Society should be less tolerant of plagiarism

-Please tell us what does your company Plagiat.pl  do in Azerbaijan and in the world?

-Our company is the second largest in the world and the first in the number of offices abroad, engaged in the creation and implementation of technology for checking various documents, mainly academic for the presence of borrowings. The purpose of this test is to identify plagiarism. We compare the content of documents with documents on the Internet in our database, as well as leading scientific libraries and journals. About 1,000 organizations and over 2 million users in 20 countries use our StrikePlagiarism.com anti-plagiarism system. In Azerbaijan, we started our activities in 2014. We turned to university rectors, the Ministry of Education, the Higher Attestation Commission, the Academy of Sciences and the Copyright Agency. Everywhere we were received very well. We knocked on the door for 2 years; in 2016, Mikail Jabbarov gathered the rectors of Baku universities and recalled the requirement of the Law on Education, the law on copyright and related rights and the mandatory need to combat plagiarism at universities. After that, the board of the Ministry of Education adopted an order that also obliged all universities to check for plagiarism before publishing articles. I remember that because the technical university several times ignored the order of the Ministry of Education, the rector was warned and then relieved of his post. True, I do not quite understand why this rule applied to the rector of a technical university, and this rule was not written in relation to other universities, for example, the Academy of Public Administration, Nakhchivan universities, Lankaran University and many others. Perhaps they are doing fine with plagiarism. At these universities, probably, dear rectors and professors do not fully feel the destructive role of plagiarism, its influence on our society.

-How to assess the situation with plagiarism at the university?

-Very simple, we need to check approximately 50 works in our system. We have repeatedly proved that not a single university and educational institution is ideal, the educational system has its flaws, the legislation is ineffective, and society reacts poorly to combat plagiarism. Have you heard of at least one civic initiative in Azerbaijan in the fight against plagiarism? I did not hear. What does this mean? That we are struggling with plagiarism only on the foundation of the goodwill of a small circle of people who either felt it on themselves, or understand a very dangerous effect on our science and education.

- How is the fight against plagiarism developing with the arrival of your company in Azerbaijan?

-A tragic situation with plagiarism has developed in Azerbaijan. In the Ministry, I heard opinions that the situation is critical; that everything has gone too far, plagiarism has taken root in the minds of many teachers and students. We proposed a comprehensive approach, opening an office, recruiting employees, introducing an anti-plagiarism system, going from university to university and showing each professor an example of how plagiarism differs from a text fragment. In many universities, texts were bought and sold, intermediary companies appeared that sculpted theses. I saw offices of these companies and advertisements stuck on trees at the entrance to many universities, for example, BSU. It seems to me that in recent years, their number has decreased significantly. The reason is the use of our anti-plagiarism system and the implementation of disciplinary measures in BSU and many universities. Ordering work has become risky. In Poland, there was also a critical situation with these companies; newspapers were full of ads in the form of "I will write a job by order." Now their number has significantly decreased in Poland, they have literally imprisoned for fraud. I heard that in Azerbaijan it was possible to buy a doctoral dissertation for 30,000 manat. If true, check out dissertations published in recent years. Do you want pseudo-doctors to treat you? Do you want the engineer who bought his thesis to build houses?

-And how is the fight against plagiarism developing with the arrival of your company in Azerbaijan?

-A tragic situation with plagiarism has developed in Azerbaijan. In the Ministry, I heard opinions that the situation is critical; that everything has gone too far, plagiarism has taken root in the minds of many teachers and students. We proposed a comprehensive approach, opening an office, recruiting employees, introducing an anti-plagiarism system, going from university to university and showing each professor an example of how plagiarism differs from a text fragment. In many universities, thesis were bought and sold, intermediary companies appeared that sculpted theses. I saw offices of these companies and advertisements stuck on trees at the entrance to many universities, for example, BSU. However, it seems to me that in recent years, their number has decreased significantly. The reason is the use of BSU and many universities in the country of our anti-plagiarism system and the implementation of disciplinary measures. Ordering work has become risky. In Poland, there was also a critical situation with these companies; newspapers were full of ads in the form of "I will write a job to order." Now their number has significantly decreased in Poland, they have literally imprisoned for fraud. I heard that in Azerbaijan it was possible to buy a doctoral dissertation for 30,000 manat. If true, check out dissertations published in recent years. Do you want pseudo-doctors to treat you? Was the house built by the engineer who bought his thesis?

-What should be done to reduce plagiarism in education and science?

-Much can be done! It is necessary to stop allowing students and schoolchildren to write off, to teach how to draw up work correctly, to quote correctly, and to be able to work with open sources, to be able to analyze, critically analyze author work and wean from copy-paste skills.

You need to start with the Education Act. The law clarifies and does not allow plagiarism. However, does not specify what disciplinary measures should be applied in specific cases, for example, for plagiarism in a diploma work to return a diploma or not? If plagiarism is found in a teacher’s work, should he continue to work? Reason prompts answers, but they must be reflected in the law so that a single practice is applied everywhere. In 2014, in Poland, amendments to the Law on Higher Education obliged all universities to check all types of academic written student and scientific works for plagiarism from January 1, 2015 using anti-plagiarism systems. Azerbaijani legislation is similar to Polish in plagiarism, though the law is not fully implemented. In Poland, if plagiarism is found in a dissertation, the Ministry of Higher Education and Science sends a case to the prosecutor's office, as there is a violation of the Copyright and Related Rights Act. To start the trial, you do not need the person who was written off, a third party appeal is enough. Further, the court and the deprivation of degree, financial sanctions, the inability to occupy leadership positions at the university, including imprisonment. All this is reflected in the Law on Copyright and Related Rights and in judicial practice. In Azerbaijan, the Law on Education does not specify the consequences of violating academic ethics in the form of plagiarism, which means that the Copyright Law should be applied, thereby imposing criminal responsibility on plagiarists. Ukraine adopted amendments to the Law on Higher Education and introduced disciplinary measures against students and teachers, which I spoke about earlier, actually saving them from the criminal liability that the Law on Copyright and Related Rights requires. I think Azerbaijan should take advantage of the experience of Ukraine and Poland.

- The law on education should also oblige a code of academic ethics, a commission on academic ethics at each educational institution, loan verification programs, emphasize the mandatory verification of all types of academic work for plagiarism, and introduce responsibility for plagiarism and the verification procedure in the accreditation system of educational programs. Everything is clear with the laws. What do you recommend to universities?

-We recommend introducing discipline everywhere - an academic writing. Check all types of work for plagiarism; show the student errors, given the opportunity to fix it, and to evict the most inept; to dismiss teachers caught plagiarizing. The market does not need specialists who are not able to write a thesis. They probably can learn something else. Thank God, many people in the country think the same way as I, a lot of worthy scientists, professors, politicians, journalists who supported us and I am very grateful to them.

-What is plagiarism, why is it dangerous and could you give an example of plagiarism?

- Let me give you an example, you bought a car, your neighbor stole it and drives it to work. However, you could earn money and feed your family. This car is your intellectual property, whether it is expressed in the form of a car or in the form of an idea, if it can bring profit to your family. Another example, you came up with a new patent, invention, new technology, and your colleague, having heard it, announced it, or patented the first one, will you like it? Of course not.

Plagiarism is the theft of someone else's intellectual property, moreover, it must also be creative, and that is, if it is an official order, a decree, that is, an official document, then it cannot be coordinated. Self-plagiarism is also not a form of plagiarism, it is impossible to steal from oneself. However, self-plagiarism is rather a form of unethical behavior in science and education. We often hear about self-plagiarism, saying that he wrote an article in one language, then translated it into English and reprinted it in another publication. The editor of the publication can evaluate this fact as an attempt to deceive, if not warned. Printing the same publication in different languages ​​is normal, as they focus on different language audiences, but it is not normal to print an article and paste it into your dissertation, you need to describe the processes reflected in the dissertation with a reference to your work. A fragment of an author’s, creative text that has a link to a source cannot be plagiarized. We try to show each teacher with examples, as we understand that it is impossible to change the situation only by administrative measures.

-And how are people fighting plagiarism in Azerbaijan?

-Differently. There are universities that were among the first to eradicate plagiarism inside the university, of course, it was the decision of the rectors and the Ministry of Education, and many rectors did not want their diplomas to be stamped, sold and bought, someone obviously made money on it. This is disgusting. However, there are universities that until the last pretend that they are doing well at the university. After signing an agreement with the Higher Attestation Commission of Azerbaijan, many universities began to check dissertations with great zeal. In 2019, in addition, a decree of the President of the country on increasing the responsibility of dissertation councils for plagiarism entered. If plagiarism is found, they dissolve. A serious legal framework has emerged. True, I hope that this decree will be reflected in the Law on Education.

-And how do neighboring countries fight plagiarism?

-Differently. In Kazakhstan, based on 595 decree of the Minister of Education and Science also for violation of academic honesty - expulsion from the university. In Kazakhstan, I was invited to an expert group at the Ministry of Education and Science on plagiarism. We conducted a serious study of the state of affairs, identified many problematic issues, and gave our recommendations to the Ministry of Education and Science. We conducted a similar study in Ukraine, Georgia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Uzbekistan. In Poland, disciplinary commissions function at universities. An ethics committee deals with violations of academic integrity and can make decisions on returning a diploma, degree or position, up to and including expulsion from an educational or scientific institution. Since 2020, in Poland and Ukraine, funding for scientific and educational institutions has been linked to efficiency, that is, KPI, which includes publications in leading journals, the availability of plagiarism verification systems, plagiarism verification procedures, and much more. Accreditation of educational programs in Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria and Romania is not possible without an organized anti-plagiarism check at the university.

-And what about plagiarism in the media in Poland?

-Magic plagiarism is not widespread. The reason is severe punishment. The Copyright and Related Rights Act obliges you to provide a link to the source and ask for permission to reprint the copyright work. In Azerbaijan, Article 19 of the Law on Copyright and Related Rights also says that the author has the right to prohibit copying of published articles. True, many agencies are interested in reprinting their material, but newspapers do not always give the source, they also often copy the whole material as their own. In Poland, agencies and newspapers get extra profit for the material; this is their content, their product. The media widely use the anti-plagiarism system, including a system for removing pirated torrents from websites.

- We also faced an unusual situation, which only proved that without a mechanism for implementing the law, the fight against plagiarism would depend solely on the goodwill of people who are interested in this.

-We had a case when, in one of the Baku universities, what to hide, the Technical University, the rector changed, the rector invited us and announced that they would refuse our services further, because they did not see the point in working together. We told that the procedures have been implemented, we have launched a large number of processes, and there is a real dynamics of improving the situation with plagiarism, and that you give unclean teachers the opportunity to write and sell works to students again, because the anti-plagiarism system was the only mechanism to prevent the copying of previously written works. The answer was that it would be better if the Ministry bought the system from us and they would not be repeated .... I did not find other arguments, the law simply does not work.

- It turns out that not all universities fight plagiarism.

- There are universities that do not test plagiarism at all. In most universities, only diploma theses and dissertations are checked, for example, coursework, all kinds of student written works are not plagiarized, and it is from them that the copy-paste skill begins to form with which they come to the stage of writing the thesis, and are not able to get rid of this skill.

-And what about plagiarism in the media in Poland?

-Media plagiarism is not widespread. The reason is severe punishment. The Copyright and Related Rights Act obliges you to provide a link to the source and ask for permission to reprint the copyright work. In Azerbaijan, Article 19 of the Law on Copyright and Related Rights also says that the author has the right to prohibit copying of published articles. True, many agencies are interested in reprinting their material, but newspapers do not always give the source, they also often copy the whole material as their own. In Poland, agencies and newspapers get extra profit for the material; this is their content, their product. The media widely use the anti-plagiarism system, including a system for removing pirated torrents from websites.

-Can you talk about scandals related to plagiarism in the post-Soviet space and in the world recently?

-A lot of them. But there are also interesting cases, for example, the Ukrainian company Edubirdie, which hired very famous Western bloggers and ordered them to advertise their custom work writing service, as the BBC found out and printed a large negative article. In Russia, appeared companies that pretend to be anti-plagiarism services are Advego plagiatus, ETXT.ru, TXT.ru and others that offer a cheap and almost free plagiarism checking service on their website and offer you to buy a job there by ordering in advance her. That is, everything that you upload for verification forms a content store, or as they call the exchange, and resell the downloaded work to other authors. Just yesterday I ran into the new company ANTIPLAGIARISM.net, a short analysis showed that the address of the company was registered in Cyprus in Limassol, the site is in Russian and English, there is not a word about the owner, and 10 other campaigns are registered under the same address. I think there is no need to explain that this is some kind of fake service.

In Bulgaria, the pomogalo.com service buys works and resells them; in Azerbaijan, there are similar resale services for theses. The global market for fake dissertations is expressed in billions of dollars of turnover.

In Poland, the rector of the Podhalsky Theological Academy wrote a dissertation in Slovakia (Slovakia is considered an offshore plagiarism zone in the EU) and was elected rector. Activists found plagiarism in his dissertation; the Ministry of Higher Education and Science of Poland sent a request to the prosecutor's office. There will be a court. In Romania, my good acquaintance, the famous journalist Emilia Serjan, who once found plagiarism in the dissertation of Prime Minister Ponto, which led to the political crisis in the country, recently found plagiarism in the dissertation of the rector of the police academy, and immediately received SMS threats of reprisal. The next day they went on the trail, SMS was ordered by the rector, he was fired and taken into custody; he faces several years in prison. Plagiarism was found in dozens of dissertations by the rectors of Russia. In Russia, works a dissernet, and in Ukraine, a dissergate, a public organization whose purpose is to identify plagiarism in the dissertations of scientists, politicians and officials. In Kazakhstan, in our system, StrikePlagiarism.com found plagiarism in the dissertation of Vice Minister of Education and Science Ms. Zhakypova. She was forced to resign. True, the confrontation between her and Kazakhstani experts lasted several months, the academic community was divided into two camps, but the facts remained facts, there was plagiarism in the dissertation. I was invited to television; citizens were interested in why the plagiarism of the vice-minister’s dissertation is a threat to the entire education system, and credibility. She left, a new era was formed in Kazakhstan, a new attitude to plagiarism. A dissertation should not be a condition for appointment to a high position outside the academic environment.

In Europe as a whole, plagiarism is fought differently; the attention of journalists and the public always helps to combat plagiarism. One way or another, plagiarism is connected with politics, society, and the more honest people and professionals in a society, the more it will be less tolerant of plagiarism.

Thank you for the interesting interview.

Thank you!