According to new guidelines on plagiarism, students, researchers and teachers found guilty of plagiarism may lose their registration and teachers could lose their jobs. This came after the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry approved the new regulation (Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Education Institutions) drafted by University Grants Commission (UGC) this week.

Plagiarism for students

According to the gazette notification, for students, plagiarism up to 10 per cent would not result in any penalty. Only if the student is caught with plagiarism between 10 per cent and 40 per cent in their research papers, the student would have to submit a revised research paper within six months.

If a student is found with the similarities between 40 and 60 per cent then the students will be debarred from submitting a revised paper for one year. Further, his/her registration for a programme will be cancelled if the plagiarism is above 60 per cent.

Plagiarism for teachers

The notification also states that if teachers whose academic and research papers have plagiarism ranging from 10 per cent to 40 per cent then they will be asked to withdraw the manuscript.

If a teacher is found with similarities in his/her work and other papers amounting between 40 per cent to 60 per cent they will be barred to supervise new masters, MPhil, PhD students for at least two years and will also be denied the right to the annual increment, the notification adds.

The faculty member will be inviting a suspension or can be asked to leave the organisation in case of repeated plagiarism of over 60 per cent. The UGC had passed the new regulation during its meeting held in March this year, directing graded punishment for plagiarism.

The regulation also pointed out that the members of the academic community shall reach out to the Departmental Academic Integrity Panel (DAIP) in case of any suspected plagiarism case with proof that a case of plagiarism has happened in any document.

“Upon receipt of such a complaint or allegation, the DAIP shall investigate the matter and submit its recommendations to the Institutional Academic Integrity Panel (IAIP) of the Higher Education Institutions (HEI),” the regulations read.

The regulation further states, that the authorities of HEI can also take suo moto notice of any such act of plagiarism. The authorities can initiate proceedings under these regulations. Also, the proceedings can be initiated by the HEI from findings of an examiner. The IAIP will investigate all such cases.

Last week on Thursday, Parliament was informed by the government the University Grant Of Commission has found three cases of plagiarism in PhD thesis, including two involving vice-chancellors of different universities in the past three years.

Also read: Shocking Instances Of Plagiarism In The Publications Of Right-Wing Think Tank, India Foundation