KASHMIR NEWS TRUST
Srinagar, July 29: University of Kashmir that was recently declared as one of the best Universities in the country has this time been in bad news as one of its Professors and his two Research students have been found involved in copy-pasting the research papers of two foreign academicians.
The documents accessed by Kashmir News Trust show that a Head of Department Zoology Professor Fayaz Ahmed and his two research students have allegedly plagiarized two research papers, authored by RomualdaPetkeviciute (2003) of the Institute of Ecology, Vilnius, Lithuania and Tomas Scholz et al. (2012), from Institute of Parasitology, Czechkosalvakia and United Kingdom.
It is sheer gross violation and as per the new regulations on Plagiarism drafted by the University Grants Commission in its meeting held in March this year anyone found involved in this misconduct can even be dismissed from the services. Pertinently, Delhi High Court has convicted a Professor for having been found involved in plagiarism. One of the Vice Chancellors of Delhi University was sent to jail for alleged plagiarism and forgery.
As per the information available with KNT Prof Fayaz during 2014 and 2016, published two research papers entitled “Comparative Karyological Analysis of three species of Bothriocephalusrudolphi 1808 (CestodaPseudophyllidea) from Schizothorax species of Kashmir Valley and the other under the title “Occurrence, spread and control measures of Bothriocephalusacheilognathi (Bothriocephalidae : Cestoda)” in the “Journal of Parasitic Diseases” of “Indian Society of Parasitology under Co-authorship of Tanveer Ahmed Sofi and Bashir Ahmed Sheikh.
It was found that said research articlesentitled “Comparative Karyological Analysis of three species of Bothriocephalusrudolphi 1808 (CestodaPseudophyllidea), is the original work of Dr. RomualdaPetkeviciute of the Institute of Ecology, Vilnius, Lithuania, published in the Journal Parasitology Research (2003). Similarly another research paper entitled “Bothriocephalusacheilognathi”
Insiders said that Prof. Sukhbir Kaur, Chairperson Department of Zoology, Punjab University, Chandigarh and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Parasitic Diseases of Indian Society for Parasitology, after having found significant overlap, immediately retracted the papers from online edition of the journal.
“Kashmir University doesn’t need pseudo-researchers. If one has done anything wrong, he must be taken to task,” said a senior Professor adding that all the research paper works of scholars and Professors need to be checked and verified.
He said this is a high level Academic / Research corruption.
If sources are to be believed, whenever any wrong-doing of any employee is referred to Kashmir University, instead of enquiring into the matter and penalizing guilty, complaint / case is handed over to the same offender for rebuttal. (KNT)
