LETTER: THE SAD SAGA AND UNFORTUNATE TREND OF PLAGIARISM IN BIOMEDICAL JOURNALS. CAN WE PREVENT THIS GLOBAL AVALANCHE?

In the recent past and at present we have observed and seen a great uproar about plagiarism. The furore about this dreaded term has not abated and continues to be projected widely both in the internet and the news media. This sorry state of affairs and the fact that it is on the rise and challenges our intellectual integrity as research workers prompted me to dilate on the moral and ethical issues that revolve around this highly talked about and diabolical term "plagiarism", and its colossal negative impact upon those who regard ethics and morals above all other things in life. Research published in biomedical journals must be impeccable and held to the loftiest standards imaginable. This is what the readership is interested in and looking for. Over the years I have noticed that some researchers out of sheer love for research end up in publishing their original work. These are the ones who are the real research workers and should not only be provided financial grants and other amenities but also be held in great esteem. However, there are others whom we can call as the so called researchers undertake such research projects or get engaged in scientific projects for the purposes of promotions and earning the flattering designations of professorship and associate professorship. It is this latter class of faculty staff who render their work for publication in renowned journals simply to score literary and scholastic points, and once those points are achieved and the desired goals attained, they bid farewell to the noble task of research and divert their attention and energies to other lucrative pursuits of economic gains. To earn their goals of promotion to higher ranks in their own departments, they many a times adopt means that are unbecoming of a faculty staff. To see their names in reputed journals as authors, corresponding authors or coauthors, they utilize the help, or to be more exact, exploit the potential capabilities of their own graduates, residents and postdoctoral fellows and thereby trample the moral and ethical codes. At times, such supervisors go to the extent of coercing their postdoctoral fellows to provide two or more research proposals and submit them as papers after a sham research work has been conducted. If the supervisors play a significant role in the research project and preparation of the manuscript, then their names and that of the other authors should be listed and appropriately placed depending on the principal author's discretion. However, if the so called supervisor's role is trivial and simply ceremonial, then the names of all the authors should be listed according to the rules and regulations enacted by international ethical committees. Such mandatory involvement of a trainee under sheer harassment and obligatory mentioning of the ghost supervisors as first authors has inflicted a great harm to our research enterprises, and has by and large propelled the research teams to go for more easy options and thus get tempted to blatantly conduct plagiarism falsification and fabrication of their data. So long as these unethical and ugly demeanors are not taken notice of, the entire team and specially the supervisors (those who finally turn out to be the first authors or the corresponding authors without contributing a bit) who are the real benefactors of such research enterprises would ultimately achieve their nefarious goals. When research work is conducted with the ultimate aim of acquiring prestigious curriculum vitae, higher academic and university titles, and lofty goals of research such as dessiminating knowledge, are trampled, then the universal propagation of real and true data becomes defeated, and dishonesty and unscrupulous tacts come in and take their place. This ushers in the unanimously detested traits of plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification. A close scrutiny of scientific papers containing fraudulent material is probably as low as 0.02% and extremely difficult to detect (1). Many fabricated and falsified data may go unnoticed despite the fact that a police force in the form of the astute peer review board goes through the text gingerly with hawkish eyes. Although the percentage of such papers is low, but the stark reality is that it does exist. Journals and universities can help in uprooting this menace but they too have not responded well and in stringent language (2), and at times fail to exhibit the will to investigate misconduct allegations. It is an established fact that presenting a