KANGAR: Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) will set up an Academic Integrity Special Committee to identify and investigate academic misconduct relating to plagiarism or falsification of documents.

Its vice-chancellor Prof Dr R Badlishah Ahmad said UniMAP will not compromise with academic staff who commit academic crimes and strict action will be taken if there is evidence of misconduct.

He said academicians were learned people and should not commit acts which goes against ethics and the trust accorded to them.

“I will not hesitate to take stern action if this happens in UniMAP as they (academicians) are leaders in society and should be a good example to students,” he said in a statement today.

Badlishah was commenting an article titled ‘Publish or Perish, or just steal it. A peek into academic theft in Malaysia universities’ which was published by a portal recently.

Badlishah said academic misconduct includes stealing students’ ideas and claiming the work as the lecturer’s own idea, or putting his name as the main author in any article to be published.

“There are also situations where the academician forces the student to write for many journals or publications and threatens not to sign the thesis submission form if the student does not do it.

“Plagiarism among academics cannot be accepted. They cannot put their name on any article if they have not contributed any ideas. This is a serious offence and very unethical, and a disgrace to the university which is an academic institution,” he said. – Bernama