plagiarism

 Plagiarism என்றால் இன்னொருவர் எழுதிய வார்த்தைகளை காபி செய்து தன்னுடைய வார்த்தை என்று ப்ரெசென்ட் பண்ணுவது.  2010 ஜனவரி இல் பிலிப் அவருடைய கணக்கு specialty  இல் உள்ள latest ஆராய்ச்சிகளை வாசிக்கும்  போது சில வார்த்தைகள்ளேல்லாம் தெரிஞ்ச மாதிரி இருக்குதே என்று யோசித்து வாசித்து கொண்டே இருந்தார். பாதி article வாசிக்கும் போது அந்த எழுத்துக்கள் எல்லாம் அவருடைய Ph.d. Dissertation இல் இருந்து வந்தது என்று அறிந்து கொண்டார். அந்த article உடைய author யார் என்று பார்க்கும் போது, அவர் கூட படித்த இன்னொரு Ph.d. classmate என்று உணர்ந்து கொண்டார். உடனே திஹைத்து விட்டார். இந்த ஆளு இப்போ துருக்கி நாட்டில் ஒரு கல்லூரியில் பெரிய chair of the department/professor (he will be referenced as the திருடன் in the rest of the blog)". இப்படி ஒரு professor கேவலமாக தன்னுடைய classmate வேலையை plagiarize செய்தது பயங்கரமான விஷயம். இந்த ஊரில் மிக ஸ்ட்ரிக்ட் copyright சட்டங்கள் இருப்பதால், இப்படி plagiarize யாரவது செய்தார்கள் என்று கண்டுபிடித்தால் அவர்களை வேலை இல் இருந்து dismiss செய்வர், அவர்களுக்கு ஏதும் grant பணம் இருந்தால் அதை  நீக்கி விடுவர், அந்த subject இல் இருந்து அவர்களை censure செய்து விடுவர். 
So when பிலிப்பு found out that part of his dissertation was plagiarized he contacted the editor and never heard back from him. His dissertation contains enough material to publish at least 3 papers. பிலிப்பு  got one article published and this திருடன் plagiarized and got another one published last January 2010. So பிலிப்பு decided that before this திருடன் gets any more stuff published from his dissertation that he was going to write his manuscript and get it ready to submit to the journal. But he was waiting to hear back from the editor of the original journal where his dissertation got plagiarized. Well guess what happened yesterday? The திருடன் plagiarized AGAIN! பிலிப்பு gets an e mail from his advisor yesterday asking him to check out a manuscript written by this திருடன் but it has not yet been published. We don't know why his advisor got this, we are thinking that perhaps that this திருடன் sent the article to some journal and they may have sent it to பிலிப்பு's advisor for refereeing the paper. I believe in Math the refereeing process or peer review as we call it in the sciences takes a good 6 months or so. Well பிலிப்பு looks at the manuscript and realizes that the திருடன் has copied word for word from the second half of his dissertation!! But this time he gave credit to பிலிப்பு's work and referenced him in the reference section. However he gives credit for only one theorem when in fact he has copied the whole section. And then the icing on the cake is - in the reference section there is one manuscript listed as "to appear". This manuscript has the same title as the last section of பிலிப்பு's  dissertation!!! So now we are convinced that he is probably lifted complete sections of other people's papers too. பிலிப்பு is currently trying to find that information out. Here are some essential differences between subjects like ours and Math. In the sciences more than 80% of the research done in every nook and corner of the world, and published in every scientific journal is available on Pubmed or Medline or Web of Science. So today if one of you is a reviewer of a journal and  you received a manuscript, you could write in the keywords and figure out if that research has already been done and published. Unfortunately not every research done in every part of the world in mathematics is available on MathSci net or the equivalent of Medline in Math. So if I was a reviewer/referee for a journal and received a manuscript in Math there is no way for me to find out if it has already been published. We are perplexed and trying to figure out what is the best plan of action. One can't just e mail the திருடன் and give him a piece of one's mind which would be ideal but definitely not professional. There are no international copyright laws that have  jursidiction over some university in துருகி;  if that was the case, this guy would have to be stripped of his professor title, his reputation maligned and completely discarded from the Mathematical society. But that is not going to happen. However,
if the editors do make the திருடன் retract the article, then I am not sure if பிலிப்பு would still be able to publish his work since it has already been out. Right now all of பிலிப்பு'ச doctoral research is completely scooped!!
Gujili