ISLAMABAD: Speakers at a seminar held in Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), on Thursday, called for taking effective measures against plagiarism in academic researches submitted by students. They proposed using new online technology which detects the plagiarized material. Researchers need to adopt creativity and innovative approach, keeping “originality” as a pivotal feature in their academic pursuits, Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Shahid Siddiqui said while inaugurating the seminar.
The seminar was arranged by the university’s Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC), in collaboration with Quality Enhancement Directorate. Chief Librarian, Quaid-i-Azam University Anwar Ejaz delivered key-note address at the seminar and underlined the need of effective use of ‘turn it in’ software for plagiarism detection in research papers. Dr Shahid Siddiqui said that the University was focusing on promoting meaningful research that could leave a positive impact on the society and help resolve community-related socio-economic problems.
Eight research Journals were published and a number conferences and events were arranged during the last two years to motivate students to serve the society, through their researches at higher education level. An incentive package was also given to encourage the faculty members to undertake this task as their first priority. Dr Siddiqui said the University was taking foolproof measures to check unethical practices in student researches. Latest and most advance software is being introduced for this purpose, he said hoping that the researchers should ensure making contents of their research free of plagiarism. The research will remain on the top of their future academic agenda, since universities are known by their creative work and new innovations at their end, he added.
