“STRUGGLE AGAINST PLAGIARISM MUST START FROM HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS: DISCUSSION AT YSU

At the beginning of the meeting the Vice-Rector for YSU Scientific Policy and International Cooperation Gegham Gevorgyan greeting those present noted that the main theme of the discussion is plagiarism which seems to be a familiar phenomenon but actually it has no clear definition today.

The Chairman of the RS HAC Smbat Gogyan noted that the aim of the meeting is to discuss and understand what plagiarism is and to create a working group to get engaged in working out the definition, prevention and mechanisms of punishment of plagiarism.

“When we talk on the theme to various specialists it becomes clear that they perceive the phenomenon differently. So, some of them think that if only 25% of the work is plagiarized then it is not a plagiarism. In my opinion, if at least 75% of the work does not consist your own thoughts then it is a plagiarism, but there are works containing lots of quotes and they are more than 25%. Some works are mostly retold, then are they plagiarized or not? Thus, there are no clear definitions and standards”, explained Smbat Gogyan.

The HAC Chairman stated that working out punishment mechanisms id of high importance. “We must understand who is responsible for plagiarism and who is to be punished. We have some theses refused because of being plagiarized, and after a while we get a new thesis the scientific advisor of which is the same person who led the refused work. How can a scientific adviser not to see the plagiarism. I think that many will agree that in case of plagiarism not only the author but also the scientific advisor are guilty”.

Doctor of Psychology, Professor Samvel Khudoyan noted that he considers it to be a plagiarism when a certain though is borrowed but no reference is given. Mr. Khudoyan stated that previously the scientific advisor could have been unaware of the plagiarism. According to him, if it is determined that advisors must be punished for plagiarism their responsibility will certainly increase.

Smbat Gogyan presented the format they want to install during thesis defense. “We want to create a platform containing the profiles of all candidates. All works will be downloaded on the website and each scholar can express opinion. The works will be hidden, but before the defense the scientific secretary will choose some of them and submit for defense. By the way, we want to make it possible on the portal so that the chairman of the commission will be selected randomly”.

According to the HAC Chairman, putting the portal into operation it will become possible to exclude subjective elements. YSU Vice-Rector stated that before putting the portal into operation many issues are to be discussed and explained taking into account a number of consequences.

According to Mr. Gevorgyan, plagiarism is based on theft, so it must be punished. One of the experts expressed opinion that it is necessary to struggle against plagiarism encouraging academic honesty in parallel. Students for the very beginning should be encouraged to write honestly and critical thinking should be encouraged too.
The scientists think that there must be special guidelines, trainings are to be organized. Smbat Gogyan stated that the HAC already has such initiatives and in near future they will be implemented.

The Associate Professor of the Chair of Inorganic and Analytic Chemistry of YSU Lusine Harutyunyan expressed opinion that plagiarism should not be revealed at the final stage of theses defense. It is to be revealed during the publication of the articles.
At the end of the meeting the representatives of the academic community expressed wish to join the expert group and work out the concept of plagiarism together.