Research theses submitted to Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) have to pass the plagiarism check before it is approved.
The universities disclosed data on plagiarism check, done from the academic year 2013-14, in response to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by The Hindu.
For the record, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has made it mandatory for State and Central universities to use anti-plagiarism software to check duplication of PhD theses.
CUSAT uses both URKUND and ‘Dyuthi’ to catch copycats.
On action against any researcher for plagiarism since 2013, the Sanskrit university authorities came out with a vague reply, saying that research scholars had been directed to re-submit theses if they were found to have been plagiarised. Cusat replied that no plagiarised thesis was found.
The anti-plagiarism software marks sentences and paragraphs if more than 30 words from other sources are found to have been used without proper acknowledgement.
According to rules, theses with more than 30% of the content of another individual’s material should be treated as plagiarism. The software helps in detecting possible plagiarism in a document and generates a report showing similarities with other documents.
Original News : The Hindu \ G KrishnaKumar