Search Page

Two Norwegian politicians face plagiarism accusations regarding their master's theses, leading to investigations by their universities. The scandals have sparked debates over academic integrity, with calls for stricter penalties for plagiarism. The incidents have also raised concerns about the treatment of students versus politicians and the need for national regulations on plagiarism. Experts stress the importance of promoting ethical research norms and integrity within universities.

Under the new measures approved on academic integrity for all its candidates, all Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members standing for election will have to list their degrees and sign an academic ethics statement declaring that they did not engage in plagiarism, falsification or ghostwriting when writing their theses. This follows the revoke of various doctoral degrees of DPP members for plagiarism allegations.

Following two scandals at National Taiwan University involving two politicians, the president of the Union of Private School Educators called on the Ministry of Education to ensure that university dissertation plagiarism is prevented. Academics are unlikely to blow the whistle on misconduct by politicians studying for degrees. Instead of being compromised by favours from politicians, thesis advisers should instead be gatekeepers of academic ethics.

There have been several cases of ethical violations in India in recent years. A well-known newspaper reported that a series of articles belonging to prestigious research institutions have been published by Indian scientists. They were flagged on a research discussion platform for including images that had been altered and copied from other sources. However, some improvement in ethics has been noted. The government's Chief Scientific Adviser issued the Draft National University Ethics Policy in July 2019, which addresses issues such as plagiarism, data manipulation, and harassment. In December 2019, the UGC made a two-credit course on ethics mandatory as part of undergraduate courses in India.

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.