Recently, the Government of India notified new regulations “Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Educational Institutions” which were adopted by the University Grant Commission (UGC). The document published in The Gazette of India on July 31, 2018, defines plagiarism and the means to deal with it. 

Plagiarism constitutes unethical scientific behavior and is never acceptable. Proper acknowledgment of the work of others used in a research work must always be given. Further, it is the obligation of each author to provide prompt retractions or corrections of errors in published works.

There are varying degrees of plagiarism warranting different consequences and corrective action, listed below from most to least serious:

1. Verbatim or nearly verbatim copying or translation of a full paper(s), or the verbatim or nearly verbatim copying or translation of a significant portion(s) of another paper(s).
2. Disclosing unpublished data or findings without permission, even if attributed.
3. Unaccredited verbatim or nearly verbatim copying or translation of individual elements of another paper(s).
4. Unaccredited paraphrasing of pages or paragraphs from another paper(s).
5. Credited verbatim copying or translation of a major portion of a paper without clear delineation (e.g., quotes or indents)

With respect to plagiarism, SRDCH follows the TN Dr. MGR University guidelines. URL: plagiarism@tnmgrmu.ac.in

We have our Institutional Review Board and Ethics Committee comprising of members with impeccable credentials who are well experienced in the field of research. The Review board will assess the faculty researcher / PG students / UG students who produce their work in the form of Research Publication / Research Proposal / Thesis Work (PG)/ Project Report. The research work of faculty / PG students in the form of papers / projects must go through the process of plagiarism and has to maintain high academic and production standards. 
 Especially the research work of faculty / PG students in the form of papers / projects must go through the process of plagiarism and has to maintain high academic and production standards. 

All PG students have to compulsorily submit plagiarism report, no objection from guide and co-authors to get their project work approved for publication / thesis presentation. (Annexure no.) Any violation of the rule and other issue, complaints regarding plagiarism attracts disciplinary action to be imposed by committee.

Under the new guidelines by Government of India notified new regulations “Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Educational Institutions” http://www.egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2018/187871.pdf up to 10% similarity is acceptable and terms it as minor or Level 0. The guidelines further quantify the degree of plagiarism as Level 1: Similarities above 10% to 40%, Level 2: Similarities above 40% to 60%, Level 3: Similarities above 60%.

Based upon the level, students or researchers submitting their script face penalty. The penalty ranges from re-submitting revised script for Level-1, debarring for one year for Level-2 and to cancellation of students’ registration from the enrolled program in Level-3 offense. For the faculty, plagiarism beyond 10% similarities mandates withdrawal of manuscript. At 40-60% level they are debarred from supervising a master’s program for two years and lose an increment for one year. If it exceeds 60%, loss of increment for two years and not allowed as supervisor for 3 years is the penalty.