In the media

Algeria plans a national AI-powered plagiarism detection system for universities and research institutions, integrating SNDL and university library portals. Between 2018–2025, 50 Algerian papers were retracted (6.3 per year), while globally, around 0.08% of publications are withdrawn annually. By January 2026, the system will access major databases, detect complex plagiarism, and could serve as a model for Africa, promoting academic integrity and research transparency.

Kenya is a major hub for academic ghostwriting, with an estimated 40,000 shadow scholars in Nairobi alone, producing essays, dissertations, and coursework for international students. Earnings range from under 1 GBP per page to thousands of pounds for dissertations. Despite the 2022 ban on essay mills in the UK, ghostwriting practices persist, now increasingly intertwined with generative AI.

South Africa’s Academy of Science has released a revised 2025 Code of Best Practice in Scholarly Journal Publishing, addressing AI misuse, peer-review ethics, open access, data transparency, and diversity. The code strengthens editorial independence, accountability, and integrity, aiming to curb predatory publishing, plagiarism, and unethical authorship. Stakeholders describe it as a blueprint for credibility and a safeguard for research trust.

Artificial intelligence is now scanning academic literature for fraud, plagiarism, and errors on a large scale. Tools like Image Twin and Proofing detect manipulated images, while others flag ghostwriting and fake citations. A global AI-powered audit could soon expose widespread scientific flaws. Experts warn that such revelations may erode public trust, unless the scientific community leads the reform and communicates transparently.

The comprehensive database of academic journals, newspapers, and research papers, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), has lost a legal battle over copyright infringement after a retired professor of economic history accused it of uploading more than 160 of his articles without permission or payment. Beijing Intellectual Property Court has forced the academic platform to remove his papers, pay him more than CNY700,000 (US$110,000) in compensation.

Curtin University implicated in unethical research using facial recognition technology to identify Uyghur and Tibetan minorities has lobbied unsuccessfully for the publishers to retract it on several occasions. An internal review of research by a resigned professor at the university found that he breached several ethical codes, including failing to obtain informed consent and approval. The article remains online although Curtin University deputy vice-chancellor has urged the publisher to remove all references to the university.

The principal of Zakir Husail Delhi College has been promoted to his current designation through dubious and fraudulent means. To meet the eligibility to the post of principal, he plagiarized his work, copied full papers of other authors without mentioning or giving credit. A letter of complaint signed by several academic council members has sent to University Grants Commission.

In October 2015, a New York district court ruled in favor of the academic publisher Elsevier, which had accused Sci-Hub, a website that offers pirated versions of academic papers, of copyright violation. That decision allowed authorities to take down the site’s domain name, sci-hub.org. Suspending a domain name does not delete a website forever, though, it just prevents visitors from knowing where exactly to find it. It’s trivial enough to relaunch the same site under another domain, as Sci-Hub did.

Cairo University, Egypt’s biggest state-run academic institution, has initiated an action plan against thriving but unlawful ‘teaching centres’ in its vicinity, accusing them of “undermining the educational process”. The centres, located just outside campus, are accused of pirating academic books, producing sub-standard study guides and holding fee-charging crash courses for students. Academics, whose books have allegedly been pirated by the centres, say their complaints to law-enforcement authorities have not drawn a response.

In an unprecedented crackdown on academic misconduct, as many as 179 university professors from some 110 universities in South Korea were indicted on Monday after an extensive criminal investigation into a huge copyright scam. The professors have been charged with republishing existing textbooks written by others under their own names by modifying the covers with the alleged connivance of the publishing companies.