Postgraduate Studies Conference Roots out Plagiarism

In a presentation delivered by Dr. Mohammad Jamal Mustafa in the Postgraduate Studies in Saudi Universities Conference, organized by King Khalid University, he discussed the issue of plagiarism under Islamic law.

During his discussion, Dr. Mohammad said: "It is common between students to claim the ownership of work they don’t own and to plagiarize while conducting research; this is recognized by the students' supervisors who are well aware of their level of performance and work." Dr. Mohammad added: "This research aims to try and find the reason behind this problem, the stages leading to it, the parties involved and the dangers of plagiarism in our society and on research."

He explained the Islamic perspective as well as the national and international law on plagiarism whether from a moral or financial view, the laws of intellectual rights, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works Agreement, the 1971 Paris Convention Agreement, the Arab Copyright Protection Agreement, and Saudi Copyright Law.

The most critical outcome his research posited was that plagiarism is unequivocally un-Islamic and considered forbidden by Islamic law; the presenter further related that plagiarism is a crime the Muslim society condemns and considers unethical.

Al-Mustafa proposed four plans to eliminate plagiarism in research and in writing. They are: (i) the need to simplify the research required by the students, (ii) to implement research and writing among the tasks required by students, (iii) attending the hours required by their supervisors, and (iv) taking care of the quality of the work presented by treating plagiarism as a punishable offence.