Thai universities investigated over alleged research plagiarism

Prompting concerns over the integrity of education, the Thai Bureau of Higher Learning, Scientific Enquiry, and Research Innovation (MHESI) have launched legal action against around five online portals that have been found dealing in academic plagiarism. The move comes following suspicions that close to 100 scholars linked to 33 universities may have obtained research papers from the Internet.

The Deputy Secretary of MHESI, Supachai Pathumnakul, reported that an investigation of 109 scholars for alleged academic plagiarism has been set in motion. Yesterday’s update showed evidence of nine academics having bought research manuscripts from cyberspace, whilst another 21 have been exonerated thus far.

“We are carrying out investigations on the rest.”

The alarm was sounded when a cluster of university lecturers emerged, churning out research…