With an ever growing community of Pakistani bloggers the arena has started to become seriously competitive and each new blogger wants to make his/her mark on the online community. The best way to get a decent readership is to publish more frequently with new ideas and thoughts, this frenzy leads to a desperate hunt for stories and articles and some cut corners and quite literally copy and paste stories across to their own site.
WeCite.net
This new upcoming online magazine which seems to be the brain child of a dynamic fellow called Fauzan Suhail based in Islamabad, I am told he runs a new an upcoming event management company going under the banner of WeCite Entertainment. WeCite had previously been publishing this monthly webzine probably along the footsteps of the old BandBaja concept but for some reason the closed up shop in 2006 only to be re awoken in 2007 and were finally able to spit out on online magazine in April 2007
The issue under question is the second publication of WeCite magazine which went live in May. To be honest the disaster started quite innocently when a Karachi Metroblogger Urooj Zia, who also write an article for this issue made a post announcing the release of the May 2007 issue of WeCite, on that specific post a reader going with the name of Salman A pointed out one specific article which he found to be plagiarized from the Slant Magazine which had been submitted to WeCite by Kiran Bokhari
By Kiran Bokhari on WECITE.net:
http://www.wecite.net/issues/may07/media/madonna-erotica.phpOriginal Article (by Sal Cinquemani of SLANT magazine)
http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/music_review.asp?ID=396
Salman later engaged Urooj in a little heated debate but while this dialog was being done on the front end Urooj had raised the issue within the internal KMB mailing list. Our internal discussions also went off the charts and late one night Zainub Razvi did some investigative journalism late one night when she continues to present surmounting evidence of plagiarism and a rough estimate of around 70% articles were plagiarized in the May 2007 issue.
With mutual consent of the entire KMB team we decided to go strong against this copy-paste magazine and the following day Zainub published her report on KMB titled The Ugly Face Of Plagiarism. Practically within hours of the post going live WeCite started taking down its servers and all pages on the wecite.net domain displayed “We are currently down for Server Upgrades, Will be back soon. Sorry for Inconvenience”
There was a definite hushed silence from WeCite for a whole day, but today morning they came out of the cocoon and issued a public apology fully explaining the issue. I give them credit for having the balls to stand up and a hat tip to the WeCite team to take this bold initiative. Through the grapevine I have heard that all was not well within the team since the bubble of plagiarism burst open on their footsteps, a number of accusing fingers were seen to be flying around but very soon a consensus was developed and it was decided to accept problem.
I have also been informed that it was not a deliberate attempt by WeCite to plagiarize and the independent authors had submitted this work to the editorial board and the management published it assuming it to be original work (I have so been told). It is a very plausible explanation and I think it is futile to argue who is actually responsible but if WeCite tires to absolve itself from the mess then I also feel that the independent authors must be brought into the spot light, courtesy of Zainub the list is as follows
All these writers listed above have submitted articles which are definitely plagiarized (for those running under a pseudo name I would like to find their names as well as plagiarist should be put to shame)
WeCite WordPress Blog
Before Editing |
Mobile Whack |
When the heat was on the WeCite magazine I casually stumbled on the latest and top most post on their wordpress.com blog which featured a discussion on the upcoming iPhone. The article was interesting but when I happened to click on the referring source I was astonished to see it being copied word for word, granted the WeCite blogger did provide a link back to the original source quoting the article but on closer examination at the Mobile Whack copyright rules and regulations its sidebar carries not a Creative Commons attribution-share-alike license but has a more stricter copyright guidelines and I quote @ Mobilewhack is Copyrighted and may not be reproduced in any form without the express permission of the owners of Mobilewhack.com..
After Editing |
Its evident that the blog itself, was also engaged in a some form of plagiarism, but yet again as soon as I made a comment on the website identifying the problem even this article got the axe treatment and was reworded and republished after a significant revision. I attach here some screen grabs which show the altered and edited versions.
Its time to move on, I feel Fauzan and the team took a bold step to apologize for the mistake and I give them moral support for the same. They just now have to stay low and ride out the storm, with all this commotion they definitely benefit of having come in the spot light and must be getting heaps of traffic with people truing to fund out whats up. So as they say Bad Press is sometimes Good Press, so make use of it next time when you publish your digital magazine, hopefully with higher standards.
Comments
9 responses to “Plagiarism in Pakistani Blogosphere – WeCite”
Firstly, I believe a thank you is in order for foiling this act and for helping in seeing what we were overlooking, perhaps due to too much confidence and belief in some of our staff. There is still a lot of history to this that will be brought out in the open in due time. We have made our apology already so I will not linger on with it here. I only want to clear one thing that the 300 review that was written by Omar Saleem and Miss WeCite was a collaboration piece that was written half each by the two people. Omar Saleem’s part of the article as it stands was a genuine effort and I would appreciate it if you could please remove his name from the list as he was responsible for the first half of the article only. Although his piece was integrated with that of Miss WeCite’s by Rabia Manzoor with his permission, he need not take the blame for the actions of someone else.
As for the blog, it has never had any worthwhile relation to the magazine except for sharing its name and the occasional announcement about the new issue. The plagarism allegation on the blog is actually nothing more than an over-look of the privacy policy of mobilewhack.com because had it not been so, the writer would not have mentioned the source either.
I don’t know who your source is as far as the issue of differences between me and some in the management/snr writers is concerned. I do accept that it is true and we will make sure we pay ‘HOMAGE’ to all of them who have brought us to this level. As I said earlier, there is still a lot more than what meets the eye.
So thank you for this and as the owner of WeCite Magazine, WeCite Blog, and WeCite Entertainment, I am sorry for all that has happened under the WeCite banner. You will see the difference when we bring out the next issue.
Fauzan Sohail
WeCite
Fuazan
Thank you for clearing this up – I am also glad that you were the first to reply.
I truly believe mistakes are made by everyone but it takes a great man to accept them. Thank you – let the wounds heal and as I mentioned enjoy the limelight – its negative press but USE it – don’t fight it
The issue of plagiarism so deep-rooted in our society now, you won’t believe that professors in my college (with MS degrees and 10+ years of work experience) are submitting in articles copied from the internet for the college magazine. None mention any sources, only attributing their own names to the articles. Terrible, really!
that’s awful.i am glad that some people dont get away with it so easily.
Plagiarism is a menace most often felt in Pakistani education system where students and professors alike commit intentional plagiarism.
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Renaissance means the revival of art and literature. Read full story about the Name of Magazine.
The best creator next to God is a civil engineer. To polish this creativity in the young minds of the engineering students of NUST, we are publishing a magazine, apart from the college magazine for the revival of art and literature among students. Military College of Engineering, Risalpur Cantt., NWFP, Pakistan is the civil engineering campus of National University of Sciences & Technlogy, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. One edition of the magazine will be published in each semester. We will also be sending our magazine to different universities and colleges of Pakistan.
This magazine is not specific to students of MCE only but this is a general magazine for every body in the world.
We are currently working on the first edition which will be available from March 31, 2008.
EXPRESS YOUR SELF!
Governor being misled by HEC on charges of plagiarism
EMANUEL SARFRAZ
LAHORE – The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan’s blacklisting five faculty members of Punjab University’s Centre for High Energy Physics seems to be a biased decision, as they are not considered plagiarists by the foreign institutions.
Prof Dr Fazal-e-Aleem, who has earned the status of meritorious professor, Maqsood Ahmad, Rashid Ahmad, Sohail Fazal and M Alam Saeed were accused of plagiarism with respect to six different publications. All are continuing to write research papers as the American Institute of Physics never alleged plagiarism against them and continues to publish their papers.
Of the six papers stated to have been plagiarized, Dr Aleem was shown as one of the authors of five of them. Interestingly he was not among the authors of the paper ‘Benefits of Basic Science’. The paper ‘Current status of exotic hadrons’ was part of the allegations. The paper was revised through an errata handed over to the editor on April 9, 2006. This was before the complaint was lodged by Dr Mujahid Kamran then serving as dean of science at the Punjab University. The other articles ‘Computational methods: Tool for Electronic Structure Analysis of Solids’ and ‘Path of Elementary Particles’ were also retracted and the thought republished. Interestingly this fact was not considered during the inquiry. The HEC in its newsletter declared Dr Aleem and other CHEP faculty members of plagiarism even before the final decision had been made.
A researcher is well within his rights to send an erratum to the publisher to rectify any mistake made by him or to add/ omit anything published in a research journal or even textbooks. Errata/Retractions are a normal and internationally acknowledged way of dealing with inadvertent mistakes, human and electronic errors and even to incorporate further developments or changes. It would be of interest to notice that Nobel Laureates like Rutherford and Chairman HEC Ataur Rehman had errata published to their research papers.
Meanwhile, ‘Current status of exotic hadrons’ was published by AIP as part of the conference proceedings held in Cairo. Editor of the proceedings and the Program Chair Lotfia El Nadi on receiving the complaint termed it “out of place”. “The paper is a review article in which the authors presented recent experiments of worldwide laboratories, not their own work. The authors do not claim any results of their own. The authors handed over errata. We consider the complaint of Dr Mujahid Kamran as out of place,” she wrote to the then VC. The referring conference committee found no plagiarism.
The paper ‘Technology in Aid of Physics Teaching’ was never published and Dr Aleem also did not participate in the conference.
The paper ‘Benefits of Basic Science’ was published in a web magazine ‘Science of Africa’. It was without and ISSN number and for this publication no credit can be claimed by the authors. It was not a research article but a popular one. The paper ‘Mystery of matter’ was not published in any research journal or conference. Therefore the issue of plagiarism could not be raised.
Total publications of CHEP faculty members from 2004 to 2007 was more than 180. The faculty of CHEP published their research work in journals of international repute including AIP Conference Proceedings, Physical Review Letters, Physical Review D, Computational Material Science and Physica B. Last year 20 research papers were published including ‘Evidence for BO’, ‘Evidence for the Rare Decay B+’ and ‘Search for Lepton Flavor Violating Decays tau +’. ‘Design and performance of high uniformity linear filament electron gun’ and ‘Ab-intio Study of Structural Properties of III Nitrides’ have been highly acclaimed.
Punjab University Syndicate fully debated the issue and settled the matter with minor punishment for the four lecturers. PU sources disclosed that HEC is exerting pressure on the Punjab University to again take up the issue.
As the issue has been settled by Syndicate, only the Chancellor/Governor can review the decision. According to sources the Chancellor is being misled about the whole issue. The fact that the AIP and the foreign institutions do not consider the five CHEP faculty members to be plagiarists was kept secret from the Chancellor.
“PU is the oldest seat of learning and has a prestige and reputation not matched by any other institution in sub-continent. It should not come under the pressure of HEC. The stand of the PU Academic Staff Association on the matter is clear. It has voiced its concern on the growing interference of HEC in the affairs of varsity.
“The new vice chancellor Dr Mujahid Kamran was the complainant against Dr Aleem and other CHEP faculty members. Dr Kamran and Dr Aleem are both professors of Physics and their careers run parallel to each other. Dr Aleem has published more than 150 papers and won many national and international awards. He did not need to plagiarize for conference papers, which has no academic value.
“The whole issue was blown out of proportions and the fact that AIP and other international journals did not consider Dr Aleem and other members of CHEP faculty as plagiarists was not taken into account. It would be in the best interest of PU if the chancellor also takes into account the correspondence of foreign institutions with the then VC before taking any decision ” sources said.
Respected and Honorable Professors,
As you must be aware of the ping pong of plagiarism at the University of the Punjab. The VC Mujahid Kamran has also committed plagiarism on the peak of his life. Now he commits that he has no research publication in the last 18 years. So his research career can be judged. I want to show the Mujahid Kamrans black face.
Please visit the web site at
<a href="http://http://www.forgeriesinpu.150m.com/index.html“target=”_blank”>http://<a href="http://www.forgeriesinpu.150m.com…” target=”_blank”>www.forgeriesinpu.150m.com/index.html
Its just that I want to show the right face of these people. Hope you will spare some time for it.
Here are few prominent forgerers who are considered “Forgery Masters”
* Prof. Dr. Mujahid Kamran
* Prof. Dr. Najma Najam
* Prof. Dr. Yasmin Nilofer Farooqi
* Prof. Dr. Rukhsana Kausar
* Prof. Dr. Shaukat Ali
For the time being we will be giving information regarding malpractices, forgeries, curruptions of above metioned culprits. Later on we will add forgeries and curroptions of other members and associates of this mafia.
Prof. Dr. Mujahid Kamran
Prof. Dr. Mujahid Kamran is the present Vice Chancellor University of the Punjab. From the day of his appointment as VC, University of the Punjab is in the clutches of his comrades Prof. Dr. Najma Najam, Prof. Dr. Mujahid Mansoori, Prof. Dr. Yasmin Nilofer Farooqi , Prof. Dr. Shaukat Ali etc. Dr. Mujahid Kamran is known as “Forger” and “Political Blackmailer” With the blessing of Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman (Chairman H.E.C), Dr. Sohail H. Naqvi (Executive Director H.E.C) and sheltered by Begd. (rtd) Ijaz Shah (Former I.B Head), present Vice Chancellor is bent upon ruining the peace of the University of the Punjab.
Please see web site
<a href="http://http://www.forgeriesinpu.150m.com/index.html“target=”_blank”>http://<a href="http://www.forgeriesinpu.150m.com…” target=”_blank”>www.forgeriesinpu.150m.com/index.html
His competency can be judged that he was dropped in M. Phill (Physics) programe at Quaid-a-Azam University, Islamabad in 1972.
Prof. Dr. Mujahid Kamran is also involved in serious forgeries like tempering and producing fake documents to gain illegal benefits. He illegally promote his wife Prof. Dr. Najma Najam to Professor Meritorious despite of the fact that she is still in active service (Visit University of the Punjab website). Using political influence is a common negativity of this gang. There were some serious objections upon his selection raised by the chancellor’s office.
• Prof. Dr. Najma Najam
Prof. Dr. Najma Najam is Ex. Vice-Chancellor of Fatima Jinnah Woman University, Rawalpindi and current Director External linkages(University of the Punjab) and also wife of Prof. Dr. Mujahid Kamran (present Vice Chancellor, University of the Punjab). She is involved in forgeries of serious kind. She is promoted to Professor Meritorious by her husband Prof. Dr. Mujahid Kamran despite of the fact that she is still in active service(Visit University of the Punjab website). She with the help of her husband was involved in tempering of official documents, producing fake documents to gain illegal benefits like" leave with pay" as well as various scholarships. Following are some facts of her forgeries.
In addition to academic and financial malpractices, Prof. Dr. Najma Najam has come to rescue of her group giving illegal benefits. Among the illegal beneficiaries are Umniya Khan and Sadia, who were removed from service of the University of the Punjab because of inefficiency/dicipline, were recruited on contract in the Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi. Within a period of six months, Umniya Khan was awarded scholarship with the active collaboration of Dr. Sohail H. Naqvi (Executive Director H.E.C) and was sent abroad within few months of their appointment.
• Prof. Dr. Shaukat Ali
[Head of Physics Department, PU , Lahore, who was not eligible for associate professor]
Prof. Dr. Shaukat Ali
Prof. Dr. Shaukat Ali is an important member of kitchen cabinet of Prof. Dr. Mujahid Kamran. He has been accused of tempering his date of birth in secondary school certificate. An inquiry was conducted against him in which it was found that he is a sole beneficiary of the forgery in order to obtain bogus certificate. But the report was postponed after extreme pressure from Prof. Dr. Mujahid Kamran.
• Prof. Dr. Yasmin Nilofer Farooqi
Prof. Dr. Yasmin Nilofer Farooqi
Another case of forgery (plagiarism) is Prof. Dr. Yasmin Nilofer Farooqi (Current Chairperson and Professor, Department of Psychology and Applied Psychology, University of the Punjab, Lahore). She is a notorious personality in University of the Punjab because of her immature attitude (Click here for more information) . Almost all of her research articles are taken from students work without recognizing them. Saveral complaints about Prof. Dr. Yasmin Nilofer Farooqi's plagiarism had already been made to the H.E.C through Executive Director Dr. Sohail H. Naqvi but no action has been initiated by the Higher Education Commission against her. According to Daily Dawn dated March 1, 2008 "Her entire work is based on students research/dissertations, undertaken during their academic years as practical assignments and which are being published by her without acknowledging the students’ efforts and without the permission of the department to bag high research claims. Some facts of Prof. Dr. Yasmin Nilofer Farooqi's plagiarism are as follow.
Aalia Shah studied at the Psychology Department during 1996-1998 session. Prof. Dr. Yasmin Farooqi had supervised her M.Sc thesis titled “Pre-post evaluation of depression and anxiety in patients undergoing mastectomy and hysterectomy”. On the basis of that thesis Aalia Shah was awarded degree of M.Sc. Prof. Dr. Yasmin Farooqi published the her research into journals under the title “Depression and anxiety in mastectomy cases” in Illness,Crisis and Loss Vol. 13(3) 267-278, 2005 and “Depression and anxiety in patients undergoing hysterectomy” in Journal of Pakistan Psychiatric Society Jan 2005; 2(1): 13 without acknowledging Aalia Shah's contribution. As goes the established rules in research, the work that primarily belonged to Alia Shah should have written her name as the first author of this paper or have due citation of her M.Sc thesis. View the complaint to Dean, Faculty of Life Sciences
These papers were presented by Prof. Dr. Yasmin Farooqi in following conferences as her own research papers.
Depression and Anxiety in the hysterectomy Cases.
National Conference on Role of Psychology in Socio-Economic Development of Pakistan. National Institute of Psychology. Center of Excellence. Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan. ( 2004)
Depression and Anxiety in Mastectomy Cases
International Social Sciences Conference. Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. (2004)
Depression and Anxiety in Mastectomy Cases
Second International Congress on Child and Adolescent Psychiatry- Trauma Psychology. Tehran, Iran. (2005)
Prof. Dr. Yasmin Farooqi is also involved in forgery. According to an inquiry report, she was involved in bogus purchase of books out of Higher Education Commission, Pakistan.
Copy of Inquiry Report
* Prof. Dr. Rukhsana Kausar
Another beneficiary is Prof. Dr. Rukhsana Kausar who was removed from the chairpersonship of Department of Psychology and Applied Psychology, University of the Punjab, when caught red handed in amoral activities.
View copy of Inquiry report
She took away departmental records and files and the matter is still pending for inquiry. She was immediately taken on deputation to Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi and has been brought back to University of the Punjab when her benefactor returned.
With best Regards
Muhahid Kamran