UGC to install PhD plagiarism detecting software

To check plagiarism in research work, the University Grants Commission (UGC) is likely to make it mandatory for all colleges and universities to install a plagiarism detecting software. The proposed UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of MPhil/PhD Degrees) Regulations 2012 mandates that “the Academic Council of the institution (or its equivalent body) shall evolve a mechanism to detect plagiarism using well developed software and gadgets that can detect academic theft and the facilities made available by UGC – INFLIBNET.”

According to the proposed regulations, at the time of submitting a dissertation/thesis for evaluation by the PhD scholars, the research supervisor must attest “to the originality of the work, vouchsafing that there is no plagiarism and that the work has not been submitted for the award of any other degree/diploma of the same institution where the work was carried out, or to any other institution.”Besides, the institution must submit a soft copy of the MPhil dissertation and PhD thesis to the UGC within 30 days for hosting the same in the digital repository maintained by INFLIBNET. There shall not be any kind of franchise arrangement, including through Study Centres/Counselling Centres, for admissions, distribution of study material, library and laboratory facilities, collection of fees, conduct of examinations.