Adil Najam
One of the earliest posts we did at ATP (27 June, 2006) was about our societal lack of intellectual morality and highlighted the case of some Punjab University Professors at the Centre for High Energy Physics (CHEP) who had been accused of plagiarism and were under investigation.
I have tried to keep an eye on the story and while some details trickle in the movement has been disturbingly slow and some of the new revelations are even more disturbing.
In September we heard that the cheating professors would be served a charge sheet by the University of the Punjab and the professors given 7 days to respond. In October a single line in a news item suggested this had happened. I was more curious, however, to find out what would happen to the professors as a result of this.
I am still not sure what the answer is, but as of August, at least one of them was given a plushy key job by being elevated to the Advance Studies and Research Board (ASRB) of the University!
What message is the university sending to its students and the world by appointing someone convicted of cheating - i.e., academic theft and deception - to something called the ‘Advance Studies and Research Board’? By the way, the job of this Board is to approve all PhD level theses! According to the news report:
According to PU Registrar Dr Naeem Khan, the accusations of plagiarism had nothing to do with the ASRB. He said: “We have inducted him as an experimental physicist in recognition of services rendered to the varsity as former head of the PhD programme.”
I am still wondering what was their ‘punishment’?
They are still listed - some with smiling photographs - on the University website. Does anyone know? Please tell.
Meanwhile, now there is news from the American Institute of Physics (AIP), which does seem to be doing something about this. According to the Daily Times (14 December, 2006):
The American Institute of Physics (AIP) has withdrawn research papers by six Punjab University (PU) teachers from its records after finding the exact details of the plagiarism they were accused of. The AIP had initially doubted chances of plagiarism by the six teachers from the PU Centre for High Energy Physics (CHEP) - Rashid Ahmed, Fazal-e-Aleem, Maqsood Ahmad, Haris Rashid, MA Saeed and Ayub Faridi) whose articles they had added to their records and their website.
The institute has now confirmed plagiarism by the teachers, individually elaborating the scale of plagiarism in each write-up. According to recent developments published on the AIP website, “Upon analysis of the article Computational Methods: Tool for Electronic Structure Analysis of Solids, the vast majority of the text can been attributed to nearly identical blocks of text in three sources that were not cited in the article and to a fourth source that was cited but to which inadequate attribution was given. The publisher, the American Institute of Physics, is thus issuing a retraction of this article.�
Official AIP documents further explain that PU teachers Rashid Ahmed, Maqsood Ahmed, MA Saeed and Fazal-e-Aleem claimed to be the author of the paper. The institute has said that it was 80 percent plagiarised while the details were basically stolen and combined from four other sources, which the institute has also cited in its documents. “Current Status of Exotic Hadrons�, which MA Saeed, Maqsood Ahmed and Fazal-e-Aleem claimed to have written, was stolen from three different sources and was 90 percent plagiarised, according to the AIP. The institute has cited the original sources of the article in their documents. The third article that the AIP has retracted was named “Paths of Elementary Particles on K-Surfaces� claimed by Muhammad Ayub Faridi, Haris Rashid and Fazal-e-Aleem. The institute has also cited the three original sources of the article from where the details were stolen and combined while concluding that 55 percent of the article was plagiarised.
To see the article retractions now on the AIP website go here, here and here.
Surprisingly, this new news report (14 December) ends by saying:
The Punjab University has also formed an investigation committee to probe the matter. The committee has not completed its investigation so far.
When will the investigation end. And how much proof do they need. I realize that some of the younger scholars listed here might just not have known, but the senior ones - especially the Director of the institute - had to; and if he did not, that is itself deplorable.
The irony of having so recently discussed the life, work and indignity inflicted on Dr. Abdus Salam and now finding most of the faculty of this center for high energy physics revealed as liars and cheats is not lost on us.
I had ended the original post by saying that “Plagiarism is a serious academic problem all over the world, including in the West. It is becoming particularly serious in Pakistan because:”
- the internet makes stealing easier; although, plagiarists beware, it also makes catching plagiarism earlier;
- newer and higher incentives to steal because the Higher Education Commission (HEC) rewards publication (thankfully, the HEC seems to be aware of this and has a ‘zero tolerance policy.’); and
- in at least some cases researchers may never have been taught how to distinguish right from wrong; the difference between research that builds on other’s ideas (by referencing) and plagiarism that steams from others (by taking credit for other’s ideas).
Even as, elsewhere on this blog, we quibble about whether ‘our’ univeristy was placed high enough in the HEC univeristy rankings or not, I am more worried about the overall state (i.e., lack) of intellectual morality in society.
Despite the excuses we make to ourselves as students or as scholars, there is no ambiguity at all about what plagiarism is. It is clear and simple. Taking someone else’s ideas and presenting them as if they were your own is not just wrong, its illegal. The rules of what is and is not plagiarism are straight-forward and known.
More and more, I also worry - like Darwaish who has been thinking about student cheating - that just like too many of us no longer consider rishwat (bribery) to be ‘real corruption’, too many of us also do not consider cheating and plagiarism to be crimes. Well, I have information for you. They are!
I would again take the folk’s attention towards the words of Farooq Hasnat who stated in his last writing to this forum, “Let me be honest with you Professor Sahib, nothing would happen, no matter how hard all of us try to expose these crimes. The whole strata at the national level need to change. The Universities are part of a society and that society is unfortunately polluted by plunder, cheating, shortcuts and lack of commitment.”
But a I have developed a ray of hope in the way that media has somehow started playing its role and people are getting aware about the hazards of plagiarism, which would some day trigger a change in the society, whereas we still lie in two boats named ‘hope’ and ‘despair’ while ‘keep hammering away’ should be order of the day.
We have polluted the stream called Pakistan and we would have to purify at any case or get ready for another devostation, which was waiting ahead.
Hey Amjhad , whoever you are Rafiq Asim or Amjad or someone , If you are firm on your opinion that it was copied work then why dont u just host it somewhere and give a url back to community. Just your only words mean nothing. None of us has verified it ourselves and i think it is not worth of blamming anyone like that.You are only trying to spoil name of prestegious institute and nothing else, and btw i know Mr.Fahad Khalil from ages, his smiles are best in his way , better than wicked smiles of so many people and about dressing i think none of us ever saw him in stripped leather jackets and torn jeans. And also clear your confusion it is chairman and uet syndicate that qualifies anyone as teacher of department , not mr Fahad Khalil at all.
HI to everyone again. I am sending all the proofs to khawaja Naveed and everyone I can find on UET-CS today(January 2, 2007). Any one else who wants the documentary proof and can help me host it on the net, send me an email on rafiq.asim@yahoo.com. the good news is that with a keen eye and good CS knowhow, one can also find significant instances of plagiarism to which Daniel Marcu work has also been subjected to. Khawaja Naveed, I request you to host all the documents I send you and give the link on this blog and to everyone else. And please tell Fahad Khaleel to do something about the vulgar choice of dresses he wears, the smiles he “Adorns” and the people he qualifies as “Teacher of the Department”. May be what he meant was “Cheater of the department”.
Hi people here is the origional News on dailytimes on 25th January 2007.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007 1\25\story_25-1-
2007_pg13_2
Plagiarism by UET Computer Science professor? HEC
investigating `cheating’ allegations
* HEC says contacted research journals that published Dr Shoaib’s
work to confirm accusation
* Dr Shoaib denies allegations, says department colleagues spreading
rumours
By Afnan Khan
LAHORE: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) is investigating
allegations of plagiarism by a professor of the University of
Engineering and Technology’s (UET) Computer Science Department, HEC
director Dr Sohail H Naqvi told Daily Times on Wednesday.
He said HEC had transferred the case to officials concerned and that
they had started investigating whether Dr Muhammad Shoaib had
plagiarised the research thesis of Dr Daniel Marcu of the University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute to develop
his own PhD thesis.
The UET professor had submitted his research on Computer Standards
and Interfaces in 2006 and was awarded a PhD for it.
Dr Naqvi said the HEC had contacted research journals where Dr
Shoaib’s work had been published to confirm whether he had copied
from someone else’s work.
He said the issue was sensitive and everyone had to be careful.
Irresponsible comments could bring a bad name to Pakistani
researchers. He said the HEC did not tolerate cheaters and had
already acted against professors from the International Islamic
University in Islamabad and Government College University in Lahore
in this regard. He said the commission was also waiting for the
results of the committee investigating allegations of plagiarism by
six teachers from Punjab University’s Centre for Higher Energy
Physics.
Dr Shoaib denied the allegations, claiming the HEC had cleared him of
any wrongdoing. He said he had developed his thesis after thorough
research conducted under the supervision of a US-based Pakistani
external (examiner). He also said three foreign `externals’ had
examined his PhD thesis before approval.
He said the HEC had asked him to submit the original documents of his
thesis and PhD degree because they wanted to look at them. He said
that a few days later the commission told him that it agreed that his
thesis was original. Dr Shoaib abstained from showing the HEC
documents that cleared him of any wrongdoing.
He also said his thesis was published in foreign journals.
Dr Shoaib said some colleagues in his department were jealous of him
because he was UET’s first PhD student and had a good job at the same
institution. “They have spread rumours about my thesis being a copy
of someone else’s,” he added.
I think culprits like DR.Muhammad Shoaib should be immediately dismissed , as everyone knows in UET , he is the person who is surviving on politics by carrying tails of every chairman.HEC should take notice immediately about thesis of Shoaib of UET being copied work , here is the email which i got anonymously from someone few days ago.
He writes his Dr. with both letters capital. Does’nt it signify anything? And he suites people instead of suing them. Well.. and he plagiarises.. and plagiarises shamelessly and so blatantly.
Hi to you all. I know you all but I cant tell who am I . For you people, its enough to know that I am the one who initiated it all becasue we live amongst deaf, dumb, dead retards. Everyone knows whats happening around but no one bothers becasue no one is alive. Anyways friends, now I need your help. And I need an immediate reponse;preferably tonight . I know you people dont sleep early. I sent all the documentary proofs of this plagiarism to HEC, but somehow in the news item, Dr. Sohail Naqvi mentioned only Dr. Daniel Marcu, whereas the fact is that 90% of the plagiarism has been done from the papers of Dr.Fari Marir. All this information was sent to Sohail Naqvi, but I get this gut feeling that he will try to save the skin of DR.Muhamamd Shoaib becasue, as pointed out someone, a repectable name is also involved. Dr. Fari Marir papers will expose Shoaib very easily and thats why his name has not been mentioned. Now lets get down to bussiness. To make sure that justice is done and the plagiarist doesnt get away with crime( infact in this case he has been awarded by a Ph.D for his crime) we need to drum up the case to such a pitch where it would be impossible for anyone to ignore or turn a blind eye or to hush up the things and brush it under the carpet. I want to know if it would be possible for you to host all the documentary proofs on some web site and circulate its link so that these proofs are accessible to everyone. I will also provide the links where the original papers can be found and of course the plagiarists papers too and the emails which I recieved from the publishers of Elsevier in which they decided on taking action on this paper. Give an early reponse and keep up the good work. I want to remain annonymous for the time being. I know I can trust you people this much and more. Bye
This editorial in Dawn today (21 January, 2007) suggests that the tide may be turning… at least in public opinion. I certainly hope that is so:
It was almost certain that the government of Pakistan would have to pay the price of the development of sophisticated modern technology, which was exposing the skills of our so-called intellectuals who left no stone unturned to earn bad name to this already censured nation by stealing the works of others.
Being a researcher, I believe that the government would have to face alot of disappointment as dozens of such plagiarists were likely to be exposed in the country of Dr Abdul Salam, Patras Bukhari and Dr Asad Abidi.
I think it was the duty of all of us to keep blowing the wistle and crying foul for the betterment of the next generation and cleansing of the society.
I would also pay tribute to the papers like Daily Times and Dawn who remain one step ahead to unveil the faces of these perverted monsters.
Ofcourse highly commendable this action of GCU administration. I think the only difference is that unlike PU and UET, the Vice Chancellor of GCU is an intelligent, principled and patriotic civilian and not otherwise. To keep all the concerned updated, the news at UET is that HEC (Dr,Sohail Naqvi) has promised immediate and decisive action, ofcourse if plagiarism is found. ( In this case you dont even have to look for it …its so starkly, nakedly ,shamlessly on display). Lets hope this case reaches a logical conclusion as in the case of GCU and IIU. The case at UET is even more serious as the plagiarism has been awarded by a Ph.D degree in Computer Science.And now , the Plagiarist office name plate boasts of “DR.Muhammad Shoaib”.