Nearly 70 per cent of the thesis submitted by the JNTU Hyderabad doctoral students is sent back with the anti-plagiarism software detecting the ‘copied' versions in their thesis.
University officials revealed that ever since the anti-plagiarism software ‘Turn-it-in' was adopted by the university in 2009, most thesis are sent back as they cross the permissible limits of using the content already published by other researchers. Such candidates, however, get a second chance to re-write their thesis for the award of degree.
A senior official agreed that the software has put a serious check on blind copying, but majority of the students are still using the content from other publications unaware of the fact that it can detect not only the source but also the degree of similarity with the original version. Sometimes, it's unintentional but a huge number prefers to use the research outcome of others for their work.
Since similarities are inevitable with several researchers taking up similar topics, the software allows about 30 per cent similarities in the work exposed to it while comparing it with other research works. JNTU Registrar K. Lal Kishore agreed that the software has been effective and prominently highlighting the cases where outright copying is done.
The variation levels range from 30 per cent to 70 per cent.
So anything above 30 per cent is sent back to the researchers along with the details detected by the software. “We give a second chance to rewrite the thesis and most students come back with fresh reports,” Prof. Lal Kishore said. He feels the culture of presenting own work has to be promoted consciously.
In fact, the JNTU Hyderabad was the first technological university in the country to adopt the plagiarism prevention service ‘Turn-it-in' to ensure academic honesty, and proper citation of all references.
The software can trace the source and present the copied portions in a different colour making it easy for the adjudicators to detect.
Huge money
Senior professors agree that plagiarism is a major concern in the universities and say it not only kills research abilities but also drains the university resources as huge money is spent on research scholars. In fact, Osmania University has recently proposed in its internal meetings to send the doctoral thesis to foreign adjudicators not only to judge the quality but also to plug plagiarism.
Opposition
However, it was dropped with strong internal opposition.
