A lack of oversight and a lack of proper training for scientists have led to the rise of plagiarism and research misconduct in India.In India, plagiarism is on the rise, GlobalPost. India does not have a statutory body to deal with scientific misconduct in academia, like the Office of Research Integrity in the US, and hence cases of plagiarism are often dealt in ad-hoc fashion with different routes being followed in different cases. In most cases, a public and media outcry leads to an investigation either by institutional authorities or by independent enquiry committees. Plagiarists have in some cases been suspended, removed or demoted. However, no fixed route has been prescribed to monitor such activities. This has led to calls for establishment of an independent ethics body.
Society for Scientific Values The Society for Scientific Values is an independent body of scientists with the goal of upholding ethics in the Indian Scientific community. In absence of a statutory body to investigate academic misconduct, the society has been acting as an independent watchdog over the years. The society has been active in recently over several past cases involving plagiarism. K. L. Chopra, ex-director of Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur is currently the president of the society while N. Raghuram of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University is the secretary.
Indian Research Watch The Indian Research Watch (IRW) is a volunteer‑run, non‑profit academic oversight group founded in 2022 by data scientist Achal Agrawal. IRW’s stated mission is to expose and deter research misconduct such as plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication and image manipulation by Indian authors through anonymous tip‑lines, database analysis, and public reporting on platforms like PubPeer and social media.Basu, Mohana (22 January 2024). “This Indian watchdog is cleaning up ‘mess’ in academia—falsification, fabrication & fraud”. ThePrint. Retrieved 6 July 2025.“Alarming rise of scientific misconduct recorded in India | Data”. The Hindu. 16 November 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
IRW maintains an online portal where whistleblowers can submit allegations anonymously; a team of volunteer researchers then verifies and, where warranted, publicly flags confirmed cases to pressure journals and institutions into action. While IRW has no formal regulatory power, its findings have prompted media coverage and renewed calls for stronger oversight of research integrity in India.
Plagiarism in Indian Institutes of Technology
Between 2006 and 2023, a study by the Indian Research Watch (IRW), drawing on data from the Retraction Watch database, found that 58 papers authored or co‑authored by faculty across 12 of the 23 IITs were retracted for plagiarism or duplicate publication. In the same period, leading global universities reported far fewer retractions (Stanford 3, Princeton 2, Oxford 5, Cambridge 5, Tsinghua 10), highlighting a disproportionate rise in India’s premier engineering institutes.Chhapia, Hemali (7 November 2023). “IIT faculty’s 58 papers retracted in 17 years”. The Times of India. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
Extent of Retractions IRW’s analysis showed that retractions from Indian institutions surged by 2.5‑fold in 2020–2022 compared to 2017–2019, reflecting both increased detection and possible growth in misconduct.
Notable Cases IIT Kharagpur (2010): Prof. R. N. P. Choudhary, then Head of the Physics Department, was removed from his post after a junior colleague accused him of misappropriating credit and text from her work.Sudan Kasturi, Charu (11 October 2010). “Plagiarism punch knocks out IITs”. Hindustan Times. Retrieved 6 July 2025. IIT Kanpur (2010): Two review articles in Biotechnology Advances by Prof. Ashok Kumar (Dept. of Biological Sciences & Bioengineering) and co‑authors were retracted for wholesale copying from earlier papers and Wikipedia; an internal IIT‑K inquiry later recommended major penalties against the professor and several students.“Ethics body slams IITs for handling of plagiarism cases”. The Indian Express. 25 October 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2025.Seshagiri, Mathang (9 October 2010). “Copycats from IIT‑Kanpur?”. The Economic Times. Retrieved 6 July 2025. IIT Delhi & Others (2009): A joint paper by professors from IIT Delhi, Jamia Millia Islamia and IUAC was retracted by Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research for plagiarizing large portions of an earlier publication.“Plagiarism glare on IITs”. The Telegraph India. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
These high‑profile cases prompted the Society for Scientific Values (SSV) to reprimand several IITs in 2010 for lax handling of plagiarism allegations and urged stricter enforcement of academic integrity policies.
Plagiarism in IIMs
IIM Ahmedabad On 17 August 1992, a student complained to the Director IIM stating that "While doing my summer project, I had to do some modelling and data analysis. I had carried my copies of Levin (Statistics for Management), and Baumol (Economic Theory and Operations Analysis) along from the organisation I was in, I borrowed copies of Wagner (Principles of Operations Research) and Quantitative Techniques for Managerial Decisions by U. K. Srivastava (a CMA Prof. at IIMA), G. V. Shenoy, and S. C. Sharma. As I was browsing through the books, I came across a most interesting thing. At several places, the Srivastava, Shenoy, Sharma book had simply lifted stuff from the other three books (Baumol, Levin, and Wagner) and no references anywhere in the book". Upon enquiry a Committee, based on a report by a student, found that the book Quantitative Techniques for Managerial Decisions by U. K. Srivastava, G. V. Shenoy, and S. C. Sharma had copied without acknowledgment of the source at least at 10 different places including 5 foreign books and some other Indian books, such as Baumol, Levin and Wagner (all books were published prior to the publication of the book).Indian Institute Of Management vs Ukakant Shrivastva on 16 March, 2001
IIM Indore On 3 March 2012, the director of IIM Indore, N. Ravichandran, has been asked by the centre to respond to an accusation of plagiarism against him and another senior faculty member of the institute, Omkar D. Palsule-Desai. They had submitted a paper—The management case on "Euthanasia: Should it be Lawful or Otherwise?". Ahmedabad-based researcher K.R. Narendrababu has complained that the paper was sourced heavily from a Supreme Court judgment without adequate attribution. One month later, on 12 April, veteran industrialist Mr LN Jhunjhunwala, who is also the chairman of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indore's board of governors resigned citing major differences with Dr N Ravichandran. Another board member and Bhopal-based retired IAS officer Dr MN Buch also resigned.http://www.pagalguy.com/news/why-chairman-member-iim-indores-board-a-8796288/
Other instances of plagiarism
Prof. B.S. Rajput controversy The most high-profile and widely publicized controversy in India has been that of Prof. B. S. Rajput and colleagues in the field of Theoretical Physics.
Prof. B.S. Rajput was the vice-chancellor of Kumaon University, India in 2002 when various physicists in India started a website alleging that some of his papers claimed authorship of work, reported earlier by other researchers. The principal allegation was that a paper published by S.C. Joshi and B.S. Rajput entitled "Axion-dilaton black holes with SL(2,Z) symmetry through APT-FGP model" in Europhysics Letters, Vol. 57, No. 5, was entirely copied from a six-year-old paper by Renata Kallosh of Stanford in Physical Review D, Vol 54, No. 8. However, the campaign very soon included three other papers by Prof. Rajput and colleagues as plagiarised papers. One of these papers "BPS Spectra of Dyons in Four-Dimensional N = 2 Supersymmetric Theories" was later recalled by the journal Progress of Theoretical Physics.
On publication of the site, Prof. Rajput threatened to take legal action against the website, maintaining that the paper was written by Mr. Joshi, one of his students, without prior approval from him. However, the site was endorsed by over 40 Indian physicists. In addition, seven physicists including Nobel Laureate, S. Chu, R. Laughlin and D. Osheroff wrote to the president of India, APJ Abdul Kalam requesting an investigation in this matter. The situation became murkier when Prof Kavita Pandey, head of the Physics department at Kumaon University claimed that she was suspended by the university as she brought this issue to the public.
In midst of all this blame game, the president of India asked the Governor of Uttaranchal who was also the chancellor of the Kumaon University to institute an enquiry to investigate the case. The committee led by a retired judge of Allahabad high court Justice S.R. Singh consisted of Prof K.B. Powar, former chief of the Association of Indian Universities, New Delhi, Prof Indira Nath, former secretary of the Society of Scientific Values and AIIMS faculty member and physicist Prof R. Rajaraman of JNU. The committee presented its report in February 2003 upholding the plagiarism charges. Prof. Rajput maintained that he has personally done no harm and it was his student's fault. However, he resigned from Vice-chancellorship immediately after the report.
Sangiliyandi Gurunathan controversy Sangiliyandi Gurunathan, a professor from Kalasalingam University in India, has been found to be involved in plagiarism.
Gopal Kundu controversy A controversy erupted in National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune in 2006 when an anonymous mail alleged that the authors (H. Rangaswami and Colleagues from the group of Dr. Gopal Kundu) may have misrepresented data (especially through Western blots) in a paper published in Journal of Biological Chemistry. The allegation was that they had rehashed the same set of data which they had published earlier. An internal committee of the NCCS advised the authors to take back their paper, however an independent committee led by G. Padmanabhan, a former director of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, concluded that there was no manipulation in the data. This led to some heated debate between Indian Scientists with several viewpoints being presented. On 23 February 2007, the Journal of Biological Chemistry withdrew the paper amid allegations of data manipulation. The authors still maintain that the two papers used different set of data though similar experiments. In November 2010, after an internal investigation by its ethics committee, the Indian Academy of Sciences banned Gopal Kundu from participating in their activities for three years.
Prof. P. Chiranjeevi controversy Chemistry professor of Sri Venkateswara University (SVU) is accused of plagiarising more than 70 research papers published between 2004 and 2007. University Executive Council has banned him from undertaking examination work and research guidance. He has been debarred from securing further promotions and appointments to administrative positions.
Dr. Ram B. Singh controversy A private practitioner based in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India is suspected of research fraud.
Prof. K. Kumar controversy