Plagiarism Prevention:

A Complete Roadmap
MUNEER AHMED
Dy. Director(QA)
muahmed@hec.gov.pk

Higher Education Commission

Plagiarism (Complaints)

Plagiarism Policy was developed and Circulated in 2007

HEC receives and forwards complaints to the respective Universities

Total complaints received since 2007 are 201

160 cases are closed after proper investigation and 41 are under process.
Closed cases

Under Process

Under Process; 20%

Closed cases; 80%

Reasons of Plagiarism

Source: efest-teach-learn.ning.com/photo

Plagiarism Prevention Roadmap

Prevention
Detection
Investigation

Punishment

Prevention
Capacity building (Students, Faculty)
IT Readiness
Research Ethics
Plagiarism Policy
Meetings, Workshops, Conferences

Teaching/learning strategies
Assessment Design
Student centered learning

Detection
1. Search Engines: The purpose of search engines is to
locate information for the keyword provided by the user.
2. Turnitin (http://www.turnitin.com/): It is product of
Iparadigms and is designed as an academic antiplagiarism service.
3. ithenticate (http://www.ithenticate.com): This is another
product of Iparadigms It is licensed service, user needs
to upload files in Rich Text Format (rtf), Microsoft
Word(.doc), Portable Document Format (.pdf), Zip
format (.zip) and in plain text format.
4. EVE (http://www.canexus.com/eve/): It searches WWW,
Directories and Databases for the similar text and
generates reports with indicating % of the similarity.

Detection (Cont.)
5. Copyscape (http://www.copyscape.com): This is free
service to check the given webpage for matches on the
internet.
6. Article Checker (http://www.articlechecker.com): It is a
web based free service which provides facility to upload
a text file or we have to cut-paste the content into the
text box.
7. Mydropbox (http://www.mydropbox.com): Toronto
(Canada) based company Sciworth Inc has developed
this tool and claims that their product is used in more
than 30 countries.

Why Turnitin?
One of the best available text matching tool
More than 15,000 institutions in 126
countries are using this service
User friendly and easy to interpret reports
Peer Mark,
Grade Mark
E-rater

Investigation (Plagiarism Policy)

Aim
The aim of this policy is to apprise
students, teachers, researchers and staff
about Plagiarism and how it can be
avoided.
It is also aimed at discouraging Plagiarism
by regulating and authorizing punitive
actions against those found guilty of the
act of Plagiarism.

Plagiarism Policy (Contd.)

Applicability
The policy is applicable to students,
teachers, researchers and staff of all
institutions and organizations in Pakistan
who are involved in writing or publishing
their work.

HEC Plagiarism Policy (Contd.)

Responsibility of the Institutions & Organizations
to apprise their students, teachers, researchers and
staff of the definition, implications and resulting
punishments of plagiarism
to ensure that papers/theses submitted for
publication should attain the highest ethical
standards
any University or Degree Awarding Institution
which does not adopt and implement this policy will
have its degree derecognized by HEC

HEC Plagiarism Policy (Contd.)

Reporting
To inform HEC or respective Universities /
Organizations of alleged plagiarism, a complaint
is to be made by email, post, fax or other means
to QA Division of HEC.
Enclosures
Idea which is plagiarized (Paper, Journal, Author)
Both papers (Original & Plagiarized)
Particulars of Complainant

Punishment: Penalties for Plagiarism

1. Penalties for Teachers, Researchers and Staff:
Depending on the seriousness of the proven offence
PSC will advise to the competent authority of the
University/DAIs the following penalties
i. Major Penalty: If most of the paper or key results are copied
without providing proper references
a.
b.
c.

Dismissal from the service along with

Black listing and may not be eligible for employment in Academic/Research
organization
Notification may be published in print media

ii. Moderate Penalty: If paragraphs including some key results have

been copied without citation
d.
e.

Demotion to next lower grade

Notification may be published in print media

Penalties for Plagiarism

iii. Minor Penalty: If few paragraphs including some key results have
been copied without citation.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

Warning
Freezing of all research grants
Promotion/annual increments of the offender may be stopped
Supervision of PhD students
Stoppage of funding

a. Penalties for Students:

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.

Supervisor or members of the supervisory committee are not responsible

Offender may be expelled
Relegated to lower class
Failure in subject
Degree may be withdrawn
Stoppage of funding

How HEC deals with Plagiarism?

Complaints
Received by HEC

Complaint forwarded to the

Head of the Institut4e

Plagiarism Standing Committee

Determination of the extent and quantum of significant
material
Must provide opportunity to author/coauthor etc to explain
his/her position.
Check for legal aspects/consult witnesses
Use all foreseeable options to investigate the matter

Report to the VC/Rector/President

(Within 60 Days)

Proved
Yes
Penalty through
statutory body
Yes
Penalty Notification

N
o

1 Notification by the university

Action against complainant as per
rules.

N
o
Plagiarism Committee HEC
takes action if necessary.

Q&A