Plagiarism Policy

  • Introduction:

Plagiarism is a serious and widespread educational issue which represents another author’s language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one’s own original work. It is considered as a breach of journalistic ethic or academic dishonesty. The persons involved in this unethical practice may be subjected to sanctions such as penalties, suspensions, expulsion from the institute, substantial fines and even incarceration.

The Sumandeep Vidyapeeth has been adopting the existing plagiarism policy in order to maintain the Zero Tolerance‘. Presently, UGC has issued a Regulation vide it notification No. F-1-18/2010(CPP-II), dated July 23, 2018, for the Promotion of academic integrity and prevention of plagiarism in higher educational institutions.

  • Terms, Definition and Synonyms:

Self-Plagiarism: It is to copy one’s own work done previously. Self-Plagiarism is not allowed as the credit for the work has already been taken and credit can’t be taken again for the same work.

Dual Submission: Submitting the same work in two different journals or conferences is also liable to be punished.

Fake Authorship: Including friend’s name as a co-author without his contribution or paying some person for doing own work is fake authorship. Giving a person’s credit as an author without his contribution is an offense.

Material Theft: Stealing other’s work physically is material theft. Sometimes, people copy work from someone’s computer or some other source. It is a rigorous act of plagiarism. Unauthorized Copy of Source Code: Code required for specific purposes should be cited. If the source is not in the public domain, then prior permission must be taken.

Academic Integrity: is the intellectual honesty in proposing, performing and reporting any activity, which leads to the creation of intellectual property.

Author: includes a student or a faculty or a researcher or staff of Higher Educational Institution (HEI) who claims to be the creator of the work under consideration.

Institutional Academic Integrity Panel: shall mean the body constitutes date at the Institute level to investigate allegations of plagiarism.

Faculty: refers to a person who is teaching and/or guiding students enrolled in Sumandeep Vidyapeeth in any capacity whatsoever i.e. regular, ad-hoc, guest, temporary, visiting etc.

Information:   includes data, message,   text,   and images, sound, voice, codes, computer programs, software and databases or microfilm or computer generated microfiche.

Programme: means a programme of study leading to the award of a masters and research level degree.

Researcher: refers to a person conducting academic/scientific research.

Script: includes research paper, thesis, dissertation, chapters in books, full- fledged books and any other similar work, submitted for assessment/ opinion leading to the award of master and research level degrees or publication in print or electronic media by students or faculty or researcher or staff members. However, this shall exclude assignments/ term papers/ project reports/ course work/ essays and answer scripts etc.

Source: means the published primary and secondary material from any source whatsoever and includes written information and opinions gained directly from other people, including eminent scholars, public audio, video, image or text.

  • Purpose:

The purpose plagiarism policy is prevent the unethical practice which is done for the financial benefit, for fame, to increase the number of publication or to get promoted.

  • Scope:
    • To create awareness about responsible conduct of research, thesis, dissertation, promotion of academic integrity and prevention of misconduct including plagiarism in academic writing among student, faculty, researcher and staff.
    • To establish institutional mechanism through education and training to facilitate responsible conduct of research thesis, dissertation, promotion of academic integrity and deterrence from plagiarism.
    • To develop systems to detect plagiarism and to set up mechanisms to prevent plagiarism and punish a student, faculty, researcher or staff of Sumandeep Vidyapeeth committing the act of plagiarism.
    • To establish the mechanism as prescribed in this Policy to enhance awareness about responsible conduct of research and academic activities to promote academic integrity and to prevent plagiarism.
    • To train students, faculty, researchers and staff members about proper attribution, seeking permission of the author wherever necessary, acknowledgement of source compatible with the needs and specificities of disciplines and in accordance with rules, international conventions and regulations governing the source by conducting sensitization/awareness programmes.
  • Policy Statement:

The constituent Institutions shall:

  1. Include the cardinal principles of academic integrity in the curricula of Undergraduate (UG/Postgraduate (PG) Master‘s degree etc. as a compulsory coursework/module,
  2. Include elements of responsible conduct of research and publication ethics as a compulsory course work/module for Masters and Research Scholars,
  3. Include elements of responsible conduct of research and publication ethics in Orientation and Refresher Courses organized for faculty and staff members,
  4. Train students, faculty, researcher and staff for using plagiarism detection tools and reference management tools,
  5. Encourage students, faculty, researcher and staff members to register on international researcher‘s Registry systems,
  6. Declare and implement the technology based mechanism using appropriate software so as to ensure that documents such as thesis, dissertation, publications or any other such documents are free of plagiarism at the time of their submission. This mechanism shall be made accessible to all engaged in research work including student, faculty, researcher and staff members,
  7. Submit a thesis, dissertation, or any other such documents of students, research scholars with undertaking indicating that the document has been prepared by him or her and that the document is his/her original work and free of any plagiarism,
  8. Include the fact in the Undertaking that the document has been duly checked through a Plagiarism detection tool approved by the Sumandeep Vidyapeeth.
    1. Submit a certificate of each research supervisor/guide indicating that the work done by the researcher under him/her is plagiarism free.
    2. Place the approved plagiarism policy on the homepage of the Institution.

Similarity Checks for Exclusion from Plagiarism:

The similarity checks for plagiarism shall exclude the following:

  1. All quoted work reproduced with all necessary permission and/or attribution.
  2. All references, bibliography, table of content, preface and acknowledgements.
  3. All generic terms, laws, standard symbols and standards equations.

Note: The research work carried out by the student, faculty, researcher and staff members shall be based on original ideas, which shall include abstract, summary, hypothesis, observations, results, conclusions and recommendations only and shall not have any similarities. It shall exclude a common knowledge or coincidental terms, up to fourteen (14) consecutive words.

Levels of Plagiarism:

Plagiarism would be quantified into following levels in ascending order of severity for the purpose of its definition:

  1. Level 0 : Similarities up to 10%- Minor similarities, no penalty
  2. Level 1 : Similarities above 10% to40%
  3. Level 2: Similarities above 40% to60%
  4. Level 3 : Similarities above60%

Detection/Reporting/Handling of Plagiarism:

In case any member of academic community suspects with appropriate proof that a case of plagiarism has happened in any document, he or she shall report it to the Institutional Academic Integrity Panel (IAIP). Upon receipt of such a complaint or allegation, the IAIP shall investigate the matter and submit its recommendations to the Sumandeep Vidyapeeth Academic Integrity Panel (SVAIP) of the Sumandeep Vidyapeeth.

The authorities of the Sumandeep Vidyapeeth can take action on the act of plagiarism and initiate proceedings under this Policy.

Institutional Academic Integrity Panel (IAIP):

  1. All Institutes of Sumandeep Vidyapeeth shall notify a IAIP whose composition shall be as given below:
    1. Chairman- Head of the Institute
    2. Member- Senior academician from outside the constituent Institute, to be nominated by the Vice-Chancellor.
    3. Member- A person well versed with anti-plagiarism tools, to be nominated by the Head of the constituent Institute.
  2. The IAIP shall follow the principles of natural justice while deciding about the allegations of plagiarism against the student, faculty, researcher and staff member,
  3. The IAIP shall have the power to assess the level of plagiarism and recommend penalty (ies) accordingly,
  4. The IAIP after investigation shall submit its report with the recommendation on penalties to be imposed to the IAIP within a period of 45 days from the date of receipt of complaint/initiation of the proceedings.

Sumandeep Vidyapeeth Academic Integrity Panel (SVAIP):

  1. The Sumandeep Vidyapeeth shall notify a SVAIP whose composition shall be as given below:
      1. Chairman- Dean/Senior Academician of the Sumandeep Vidyapeeth
      2. Member- Senior Academician other than Chairman, to be nominated by the Vice-Chancellor.
      3. Member- one member nominated by the Vice-Chancellor form outside the Sumandeep Vidyapeeth
      4. Member- A person well versed with anti-plagiarism to be nominated by the Vice-Chancellor.

    Note: The Chairman of IAIP and SVAIP shall not be same. The tenure of the committee members including chairman shall be three years. The quorum for the meetings shall be 3 out of 4 members (including Chairman)

  2. The SVAIP shall consider the recommendation of IAIP.
  3. The SVAIP shall also investigate cases of plagiarism as per the provisions mentioned in this policy.
  4. The SVAIP shall follow the principles of natural justice while deciding about the allegation of plagiarism against the student, faculty, researcher and staff members.
  5. The SVAIP shall have the power to review the recommendations of IAIP including penalties with due justification.
  6. The SVAIP shall send the report after investigation and the recommendation on penalties to be imposed to the Vice-Chancellor within a period of 45 days from the date of receipt of recommendation of IAIP/complaint/ initiation of the proceedings.
  7. The SVAIP shall provide a copy of the report to the person(s) against whom inquiry report is submitted.

Penalties:

Penalties in the cases of plagiarism shall be imposed on students pursuing studies at the level of Masters and Research programs and on researcher, faculty and staff of the Sumandeep Vidyapeeth only after academic misconduct on the part of the individual has been established without doubt, when all avenues of appeal have been exhausted and individual in question has been provided enough opportunity to defend himself or herself in a fair or transparent manner.

  • Penalties in case of plagiarism in submission of thesis and dissertations (PhD and Masters Programme):

The Sumandeep Vidyapeeth Academic Integrity Panel (SVAIP) shall impose penalty considering the severity of the Plagiarism.

    1. Level 0: Similarities up to 10%- Minor Similarities, no penalty.
    2. Level 1: Similarities above 10% to 40%- Such student shall be asked to submit a revised script within a stipulated time period not exceeding 6months.
    3. Level 2: Similarities above 40% to 60%- Such student shall be debarred from submitting a revised script for a period of one year.
    4. Level 3: Similarities above 60% – Such student registration for that programme shall be cancelled.

Note 1: Penalty on repeated plagiarism- Such student shall be punished for the plagiarism of one level higher than the previous level committed by him/her. In case where plagiarism of highest level is committed then the punishment for the same shall be operative.

Note 2: Penalty in case where the degree/credit has already been obtained- If plagiarism is proved on a date later than the date of award of degree or credit as the case may be then his/her degree or credit shall be put in abeyance for a period recommended by the SVAIP and approved by the Vice-Chancellor.

  • Penalties in case of plagiarism in academic and research publications:
  1. Level 0: Similarities up to 10% -Minor similarities, no penalty
  2. Level 1: Similarities above 10% to 40% – Shall be asked to withdraw manuscript
  3. Level 2 : Similarities above 40% to 60%
  4. Shall be denied a right to one annual increment
  5. Shall not be allowed to be a supervisor to any new Master’s, PhD student/scholar for a period of two years.
  6. Level 3: Similarities above 60%
  • Shall be asked to withdraw manuscript
  • Shall be denied a right to two successive annual increments.
  • Shall not be allowed to be a supervisor to any new Master’s, PhD students/scholar for a period of three years

Note 1: Penalty on repeated plagiarism- Shall be asked to withdraw manuscript and shall be punished for the plagiarism of one level higher than the lower level committed by him/her. In case where plagiarism of highest level is committed then the punishment for the same shall be operative. In case level 3 offence is repeated then the disciplinary action including suspension/termination as per serve rules shall be taken by the Sumandeep Vidyapeeth.

Note 2: Penalty in case where the benefit or credit has already been obtained- If plagiarism is proved on a date later than the date of benefit or credit obtained as the case may be then his/her benefit or credit shall be put in abeyance for a period recommended by SVAIP and approved by the Vice-Chancellor.

Note 3: The constituent Institutions shall create a mechanism so as to ensure that each of the paper publication/thesis/ dissertation by the student, faculty, researcher and staff member of the constituent Institutions is checked for plagiarism at the time of forwarding/submission.

Note 4: If there is any complaint of plagiarism against the Head of the Institute, a suitable action, in line with this policy shall be taken by the higher authority, preferably Vice- Chancellor.

Note 5: If there is any complaint of plagiarism against the Head of the Department at the constituent Institution level, a suitable action, in line with this policy shall be recommended by the SVAIP and approved by the competent authority.

Note 6: If there is any complaint of plagiarism against any member of IAIP or SVAIP, then such member shall excuse himself/herself from the meeting(s) where his/her case is being discussed/investigated.

  • Responsibilities:

The responsibilities for the conduct of plagiarism in on the shoulders of the following persons those are directly involved in the research work and its publication:

  1. Research Scholar
  2. Supervisor
  3. Head of the Institute
  • Reporting:

In case of any report of plagiarism by student, research scholar or faculty, matter should be reported to the Institutional Academic Integrity Panel (IAIP) of the constituent institution. IAIP shall investigate the matter at its level and prepare the report of penalty and forward the report to the Sumandeep Vidyapeeth Academic Integrity Panel (SVAIP) to take the final decision.

  • Records management:

All the records and the documents shall be maintained and managed in soft and hard copy by the Department of central Research and Innovation.

  • Related Legislation and References:
  1. Indian Penal Code
  2. UGC Regulations on Curbing Plagiarism 
  • Policy Administrator:

The policy is administered by the Director Research, Sumandeep Vidyapeeth Deemed to be University.

  • Implementation Procedure:

The tool of anti-plagiarism “URKUND” is provided by the Sumandeep Vidyapeeth to check the plagiarism of all documents (thesis, dissertation, Publication of research paper, case report, chapter in book, full-fledged book etc.) of students, faculty, researcher and any staff All researchers/faculty /students can avail the free access of anti-plagiarism software “URKUND” for the academic year 2020-21.

The applicant shall submit the application through proper channel to the Librarian at Learning Resource Centre, SVDU. The report generated is required to be submitted to ethical committee for getting the completion certificate and follow the necessary requirements according to this policy.