Purpose

To define plagiarism and its impact on academics and research and promote creative and original writing to establish an environment of academic integrity in teaching, learning, and research in the university.

Scope

All university stakeholders compulsorily follow the antiplagiarism policy and procedure in academic and research writings. Everyone from the university is eligible for the Turnitin Account Access.

Antiplagiarism Policy and Procedure

1. The library is responsible for creating an Anti-plagiarism environment in the university by checking the plagiarism of all the academic and research documents of the university stakeholders.
2. Turnitin is recommended as an official software by the HEC and Ziauddin University to check for plagiarism and similarity.
3. The chief librarian is the administrator of Turnitin at Ziauddin University. He is responsible for creating Instructors’ Accounts for the university stakeholders.
4. The Turnitin Instructor account will be created only for the university stakeholders.
5. The Turnitin Account is deactivated upon their leaving the university.
6. The library checks the Plagiarism, similarity, and AI in the synopsis and thesis of undergraduates and postgraduate students by Turnitin before submitting the EGC, CRC, and Examination.
7. The library is responsible for keeping a record of all checked documents and issued certificates.
8. The document considered clear from plagiarism is up to 17% similarity.
9. To Similarity check, the following steps and necessities are essential:
   • The similarity from a single source should be less than 5%.
   • The “quoted text” must not exceed 15% of the total text of one document. iii. The attached bibliography, table of contents, dedications, annexures, and acknowledgment are not checked and excluded before checking the document.
   • Self-plagiarism: Only tables, charts, and images can be extracted from the thesis for publication.
   • The library will issue the certificate with up to 17% similarity to the submission ID generated by Turnitin.
   • With the dual Signature of the Chief Librarian and concerned Dean, the certificate is issued to the concerned person.
   • For the similarity certificate, a declaration form has to be filled out and submitted by the researcher/student, with the dual signature of the concerned student and the research supervisor. The chief librarian will endorse the declaration form.
10. After issuing the similarity certificate, the checked document will be saved in the Turnitin Standard Paper Repository.

Training

The library is responsible for providing the following guides to implement the university’s anti-plagiarism policies by taking sessions for groups and individuals:

1. Understanding policies, ethical values, and limits
2. How to run the Turnitin software; procedure and techniques

Enclosures

1. The Chief Librarian is the source person to establish and promote the antiplagiarism environment at ZU (Registrar Notification)
2. Declaration for Originality Check Request Form
3. Certificate of Originality Checked by Turnitin (A sample)
4. How to Interpret Originally Report (HEC Guidelines)
5. HEC Guideline on ‘Ethics of Using Turnitin’ for Administrators
6. HEC Guideline on ‘Ethics of Using Turnitin’ for Instructors
7. ZU Plagiarism Standing Committee.