Dishonest academic practices must stop

Civilisation's advancement has always depended on knowledge, especially that which is credible and verifiable. So, to learn that at least 325 scientific papers published by Bangladeshi researchers in international journals have been retracted over allegations of plagiarism and irregularities is indeed disturbing. An investigation by Prothom Alo found that reputed publishers such as Elsevier, Springer, Nature, Wiley, Hindawi, and IEEE retracted papers by researchers affiliated with several public and private universities in the country over the last seven years. These institutions include Dhaka University, Chittagong University, Jahangirnagar University, Rajshahi University, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Gopalganj Science and Technology University, Begum Rokeya University, North South University, United International University, World University of Bangladesh, BGC Trust University Bangladesh, and Bangladesh University of Business and Technology.

Among the irregularities cited by the publishers are manipulation of the peer-review process, inconsistencies in data and results, reuse of the same data, and citation manipulation through irrelevant references. It is also suspected that some of the researchers may have used "paper mills”—organisations that sell authorship slots to academics in fake scientific manuscripts—to have their names published in international journals.

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This raises serious concerns about the state scholarship in Bangladesh. To think that faculty members of our top universities, who have been entrusted with educating our children and serving as role models for young minds, could resort to such dishonesty strikes at the very core of our faith in this honourable profession. Even academic leaders are not free of this malpractice: two research papers co-authored by the former vice-chancellor of Jashore University of Science and Technology have been retracted by Hindawi over allegations of plagiarism and research misconduct, according to a report by Prothom Alo.

This state of affairs is absolutely unacceptable. These allegations and subsequent retractions not only create a bad name for the individuals who adopted such questionable practices, but also hurt the affiliated universities’ prestige and potentially harm international perception of future researchers from Bangladesh. We appeal to our scholars to stop these malpractices for short-term individual gains, such as promotions or career advancement. If this continues, the international community will surely lose confidence in Bangladeshi degrees. The universities in question must also take action against the faculty members involved in such scams and ensure that research in which their names are used maintains rigorous standards.

While the government’s recent decision to channel public university research funding through the University Grants Commission (UGC) may curb academic freedom, the UGC will be in a position to ensure that scholarship from public universities follows international standards of research integrity, ethics, authenticity, and originality. The UGC must also ensure that all tertiary education institutions—public and private—have a policy in place that guides research and takes action against those who adopt fraudulent means to publish research papers.