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In an analysis carried out jointly by the Publications Ethics Committee and the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers, over half of the 3,440 articles submitted over a two-year period were found to be fake. Open science practices, such as pre-registration of study plans and registered reports could promote transparency and accountability. Recognizing the importance of peer review and rewarding reviewers can also strengthen academic integrity and reduce the proliferation of suspect articles.

When a doctoral student denounced the theft of her work, she was told that it was part of the game. One in five PhD students in the academic world is facing this practice. According to an online survey conducted among 1,800 PhD students and young doctors, 21% of respondents said they had seen someone else take credit for their work. Concerned about the impact on their future careers, many PhD students choose to remain silent on such abuse.

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.

In a national survey on research integrity by Dutch academics, 40,000 researchers, from PhD students to full professors, admitted to committing at least one of the 11 questionable research practices. One in 12 researchers is estimated to have fabricated or falsified research results in the last three years. According to a postdoctoral researcher and lead investigator of the survey, findings are already being discussed with policymakers in universities and medical centres in the Netherlands.

To promote their academic position and for other financial benefits, many teachers including university professors, submit their thesis papers based on plagiarism. Last January, three professors at Dhaka University were dismissed following accusations of plagiarism in their research work. In the last five years at least 10 teachers of the same institution have also been accused of plagiarism or violation of copyright rules in their research works.

A petitioner accused Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Bathinda of unethical practices and alleged employment of at least 12 ghost teachers. The employees would just come to the private institute and mark their presence and then return to their own institutes. The high court directed medical bodies to investigate the complaint and take appropriate action.

A recent study made some alarming findings on the extent of plagiarism and other forms of unethical academic behaviour at Moroccan tertiary education institutions. About half of the respondents admitted to having plagiarised text; however, the study confirms that plagiarism is not always intentional, particularly among scholars whose native language is not English. One way to reduce plagiarism is to provide training on research integrity as well as on business ethics.