It’s getting strict, isn’t it?)
The best and the most interesting and even justified part of the new plagiarism rules is that a professor with more than 60% plagiarism in his or her content will be suspended or even dismissed!
The community at Literature News fully stands with the HRD Ministry and UGC on these new rules. We need to build a better academic-intellectual infrastructure and it certainly cannot be built on the borrowed bricks! The fear of job and money and also a little name-shaming will certainly prohibit students and professors from committing such plagiarism crimes.
by a regular news contributor to LN