Prayagraj, August 4: Dr. Rajendra Prasad National Law University in Prayagraj has rejected eight out of 22 PhD applications due to excessive use of AI-generated content in the research synopses. The university conducted a thorough examination of the applications, revealing that many candidates had not adhered to the guidelines set by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
The university had established specific limits for AI index and similarity, and applications exceeding these thresholds were deemed ineligible. This resulted in a rejection rate of 36% among the submissions.
The administration utilized Turnitin software to check all synopses, assessing both the AI index and similarity index. Some applications were found to contain up to 80% AI-generated material, while others had similarity indices significantly above the allowed limit.
The remaining 14 candidates have been called for interviews on August 12, where their understanding of the subject, originality of research, and research capacity will be evaluated.
In a bid to curb the rising use of AI and prevent plagiarism, the UGC has mandated that if a thesis shows 10% to 40% plagiarism, it will be returned for corrections, allowing researchers to resubmit within six months.
The UGC has also clarified that while limited use of AI is permissible, it must be explicitly mentioned in the thesis. All universities have been instructed to ensure that researchers are informed of these regulations.
Plagiarism in PhD research refers to presenting someone else’s ideas, research, articles, data, photos, or words as one’s own without proper citation. This constitutes a violation of academic integrity and can raise questions about the credibility of the research, potentially leading to degree revocation and disciplinary actions by the university.