In a move towards promoting academic honesty, the University Grants Commission (UGC) announced that all universities across India will have full access to the Swedish plagiarism detection software ‘Urkund’ starting from September 1, 2019. Plagiarism is an act of wrongfully attributing someone’s work or ideas as one’s own. The implementation of Urkund software was decided after an extensive global tender process. This software became a preferred choice over the popular U.S-based software Turnitin due to cost-effectiveness; Turnitin was deemed to be 10 times pricier without offering proportional enhancement in features or dependability.
The Government’s Approach against Plagiarism
To combat plagiarism, the central government has laid down a two-fold formula. According to this plan, Urkund software will be made available for free to all the 900 universities in the country over the forthcoming years. This rule applies to teachers, students, and researchers alike. Alongside this, the central government has introduced the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2018. This regulation outlines step-by-step punishments for plagiarism incidents.
An HTML table outlining some key points:
| Fact | Details |
|---|---|
| Total number of universities receiving Urkund | 900 |
| Effective date of Urkund subscription | September 1, 2019 |
| Cost comparison between Urkund and Turnitin | Turnitin is 10 times costlier |
UGC Panel’s Take on Improving Research Culture
A UGC panel, led by P. Balaram, tasked with the improvement of research culture revealed that Indian academics contributed 35% of all articles published in around 11,000 fake journals between 2010 and 2014. The maximum number of these articles were found in bogus engineering journals, followed by those in counterfeit biomedical and social sciences journals. According to the panel’s report, the primary responsibility of maintaining high standards in academic research must be shouldered by the institutions themselves. While central rules and regulations can supplement the efforts, the primary focus should be on strengthening the internal processes for vigilance within institutions. In the report submitted by the panel in July 2019, it was stated that ‘’Institutions must take the responsibility for ensuring academic standards and for emphasizing, to both students and faculty, the importance of maintaining the highest standards of integrity in academic research.”