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Following is a question by the Hon Albert Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Professor Arthur K C Li, in the Legislative Council today (June 9):

Question:

I have recently received a number of complaints alleging that the research results of many academics in tertiary institutions have been plagiarized by other academics. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

(a) the total numbers of complaints involving alleged plagiarism received by the relevant authorities of tertiary institutions in each of the past three years, with a breakdown by institutions;

(b) among the above complaints, the number of those that have been substantiated, the positions of the academics confirmed to have committed plagiarism, the institutions they belonged to and the penalties imposed on them; and

(c) whether the relevant authorities have put in place measures to curb plagiarism; if they have, of the details of such measures; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) Although this question only asks about plagiarism in research results, I will also include in my answer statistics on plagiarism in research methodology as well since institutions regard any plagiarism as a serious misconduct.

In the past three academic years from 2000/01 to 2002/03, higher education institutions actively engaged in research work, including the University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded institutions and the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK), had altogether received four complaints about alleged plagiarism by their academic staff. The complaint figures for individual institutions are set out at Annex I.

(b) Three of these four cases were substantiated. The concerned institutions have taken appropriate actions against the academic staff, details of which are summarized at Annex II.

(c) Although the above statistics do not suggest that plagiarism is a common problem in the higher education sector, all institutions consider plagiarism a serious misconduct. UGC-funded institutions and the OUHK have established mechanisms, procedures and guidelines for handling complaints about plagiarism, and make known to all members of staff the disciplinary procedures. Codes of practice and policies on academic integrity are also promulgated among all members of the academic staff.

Like all other original works, the original works of academics (e.g. academic theses) are protected by the Copyright Ordinance. Under the Copyright Ordinance, a person who, without the authorization of the copyright owner, reproduces his work or a substantial part of the work, may be civilly liable and the copies so produced may be regarded as infringing copies. The copyright owner may sue the infringer through civil litigation. If the infringing act involves commercial dealing activities (e.g. sale of infringing copies), the infringer may also be committing a criminal offence under the Copyright Ordinance.

Ends/Wednesday, June 9, 2004

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