CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW

UNIVERSITY

Project Report
On
Unapproved Journals and issue of plagiarism
in India
(Legal Research and Methodology)

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Mr. Vijayant sinha Raju Patel
(Faculty: L.R.M) Roll No: 1960
Course: B.A.LLB
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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The present project on the Unapproved Journals and issue of Plagiarism in India has been able
to get its final shape with the support and help of people from various quarters. My sincere
thanks go to all the members without whom the study could not have come to its present state. I
am proud to acknowledge gratitude to the individuals during my study and without whom the
study may not be completed. I have taken this opportunity to thank those who genuinely helped
me.

With immense pleasure, I express my deepest sense of gratitude to Mr. Vijayant Sinha, Faculty
for Legal Research and methodology, Chanakya National Law University for helping me in my
project. I am also thankful to the whole Chanakya National Law University family that provided
me all the material I required for the project. Not to forget thanking to my parents without the co-
operation of which completion of this project would not had been possible.

I have made every effort to acknowledge credits, but I apologies in advance for any omission
that may have inadvertently taken place.

Last but not least I would like to thank Almighty whose blessing helped me to complete the
project.

Raju Patel

Roll no- 1960

1st Semester B.A.LLB

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Method of Research:

The researcher has adopted both doctrinal and non-doctrinal method of research.
The researcher has made extensive use of the library at the Chanakya National Law
University and also the internet sources.

Aims and Objectives:

1. The aim of the project is to present an overview of the Issue

“UNAPPROVED JOURNALS AND PLAGIARISM IN INDIA” through
cases, decisions and suggestions and different writings and articles.
2. To understand how journals are published without prior approvals
3. To understand the difference between Research and plagiarism.

Sources of Data:

The following secondary sources of data have been used in the project-

1. BOOKS

2. INTERNET

3. MAGZINES

Hypothesis
• There is a significant Difference in the researchers’ dependency on the
Internet for writing Thesis/Research papers/journals on the respective
institution status.

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 • There is a significant difference in awareness of the term “plagiarism”
among research scholars.

• There is a significant difference in reasons for reproducing the work of

others by researcher.

• There is a significant difference in researcher’s view on avoiding plagiarism.

Method of Writing:

The method of writing followed in the course of this research paper is both
analytical as well as descriptive.

Mode of Citation:

The researcher has followed a blue book mode of citation throughout the course of
this research paper.

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 S.NO NAME Page
3

1. A) RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3
B) AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
C) SOURCES OF DATA
D) HYPOTHESIS
E) METHOD OF WRITING
F) MODE OF CITATION

2. Chapterisation:

1. INTRODUCTION

2. REVIEW OF UNAPPROVED JOURNALS AND 4-28

RELEVANT LITERATURE

3. PLAGIARISM OVERVIEW AND ITS TYPE

4. RESEARCH DESIGN AND SUGGESTION OF UGC ON

PLAGIARISM

5. LAWS REGARDING PLAGIARISM

6. IMPORTANT CASE LAWS

7. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

3. Conclusion and suggestions 29

4 Bibliography 30

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 INTRODUCTION

“Art is either plagiarism or revolution.”1

-Paul Gauguin

“In a way, fraud in business is no different from infidelity in marriage or

plagiarism in scholarly work. Even people committed to high moral standards
succumb.” 2

-Miroslav Volf

The art and craft of writing may not be uniformly distributed among the members

of the academia. At the same time, the pressure and urge for submitting the
research report and getting it published need not take into account the writer’s
inadequacies and limitations and there are some other factors such as lack of time,
overload of the work, fear of failure, lack of interest and unawareness of
plagiarism which motivate the researchers to reproduce the works of others and
presenting them as his or her own. This act of copying other’s work without giving
proper reference sources and presenting them as their own for the purpose of
academic credit is called as plagiarism. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary,3
defines plagiarism as “the act of using another person's words or ideas without
giving credit to that person : the act of plagiarizing something.”4

Now, plagiarism is a serious problem identified in the research community. Even

1
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/paul_gauguin_109850?src=t_plagiarism
2
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/miroslav_volf_530760?src=t_plagiarism
3
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarism
4
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarism

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some of the faculty members also indulge in plagiarism knowingly or
unknowingly, but detection of plagiarism is now as easy as plagiarizing a
document itself. In the words of Razera “The internet has provided easy access to
a huge amount of information and therefore facilitating the whole ‘copy and paste’
tendency, but it has also contributed to the creation of software tools for detecting
plagiarism.”5 There are many software available to detect plagiarism, which can be
used for detection of plagiarism, but many researchers are not aware of these
software.

Moreover, plagiarism is an important ethical issue, but many researchers are still
not aware of its seriousness. It is of prime importance to find out how far research
scholars are aware of plagiarism. It is also important to analyse the circumstances
which led researchers to reproduce the work of others, and most importantly to
identify the ways and means of helping research scholars in avoiding plagiarism.

REVIEW OF UNAPPROVED JOURNALS AND RELEVANT LITERATURE

In the recent years, the world of academic publishing has rampantly become
contaminated by fake impact factors and misleading metrics that are launched by
fake Journals. It involved predatory publishers using spams fake metrics, by which
they cause problems to the science and universities. The review constituted a
systematic search of literature on such journals and impact factors.

Publishing the outcome of research is one of the requirements to earn credit of

appeasement and mental satisfaction for the authors. To achieve this there are
maneuvers in selection of journals that lack strength in citation and impact. Since
times immemorial, there has been mushrooming growth of journals and/or

5
http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:432681/FULLTEXT01.pdf.

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publication agencies which imitate the peer-reviewed scientific journals. This
article entails the fabrication of the network of some of the bogus impact factors
and misnomer terms, such as Universal Impact Factor (UIF), Global Impact Factor
(GIG), Cite-factor and even a fake Thomson Reuters Company for commercial
purposes. The recent explosion in the number of rapacious journals has led to the
appearance of websites that provide spurious impact factors. It is presumed that
academic associations, universities, and research funding bodies must take action
to annul these questionable practices (Jalalian, 2015).

The recent explosion in the number of rapacious journals has led to the advent of
questionable websites providing fake or spurious impact factors, It is believed that
academic associations, universities, and research funding bodies must take action
to stop these practices .6 The publications in low quality journals, having no
citation and/or the impact factor is a fraud in biomedical literature. This is in
addition to the "massive" fake which involves a great majority of papers published
with made-up data in peer-review journals with high impact factor. Editors have an
increasing responsibility to prevent publication of perpetrator studies, leading to
check not only the value and the interpretation of submitted data but the entire
process of elaborating protocols and performing studies. Increased transparency in
clinical trials performance is critical to prevent biomedical fraud.7 It is high time to
fight against predatory publishers and journals in addition to the ever-increasing
number of predatory conferences, who derogate the standards of awareness and
education.

The fake journals often have their advertisement and publication techniques. These

6
(Gutierrez et al., 2015).
7
(Bonnet and Samama, 2012).

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types of journals mostly start and continue their activities by using the name of
some indexed journals and establish bogus websites. The fake journals and
publishers, ask the authors a significant amount of money for publishing their
papers. These journals have no peer-review process, publish the papers without any
revision on the fake sites, and put the scientific reputation and prestige of the
researchers in jeopardy.8

A large number of fake/bogus conferences are organized, which introduce

themselves as international conferences. These are multidisciplinary and indexed
in major scientific digital libraries. They are indexed in major scientific digital
libraries. Furthermore, most of the fake/bogus conference holders offer publishing
the accepted papers in ISI journals and use other techniques in their
advertisement9.
Most of the fraudulent journals use the names of eminent scientists, researchers
and professors on their editorial boards, without permission, this is just to look
legitimate. Sometimes, they even create fake profiles for prominent scientists in
attempt to manipulate the publishing process. Genuine authors interested to publish
in these journals should be aware of the identity theft and verify from these people
on the editorial board.10

Peer review is the most imperative aspect of trustworthy journals. Without it, we
would be unsure about whether the material published was valid and reliable.
However, with the advent of the Internet, scientific literature has become subject to
a production of fake peer reviews. Some dishonest researchers are manipulating

8
(Hemmat Esfe et al., 2014)
9
(Asadi et al., 2017)
10
(Dadkhah et al., 2017).

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the peer review process able to publish even the most inferior papers. There are
even published papers available to teach, how to do it.11

The recent explosion in the number of rapacious journals has led to the advent of
questionable websites providing fake or spurious impact factors, and appearance of
websites that provide spurious impact factors. It is believed that academic
associations, universities, and research funding bodies must take action to annul
these questionable practices. Fraud is much less likely to go undetected, if authors
are required to post the raw data supporting their published results. Simonsohn
(2013) described two cases of fabricated data detected by statistical approach. This
point was illustrated by describing the cases of suspected fraud which was
identified through statistical analysis of reported means and standard deviations.
Although, by checking their advertisement techniques and their websites, these
hijacked journals and publishers can be identified, these ways do not always result
in their identification. However, there are some approaches of using Master Journal
List provided by Thomson Reuters, and Scopus database, and using the DOI of a
paper, to certify the realness of a journal or publisher. The inexperienced students
and researchers, often fail to differentiate the real and the bogus journals.

Anyone who has written or graded a paper knows that plagiarism is not always a
black-and white issue. The boundary between plagiarism and research is often
unclear. Learning to recognize the various forms of plagiarism, especially the more
ambiguous ones, is an important step in the fight to prevent it.

11
(Dadkhah et al., 2017).

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I. SOURCES NOT CITED12

1) “The Ghost Writer”

The writer turns in another’s work, word-for-word, as his or her own.

2) “The Photocopy”
The writer copies significant portions of text straight from a single source,
without alteration.

3) “The Potluck Paper”

The writer tries to disguise plagiarism by copying from several different sources,
tweaking the sentences to make them fit together while retaining most of the
original phrasing.

4) “The Poor Disguise”

Although the writer has retained the essential content of the source, he or she has
altered the paper’s appearance slightly by changing key words and phrases.

5) “The Labor of Laziness”

The writer takes the time to paraphrase most of the paper from other sources and
make it all fit together, instead of spending the same effort on original work.

6) “The Self-Stealer”

12
http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/library-instruction/plagiarism/what

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The writer “borrows” generously from his or her previous work, violating policies
concerning the expectation of originality adopted by most academic institutions.

II. SOURCES CITED (but still plagiarized!)13

1) “The Forgotten Footnote”

Document provided by Turnitin.com and Research Resources. Turnitin allows free
distribution and non-profit use of this document in educational settings.
The writer mentions an author’s name for a source, but neglects to include
specific information on the location of the material referenced. This often masks
other forms of plagiarism by obscuring source locations.

2) “The Misinformer”
The writer provides inaccurate information regarding the sources, making it
impossible to find them.

3) “The Too-Perfect Paraphrase”

The writer properly cites a source, but neglects to put in quotation marks text that
has been copied word-for-word, or close to it. Although attributing the basic
ideas to the source, the writer is falsely claiming original presentation and
interpretation of the information.

4) “The Resourceful Citer”

The writer properly cites all sources, paraphrasing and using quotations
appropriately. The catch? The paper contains almost no original work! It is
sometimes difficult to spot this form of plagiarism because it looks like any other

13
http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:432681/FULLTEXT01.pdf

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well-researched document.

5). “The Perfect Crime”

Well, we all know it doesn’t exist. In this case, the writer properly quotes and
cites sources in some places, but goes on to paraphrase other arguments from
those sources without citation. This way, the writer tries to pass off the
paraphrased material as his or her own analysis of the cited material.

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 RESEARCH DESIGN AND STAND OF UGC ON PLAGIARISM

Before examining types of research designs it is important to be clear about the

role and purpose of research design. We need to understand what research design
is and what it is not. We need to know where design fits into the whole research
process from framing a question to originally analysing and reporting data.
A research design is a basic plan that guides the data collection and analysis phases
of the research project. It provides the framework that specifies the type of
information to be collected, its sources and collection procedure define research
design14: “it is the blueprint that is followed to complete the study” and it “ensures
that the study is relevant to the problem and will use economical procedure”.

There are mainly two types of data collection. I.e.

Description and explanation
Social researchers ask two fundamental types of research questions:
1). What is going on (descriptive research)?
2). Why is it going on (explanatory research)?

Descriptive research Although some people dismiss descriptive research as `mere

description', good description is fundamental to the research enterprise and it has
added immeasurably to our knowledge of the shape and nature of our society.
Descriptive research encompasses much government sponsored research including
the population census, the collection of a wide range of social indicators and
economic information such as household expenditure patterns, time use studies,

14
(Kinnear & Taylor, 1996; Churchill & Iacobucci 2005)
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employment and crime statistics and the like. Descriptions can be concrete or
abstract

Ø Explanatory research

Explanatory research focuses on why questions. The way in which researchers

develop research designs is fundamentally affected by whether the research
question is descriptive or explanatory. It affects what information is collected. For
example, if we want to explain why some people are more likely to be
apprehended and convicted of crimes we need to have hunches about why this is
so. We may have many possibly incompatible hunches and will need to collect
information that enables us to see which hunches work best empirically.
Answering the `why' questions involves developing causal explanations.

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PRACTISES SUGGESTED BY UGC FOR BETTER RESEARCH DESIGN

College writing is a process of goal setting, writing, giving and using feedback,
revising, and editing. Effective assignments construct specific writing situations
and build in ample room for response and revision. There is no guarantee that, if
adopted, the strategies listed below will eliminate plagiarism; but in supporting
students throughout their research process, these strategies make plagiarism both
difficult and unnecessary.15

1. Explain Plagiarism and Develop Clear Policies

• Talk about the underlying implications of plagiarism. Remind students

that the goal of research is to engage, through writing, in a purposeful,
scholarly discussion of issues that are sometimes passed over in daily life.
Understanding, augmenting, engaging in dialogue with, and challenging
the work of others are part of becoming an effective citizen in a complex
society. Plagiarism does not simply devalue the institution and the degree
it offers; it hurts the inquirer, who has avoided thinking independently
and has lost the opportunity to participate in broader social conversations.

• Include in your syllabus a policy for using sources, and discuss it in your
course. Define a policy that clearly explains the consequences of both
plagiarism (such as turning in a paper known to be written by someone
else) and the misuse or inaccurate citation of sources.

15
Pandey, A., Kaur, M., and Goyal, P., “The menace of plagiarism: How to detect and curb it.”

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 • If Your university does not already have one, establish an honor code to
which all students subscribe; a judicial board to hear plagiarism cases; or
a departmental ombudsperson to hear cases brought between student and
instructors.

2. Improve the Design and Sequence of Assignments

• Design assignments that require students to explore a subject in depth.

Research questions and assignment topics should be based on principles
of inquiry and on the genuine need to discover something about the topic,
and should present that topic to an audience in the form of an exploration
or an argument.

• Start building possible topics early. Good writing reflects a thorough

understanding of topic being addressed or researched. Giving students
time to explore their topics slowly and helping them to narrow their
focus from broad ideas to specific research questions will personalize
their research and provide evidence of their ongoing investigations.

• Consider establishing a course theme, and then allow students to define

specific questions about that theme so that they become engaged in
learning new ideas and begin to own their research. A course theme (like
“literacy” or “popular culture”) allows students and instructor to develop
expertise and to support each other as they read, writes, and engage in
their research. Grounding the theme in a local context (such as the
campus, or the neighborhood or city where the campus is located) can
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 provide greater relevance to students’ lives. Once students have defined a
topic within the course theme, ask them to reflect frequently on their
choice of topic: about what they already know about the topic when they
begin their research; about what new ideas they are learning along the
way; and about what new subjects for research they are discovering.

• Develop schedules for students that both allow the time to explore and
support them as they work toward defined topics. As researchers learn
more about their subjects, they typically discover new, unforeseen
questions and interests to explore. However, student researchers do not
have unlimited time for their work—at some point, they must choose a
focus for their papers. Conferences with students (sometimes held in the
library or computer resource center) are invaluable for enabling them to
refine their focus and begin their inquiry.

• Support each step of the research process. Students often have little
experience planning and conducting research. Using planning guides, in-
class activities, and portfolios, instructors should “stage” students’ work
and provide support at each stage— from invention to drafting, through
revision and polishing. Collecting interim materials (such as annotated
photocopies) helps break the research assignment down into elements of
the research process while providing instructors with evidence of
students’ original work. Building “low-stakes” writing into the research
process, such as reflective progress reports, allows instructors to coach
students more effectively while monitoring their progress.

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 • Make the research process, and technology used for it, visible. Ask your
students to consider how various technologies—computers, fax
machines, photocopiers, e-mail— affect the way information is gathered
and synthesized, and what effect these technologies may have on
plagiarism.
• Attend to conventions of different genres of writing. As people who read
and write academic work regularly, instructors are sensitive to
differences in conventions across different disciplines and, sometimes,
within disciplines. However, students might not be as aware of these
differences. Plan activities—like close examinations of academic
readings—that ask students to analyze and reflect on the conventions in
different disciplines.

3. Attend to Sources and the Use of Reading

• Ask students to draw on and document a variety of sources. Build into

your assignments additional sources, such as systematic observation,
interviews, simple surveys, or other data-gathering methods.
Incorporating a variety of sources can help students develop ways of
gathering, assessing, reading, and using different kinds of information
and can make for a livelier, more unique paper.
• Consider conventions. Appropriate use of citations depends on students’
familiarity with the conventions of the genre(s) they are using for
writing. Design activities that help students to become familiar with
these conventions and make informed choices about when and where to
employ them.

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 • Show students how to evaluate their sources. Provide opportunities for
students to discuss the quality of the content and context of their sources,
through class discussions, electronic course management programs or
Internet chat spaces, or reflective assignments. Discuss with students
how their sources will enable them to support their argument or
document their research.

• Focus on reading. Successful reading is as important to thoughtful

research essays as is successful writing. Develop reading-related
heuristics and activities that will help students to read carefully and to
think about how or whether to use that reading in their research projects.

4. Work on Plagiarism Responsibly

• Distinguish between misuse of sources and plagiarism. If students have

misused sources, they probably do not understand how to use them
correctly. If this is the case, work with students so that they understand
how to incorporate and cite sources correctly. Ask them to rewrite the
sections where sources have been misused.

• Ask students for documentation. If a student’s work raises suspicions,

talk with him or her about your concerns. Ask students to show you their
in-process work (such as sources, summaries, and drafts) and walk you
through their research process, describing how it led to the production of
their draft. If they are unable to do this, discuss with them the
consequence of plagiarism described in your syllabus (and, perhaps, by
your institution). If you have talked with a student and want to pursue
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 your own investigation of his or her work, turn to sources that the student
is likely to have used and look for evidence of replication.
• Use plagiarism detection services cautiously. Although such services
may be tempting, they are not always reliable. Furthermore, their
availability should never be used to justify the avoidance of responsible
teaching methods such as those described in this document.

5. Take Appropriate Disciplinary Actions

• Pay attention to institutional guidelines. Many institutions have clearly

defined procedures for pursuing claims of academic dishonesty. Be sure
you have read and understood these before you take any action.

• Consider your goal. If a student has plagiarized, consider what the

student should take away from the experience. In some cases, a failing
grade on the paper, a failure in the course, academic probation, or even
expulsion might achieve those goals. In other cases, recreating the entire
research process, from start to finish, might be equally effective.

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 LAWS REGARDING PLAGIARISM

The new rules approved by the University Grants Commission (UGC), the higher
education regulatory body, say that researchers will lose their registration and
teachers their jobs if found guilty of plagiarising. There will be graded punishment
for offenders. This essential move should have come much earlier to ensure that
Indian academia is a wellspring of fresh ideas rather than a morass of regurgitated
thoughts. Before Moving to Rules and regualtions in particular we need to know
certain terminologies and their relations and differences.

Ø Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement

Plagiarism invites the charges of copyright infringement in most of the cases. But
there is a difference between plagiarism and copyright infringement. In plagiarism
the use of author’s work is done without giving attribution to him whereas the use
of author’s work without the permission where the work is protected by copyright,
it is known as copyright infringement. Plagiarism is an act related with moral
wrong apart from inviting legal action as the the original author has the moral right
to be called the author of the work.

Plagiarism may occur even without the copyright infringement. Copyright

infringement will occur only if the work that is copied is protected by copyright
but the use of a work without crediting its author would be plagiarism.

Ø Civil Wrongs and Criminal Offences

Plagiarism is actually considered as an unethical conduct of a person and not a

crime by itself.
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The violation of an author’s right to be credited and copyright infringement are
both civil wrongs and criminal charges can also be led against the violator.

In case of a civil suit, the remedies that can be awarded are : injunctions to restrain
further infringement, damages, the delivery of accounts of profit and both
infringing copies of the work used to make them. Certain administrative actions
may also be taken.

A convicted infringer is liable to be imprisoned between six months and three

years, and to be fined between fifty thousand and two lakh rupees under section 63
of the Act. The punishment is enhanced for subsequent convictions.

Sometimes College and University rules for student conduct takes Plagiarism as an
academic offense and not a legal offense. But this is not the actual case. Plagiarism
is not only an academic offence but also a legal one.

Ø Who will be Liable for Plagiarism?

One who is claiming the copyright of the work is liable for Plagiarism. Generally,
the Publisher has an exemption clause in the agreement with the Author and says
the views are of the Author only, in that case the Author is Liable and the Publisher
can claim immunity. In other cases both can be
prosecuted.

Plagiarism generally constitutes false claim of authorship regardless of the material

protected by copyright. Hence, the Author is responsible for it when it is concerned

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with academic credit. The Publisher is held liable in the case of Copyright
infringement. Generally, the claims of Plagiarism leads to the claim of Copyright
Infringement.

Ø Some Misconceptions that Arise

If the language used in any of the article is completely different from the original
article then it does not infringe the copyright of the original writer but depending
upon the circumstances, the later article may violate the moral right of the author
of the original article to be credited for his work.

The exclusive rights to reproduce, adapt,translate and publish their work or to

allow others to do so are collectively called “Copyright”. “Self-Plagiarism” is not
considered as offence or wrong in under the Indian Copyright Act,1957 as the
author who is the owner of the copyright has all the rights for reproduction of the
work or to make adaptation to the work.16

Ø Indian Judiciary and Plagiarism

The dramatic allegation of plagiarism was made on the Divisional Bench of the
Delhi High Court by the Spicy IP blog on December 1, 2015. The Delhi High
Court plagiarised thirty-three paragraphs of its judgment in Roche V. Cipla case
from a law review article written by Swetashree Majumdar and Eashan Ghosh in
the Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property. The Delhi High Court
acknowledged the truth of the plagiarism report in an order passed on th 8th
December, 2015 and apologised to the authors. The responsibility of the plagiarism

16
Nisha, F.; Senthil, V.; Bakhshi, S.I., “Plagiarism in Research: Special Reference to Initiatives taken by Indian Organizations.”

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was laid down to an intern who was told to write a precise facts of the case.

Ø Deteriorating Condition of Education System due to plagiarism

After a lot of cases arising about plagiarism, the regulator of the higher education
i.e., UGC (University Grants Commission) is serious about it and provided
guidelines to be followed by the Universities to check plagiarism in academic
activities. Puducherry University has taken strict measures against plagiarism and
dismissed a faculty member guilty of plagiarism. All these incidents are very
unfortunate and disappointing for our current educational standard. Plagiarism is
considered as an academic sin by the Universities all over the world.

India does not have any particular statutory body to deal with academic plagiarism
and the cases related with plagiarism are often dealt on Ad-Hoc basis depending
upon the different situation and nature of the case.In the era of professionalism,
one of the important topic that needs attention is “Professional Ethics”. If the world
starts to copy one another then the individualism will lose its importance and it will
lead to retardation in growth.17

Ø Laws concerned with Plagiarism

The right not to be plagiarised is not recognised by any of the statute in India, but
the section 57 of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 gives authors the right to claim
authorship of their works among other things.

17
Jaya, P. A., “Seminar report on plagiarism detection techniques” .Available on : accessed April 12, 2015
http://seminarprojects.com/Threadseminar-report-on-plagiarism-detection-tech

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The section 57 of the Indian Copyright Act,1957 grants to the authors the “special
right” to be attributed for their work. It is a moral right and perpetual in nature. The
statute recognises the right to attribution analogous to the rights not to be
plagiarised.

Section 63 of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 is considers infringement as the

criminal offence and awards the same punishment for both i.e., the violation of
section 57 and the copyright infringement.

The convicted infringers are awarded imprisonment that ranges between six
months to three years under section 63 of the Act. They have also compensate in
monetary terms for the act of infringing.

Section 63 (A) of the same act stipulates an enhanced penalty for second and
subsequent convictions.

Ø Measures Taken or Need to be taken

The Government of India is planning to make strict law to prevent plagiarism in

academics. The law will consist provisions from warning to deregistration of
students and dismissal of the teacher concerned.

The people working for the socio-economic and cultural development of the
society facilitates us with enormous inventions and creations which are making our
life better and easier. The need of the hour is to encourage the inventors and the
creators. Their work must be rewarded by suitable legal protection through strict
laws otherwise the people working behind the scene for the development will be at

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a loss.18

IMPORTANT CASES LAWS

Ø Martin Luther King Jr: I Heard a Dream (Which Subsequently

Became My Dream)

Then writing about the Lord God Almighty, one is generally well advised not
to break the eighth commandment, but Martin Luther King Jr. managed to
turn out pretty well in spite of his tendency to borrow others' words without
attribution. King received a doctorate in systematic theology from Boston
University in 1955 on the strength of a dissertation comparing the theologians
Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Weiman. In a 1989"“1990 review, though, the
university discovered that King had plagiarized about a third of his thesis
from a previous student's dissertation. And although it was closer to liberal
adaptation than outright plagiarism, King's seminal "I Have a Dream"
speech was, well, let's say "inspired by "a speech that an African American
preacher named Archibald Carey Jr. gave to the Republican National
Convention in 1952.

Ø Alex Haley and the Roots of Roots

Haley initially gained prominence for being the "as told to" author
behind The Autobiography of Malcolm X and then went on to publish the
epic Roots: The Saga of an American Family in 1976, supposedly a true story

18

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that traced Haley's ancestry back to an African man, Kunta Kinte. Haley won
a Pulitzer the next year, and the book was made into a wildly popular
miniseries. After the book's publication, though, Haley admitted that he made
up large swaths of the Roots story and, in a further embarrassment, was sued
by author Harold Courlander for plagiarism. Haley acknowledged lifting
(accidentally, he claimed) three paragraphs from Courlander's work and
settled the suit out of court.

Ø Stendhal: The Politician's Plagiarist

When asked by Oprah Winfrey about his favorite book during the 2000
presidential campaign, Al Gore cited Stendhal's The Red and the Black, a
novel set in post-Napoleonic France. The book's protagonist, Julien Sorel, is
an ambitious young womanizer who adopts the hypocrisy of his time in order
to move up in the world. In his own time, Stendhal, whose real name was
Henri Beyle, was most famous not for his novels, but for his books about art
and travel. In one, The Lives of Haydn, Mozart and Metastasio, Stendhal
plagiarized extensively from two previous biographies. Confronted with
overwhelming evidence of theft, Stendhal added forgery to the list of his
literary crimes, manufacturing correspondence in the hopes of exonerating
himself.

Ø John Milton: In His Own Words

Was the half-blind creator of Paradise Lost a plagiarist? Well, no. But
William Lauder, an 18th-century scholar, sure wanted you to think so. Bitter

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about his professional failures, Lauder published several essays in 1747
claiming to "prove" that Milton had stolen almost all of Paradise Lost from
various 17th-century poets. One problem, though. Lauder had forged the
poems, interpolating text from Paradise Lost into the original documents. For
a while, many (including the great Samuel Johnson) supported Lauder, but it
soon became clear by studying extant copies of the old poems that Lauder,
not Milton, was the cheat. And cheating, at least in this case, didn't pay:
Exiled to the West Indies, Lauder died an impoverished shopkeeper.

v Dr. P. Ramamoorthi vs The Madurai Kamaraj University ... on 17

November, 200019

The case of the petitioner is briefly stated here under:

The petitioner was selected and appointed by the first respondent in 1976 as
Lecturer in Madurai Kamaraj University English Department. Later, when the
Department of Theatre Arts was formed in 1990, he was transferred and posted as
the Reader and incharge of the Head of the Department of Theatre Arts. In 1981,
the British Council offering visitorship grant invited him to attend the International
Shakespeare Conference held at Stratford-upon-Avon England and he was the only
Indian invited for the above conference. At the conference, he was introduced to
Mr. W.B. Thorne from Canada and some others, who were interested in the Last
Plays of Shakespeare. In 1987, the Aligarh Journal of English studies requested
him to forward Articles on Literary Studies for publication in their journal. He sent
his article "Ritual of Atonement in Shakespeare's Late Plays" to the above journal,
and the said article was published in the journal in 1987. After several years, he
received from the second respondent Vice Chancellor of Madurai Kamaraj

19
(2001) 1 MLJ 204

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University, a Note dated 9.11.1992 stating that the Secretary, Association of India
Universities, New Delhi, has reported that his article "Ritual of Atonement in
Shakespeare's Late Plays" published in Aligarh Journal of English studies Volume
12.2 (1987) has been plagiarised verbatim from the article of Mr. W.B. Thorne
"The Cycle of sin in Shakespeare's Late Plays" published in the journal Upstart
Crow 4 (1982) 86-93 and the matter is viewed seriously. On extraneous
considerations and in bad faith, the Vice Chancellor with the help of his close
associates has maligned him and ruined the recognition he has earned by his hard
work at national and international level. In letter dated 22.11.1992, he was directed
to appear before the Syndicate Sub Committee on 24.11.1992 at 10 A.M. Based on
the enquiry, a Charge Memo containing six charges have been attributed against
him. After completion of the enquiry before the Syndicate Sub-Committee, Dr. P.
Natesan told him that he could sign the typed sheet, as he had only reworded his
explanation. Believing his words, he signed the typed paper. At that time, suddenly
the electricity failed and the lights went off. On 28.12.1992 the Syndicate has
resolved to demote him to the lowest post i.e., Lecturer for a period of 6 years and
to debar him from guiding Ph.D. Research Scholars forth-with. The said order is
not a valid order passed in accordance with law and the same is liable to be
quashed.

On behalf of the first respondent University, the Registrar has filed a counter
affidavit disputing various averments made by the petitioner. This intellectual theft
of plagiarism by the petitioner was detected by Ms. Melody Chan, a research
scholar, working under Dr. James L Harner, Professor of English-Texas, A and M
University. He contacted W.B. Thorne through a letter dated 9.12.1991. W.B.
Thorne by his letter dated 17.12.1991, denied publishing the article under a
pseudonym and maintained that the petitioner had stolen his article and had it
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published in "Aligarh Journal of English Studies" in 1987. Thereafter, Dr. James L
Harner contacted Dr. Agrawala, Secretary of Association of Indian Universities,
New Delhi, who in turn contacted the Vice Chancellor of Madurai Kamaraj
University by a letter dated 30.10.1992 to take appropriate action against the
petitioner. Then a Syndicate Sub-Committee was constituted on 13.11.1992 as per
Rule 25 (a) relating to powers of Syndicate.

The petitioner had also admitted that he had committed plagiarism and had stated
that he owns responsibility and expressed regret. Even before the Syndicate Sub-
Committee, at the time of enquiry held on 17.12.1992 he had admitted all the
charges, and also given a signed statement. Subsequently, on 28.12.1992, the
Syndicate of the Madurai Kamaraj University approved the Minutes of the
Syndicate Sub-Committee and decided to demote the petitioner to the lowest cadre
in the lowest scale and debarred him from guiding research scholars. The said
decision of the Syndicate was communicated to the petitioner by a letter dated
12.1.1993 and the petitioner has challenged the said order dated 12.1.1993 in this
writ petition.

A person was awarded Ph.D. by the Banaras Hindu University in 1976 for his
thesis in English entitled, “A Critical Study of the Suta Samhita”. As per his
allegation, almost 80% of his thesis has been plagiarized by another person in
Hindi verbatim including footnotes, charts and tables. He submitted his thesis
entitled, “Suta Samhita ka Alocanatmak Adhyayan” to Mahatma Gandhi Kashi
Vidyapeeth University and got a Ph.D. in 1981. After that, the person converted

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this thesis into a book and got published by a famous indological book publishers,
Chowkhamba Vidyabhavan, Banaras. 20

More and Shelar mentioned in their paper, “S.P. Gupta registered for Ph.D. under
Romila Thapar in Delhi University on the topic, ‘Disposal of the Dead and
Physical Types in Ancient India’ and subsequently got engaged in many other
works in India and abroad, meanwhile P. Singh completed his thesis more or less
on the same theme entitled ‘Burial Practices in Ancient India’ in 1968 under the
guidance of Prof. A.K. Narain in Banaras Hindu University, which he got
published in 1970. Though the approaches of both differ significantly, still when
S.P. Gupta published his work in 1972 he had to defend this unintentional act in
the Preface in the following words: “To the best of my knowledge, I was the first
to take up the subject for the Ph.D. Thesis…Unfortunately, due to my chequered
career inside and outside the country, I could not complete it in time and
meanwhile my friend and younger colleague Dr. P. Singh did a commendable
work in this direction and also published a monograph, which I have only recently
seen.”21

“The book Quantitative Techniques for Managerial Decisions by U.K. Srivastava (

a CMA Prof. at IIMA), G.V. Shenoy & S.C Sharma had copied without
acknowledgment of the source at least in ten different places including five foreign
books and some other Indian books.”22

20
“An Easy Way to get a Ph.D. Degree from the Universities.....!” accessed April 12, 2012,
http://www.taralabalu.org/Suta%20Samhita/plagiarism/.

21
More Trupti and Shelar Vandana, “Plagiarism and Copyright Violation: A Need of Information Literacy Framewor towards Ethical Use of
Information.” accessed February 19, 2013. http://ir.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/handle/1944/1640/48.pdf.

22
Patel, B., accessed April 15, 2014, http://indiankanoon.org/doc/946037/.

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In August 2005, ‘The Tribune’ published from Chandigarh reported a case of
plagiarism in a textbook prescribed by Maharshi Dayanand University. It was
reported that “the book ‘Sanskrit Bhasha Darshanam’ by Dr Yajna Vir Dahiya
published in 2000 by Bhartiya Vidya Prakashan, Delhi had many chapters which
were similar to a book Sanskrit Vyakaran Darshan by Dr Ram Suresh Tripathi and
published by Rajkamal Prakashan, Delhi in 1975”. It was also reported that another
book written by the same author entitled ‘Panini as a Linguist: Ideas and Patterns’
published in 1995 by Eastern Book Linkers, Delhi contained a chapter which was
identical to a paper written by Dr. Jag Deva Singh in 1974 in the International
Journal of Dravidian Linguistics Vol. 3 pp.287-320.”23

On 3 March 2012, the Director of IIM Indore, N. Ravichandran, was asked by the
Centre to respond to an accusation of plagiarism against him and another senior
faculty member of the Institute, Omkar D. Palsule-Desai. They had submitted a
paper - The management case on "Euthanasia: Should it be Lawful or Otherwise?”
An Ahmedabad-based researcher K.R. Narendrababu has complained that the
paper was sourced heavily from a Supreme Court judgment without adequate
attribution.”131 One month later, on 12 April, a veteran industrialist Mr. L. N.
Jhunjhunwala, who is also the Chairman of the Indian Institute of Management
(IIM), Indore's Board of Governors resigned citing major differences with Dr. N.
Ravichandran. Another board member and Bhopal-based retired IAS officer Dr. M.
N. Buch also resigned.24

23
“Plagiarism Controversies in India.” accessed April 15, 2014, http://wikibin.org/articles/plagiarism-controversies-in-india.html.

24
"Plagiarism finger at IIM head". The Telegraph (Calcutta, India). 4 March 2012. Accessed April 15, 2014.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120304/jsp/nation/story_15210111.jsp#.V vDo3W7hXiw

33 | P a g e

In 2007, appeared another controversy, this time surrounding authors from Anna
University and Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) publishing an
article in the Journal of Materials Science. 134 The article written by K.
Muthukumar, T. Mathews, S. Selladurai and R. Bokalawela was reported to be a
reproduction of an article published earlier in Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences (PNAS) by David Andersson and others at the Royal
Institute of Technology, Sweden. In a correction published online, the journal
reported that the article 'does not just plagiarize the results presented in the PNAS
paper but actually copies most of it word for word'. The journal had started an
investigation and is also working with officials at the two institutions. The three
authors other than the first author have distanced themselves from the paper and
the first author has accepted his mistake.25

“The German Chancellor Angela Merkel Annette Schavan, a member of Merkel’s

cabinet and the Education Minister for the country, resigned after her PhD was
revoked following an investigation into her doctoral thesis that found evidence of
plagiarism.”26

25
“Scientific plagiarism in India.” Accessed April 15, 2014.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_plagiarism_in_India#cite_note-34.

26
Bailey, J. “German Education Minister Resignation: Plagiarism or Politics?” Accessed August 19, 2012.
http://www.ithenticate.com/plagiarism-detection-blog/bid/91110/GermanEducation-Minister-Resignation-Plagiarism-or-
Politics.

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 CONCLUSION

Plagiarism is not something new, nor of our age – a matter of ancient origin. In the
past too, researchers used to go the library and copy something from the printed
source. Now, is the era of information technology, and through Ctrl C (copy) and
Ctrl V (paste), it is easier to copy anything from the Internet in a short time. It has
been observed from the study that awareness about plagiarism is not satisfactory
and there is no difference in awareness about plagiarism among research scholars
on the respective university status.

There are many software’s available to detect plagiarism, some of them are
commercial and others are freely available online, which can be used for detection
of plagiarism. Moreover, in the Indian environment, the University Grants
Commission (UGC), a statutory body of higher education has instructed all
universities to check the theses before submission with anti- plagiarism software.
Such software is also contributing towards decreasing the rate of plagiarism. But,
no software can solve the problem of plagiarism completely until people are made
aware about it.

Apart from this, punishment is not the solution to any problem. It has been found
in the study that research scholars are following the ‘copy paste’ tendency, but
they do not know that, it is a misconduct and called as ‘plagiarism’ and most of
them do not know that it is punishable too. Another thing is, plagiarism cannot be
reduced until researcher are not aware the consequences of plagiarism. So, there is
a need to create awareness about plagiarism and the consequences of plagiarism

35 | P a g e

among research scholars by organizing seminars, conferences, and conducting
educational programs. There is also a need to enlighten them that they should
avoid plagiarism by themselves, not because of any university or University
Grants Commission want them to avoid it, but they should avoid plagiarism
because of saving their academic career, as one plagiarized material defame them,
they may be fired from a job or something else. It is the time to take an active
stand against plagiarism and by creating awareness, it will be possible to create a
generation of research groups who will not indulge in plagiarism but exhibit their
innovative ideas.

Future Direction

• The outcome of the study can be utilized by different institutions for

combating plagiarism.

• Empowering Libraries and documentation centres free from the terror of

plagiarism

• Plagiarism free Intellectual Property Management division can be fostered

• The outcome of the study can be utilized in making anti- plagiarism policy
at national level.

• Can Keep the Publications in journals, Magazines, Books as an original

• Development of anti-plagiarism tools in different languages.

• Aptitude and Attitudes test can be conducted among faculty and students in
different universities on plagiarism.

• Create awareness about plagiarism and the consequences of plagiarism

among research scholars by organizing seminars, conferences, and
conducting educational programs.

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 • The outcome of the study can be used to develop anti-plagiarism software
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ø BOOKS
Student Plagiarism in an Online world: Problems and solution

Who Own This Text? Plagiarism, Authorship, and Disciplinary cultures

Ø Website
1. Merriam-Webster http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarism.

2. Razera, Diana. “Awareness, attitude and perception of plagiarism among students and teachers
at Stockholm University”. Master of Science Thesis, Stockholm University, Sweden, 2011. .
http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:432681/FULLTEXT01.pdf.

3.Nisha, F.; Senthil, V.; Bakhshi, S.I., “Plagiarism in Research: Special Reference to Initiatives
taken by Indian Organizations.” Paper presented at 4th International Symposium on Emerging
Trends and Technologies in Libraries and Information Services (ETTLIS), Noida, January 6-8,
2015. Accessed March 13, 2013. doi: 10.1109/ETTLIS.2015.7048212.

4. Birte, F. , Claudia Janssen Danyi , Howard Nothhaft . “The German plagiarism Crisis:
Defending and Explaining the Workings of scholarship on the front stage”, Journal of
Communication Management, 2015, 19, 1, 20-38 Accessed March 13, 2013.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-11-2013- 0081.

5.Pandey, A., Kaur, M., and Goyal, P., “The menace of plagiarism: How to detect and
curb it.” Paper presented at 4th International Symposium on ‘Emerging Trends and
Technologies in Libraries and Information Services’ (ETTLIS), Noida, January 6-8,
2015. Accessed March 19, 2013. doi: 10.1109/ETTLIS.2015.7048213.
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6. Jaya, P. A., “Seminar report on plagiarism detection techniques” .
Available on : accessed April 12, 2015 http://seminarprojects.com/Threadseminar-
report-on-plagiarism-detection-tech

7. Plagiarism: what is it? Accessed April 16, 2016.

http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/library-instruction/plagiarism/what

8. “Kumaon University V-C resigns.” The Hindu, Feb 07, 2003. Accessed April
15,2014.http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/2003/02/07/stories/200302070547010
3.htm.

9. “Anna University in plagiarism scandal”, Hindustan Times (New Delhi, India)

October 20, 2007. Accessed April 15, 2014. https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-
1369029851.html.

10. “Plagiarisms and Copyright Infringement: Is Copying Illegal?”, accessed April

12, 2015, http://www.plagiarismchecker.com/plagiarism-vscopyriht.php.

Proprietary Software Definition

http://www.linfo.org/proprietary.html

Glatt plagiarism services,

http://www.plagiarism.com/

Turnitin
http://www.turnitin.com/

Urkund
http://www.urkund.com/en/about-urkund

Article checker
http:/www.articlechecker.com

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Crossrefme
http://www.crossrefme.com/

Duplichecker
http:/www.duplichecker.com


PaperRater
http://www.paperrater.com/

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