UGC's Anti-Plagiarism Rules Don't Make Room for Realities of Indian Academia

It is difficult to imagine that people in positions of power and with strong political connections will be caught and penalised for plagiarism.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) recently approved the UGC (Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2018. These regulations are dedicated to addressing plagiarism by students, researchers and faculty at India’s universities and colleges.

Plagiarism is, along with publishing in fake journals and fabrication and falsification of research, among the major offences committed by academics worldwide. Other lesser known, though common, offences include the practice of adding an author’s name to a paper when she has not contributed to the research, not acknowledging conflicts of interest and general sloppiness in conducting research.

In many countries and certainly at the better universities across the world, there are regulations and strong mechanisms in place to detect and punish offenders. Still, academic fraud of one kind or another takes place everywhere. [Read More]