HRD ministry tightens rules against plagiarism

NEW DELHI: The human resource development ministry has signed off on the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) rules regarding plagiarism, which say that student researchers who are guilty of plagiarism could lose their registration and teachers, their jobs, and will likely notify these on Monday, according to a senior official. The move is part of the ministry’s effort to improve the quality of education and research in universities and institutes of higher learning; it recently made PhDs mandatory for teaching at the university level starting 2021. The plagiarism regulation will ensure that research is free of plagiarism, which is rampant in Indian universities.

The commission had earlier approved the UGC (Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Education Institutions), Regulations, 2018. The regulations cover not only fresh research work being submitted but also recommend penalties for cases where the degrees/credits have already been granted. In such cases the degree will be kept in abeyance for a period as decided by the competent authority.

This year, PhD, MPhil and Masters students are also likely to study responsible conduct of research and publication ethics as a compulsory course work or module. “One of the main objectives of UGC’s anti-plagiarism regulations is to create awareness about responsible conduct of research in promotion of academic integrity and prevent misconduct which includes plagiarism in academic writing,” said the senior HRD ministry official who asked not to be identified.

According to the regulations, every higher educational institution is mandated to generate awareness about responsible conduct of research, promote academic integrity and prevent plagiarism.