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| EDITORIAL |
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| Year : 2016 | Volume
: 37
| Issue : 3 | Page : 151 |
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Plagiarism: An issue of concern
Mandip Goyal
Executive Editor- AYU, IPGT and RA, Gujarat Ayurved University, Jamnagar - 361 008, Gujarat, India
| Date of Web Publication | 30-Jan-2018 |
Correspondence Address:
Mandip Goyal
Executive Editor- AYU, IPGT and RA, Gujarat Ayurved University, Jamnagar - 361 008, Gujarat
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/ayu.AYU_221_17
How to cite this article:
Goyal M. Plagiarism: An issue of concern. AYU 2016;37:151 |
In the present scenario, since the publication of research articles has became a necessity, there has been a tremendous flow of new journals and the list of published articles is increasing day by day. It is true that research is incomplete if one does not publish the findings, but in this regard, scholars of today have overruled the fact that fruitful and meaningful studies which have been planned with clear objectives and outcomes and further executed as per the scientific parameters are the ones which are to be published and put in front of scientific fraternity, which ultimately contributes to updation of science.
Review of previous studies is a part of the planning of new study or research project. Many a times, without understanding the finding of previous work and its lacunae, or searching efficiently for a similar subject, a new research study which may be either experimental or literary is planned. In such case, a researcher declares himself/herself as the first contributor of that subject and, without acknowledging the findings of previous research works, publishes the findings. In another instances, because of the urge for publishing an article either for collecting score for academic career or for obtaining degree, scholars have started to collect information from previously published materials, especially from the literary part and materials and methods from already published articles, and are publishing it without duly acknowledging the contributors. This has generated a mess of information and the same scientific material is repeatedly published in various journals. This is the reason why India outstands the list of countries with bogus research articles and plagiarism has become an issue of concern for the research scholars.
It should be clear that to take or appreciate other's work in one's own article is not an ethical matter, but not properly acknowledging is the actual issue. Hence, young scientists of Ayurveda fraternity should take the issue of plagiarism seriously, and before publishing any articles or reports, due consideration of previous work and ideas should be appropriately cited and acknowledged. One should take the examples of Vagbhatta, the author of Ashtanga Hridaya and Madhava, the author of Madhava Nidana, who have mentioned in the very beginning of their texts that they have taken ideas and concepts of previous research texts such as Charaka Samhita and Sushruta Samhita and cited their verses in the texts. This was possible on the part of scientists like Vagbhatta and Madhava as they recognized the contribution of previous authors like Charaka and Sushruta in the field of Ayurveda. Further, they realized the challenge and need for Ayurveda in the future, and thus with a vision to contribute to science, society, and humankind, they compiled the information of previous scientists by duly acknowledging their ideas and principles with further addition of their concepts which were established on scientific parameters. Efforts of Vagbhatta and Madhava teach us the ethical and moral responsibilities of an author, and today time has come to revalue this issue. If scientists of Ayurveda realize these facts, the issue of plagiarism can be dissolved. Availability of research articles at portals, such as AYUSH research portal and DHARA, and various online journals is like a blessing for our fraternity, but we have converted this blessing into curse by merely copying the material instead of utilizing this information for defining the course of upcoming researches.
Because of the increased incidence of plagiarism, nowadays academic institutions and scientific journals depend on software packages to detect plagiarism easily. Hence, scholars should be more cautious in this regard. As part of its effort to have tolerance towards plagiarism, University Grants Commission (UGC) has drafted a new policy to check plagiarism and to impose penalties on those found guilty. As per the draft UGC regulations, if plagiarism is found to be up to 40%, the student or faculty will not be awarded any marks and a revised manuscript should be submitted within a defined time period. In any case if plagiarism is found to be above 60%, his/her registration would be cancelled for that course.
Scholars and scientists of Ayurveda should realize that a major issue at this point is to uplift Ayurveda in global community, and merely utilizing available published articles for individual benefit will ruin the future of Ayurveda. Let us contribute in terms of not only quantity of research articles but also quality of researches in true sense, and this will be a real contribution to our science.
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