In a recent case at Arizona State University, Professor Matthew Whitaker appeared to have committed plagiarism, but an ASU investigative committee declared that his actions were “unintentional carelessness” instead of “systematic or substantial plagiarism.” The ruling did not sit well with many members of the academic community, including ASU professor Monica Green, who resigned her position in protest over the decision.

The recent copyright suit brought against startup Boundless Learning by three major textbook publishers, Pearson, Cengage, and Macmillan Higher Ed serves as occasion, yet again, to revisit key themes that surface each time the narrative of education’s disruption by technology – especially via web-based innovations – is rehearsed.  The suit came shortly after the announcement of an $8 million investment in Boundless, led by VC-firm, Venrock.  Intriguingly, the suit also appears to attack the investors as well, underscoring the business opportunity (and loss thereof) that seems to obtain with any discussion that involves the Internet, new technology, and “disruption.”  The second theme that we see is the well-worn “David vs. Goliath” story, and the last is the same story of education’s revolution at the hands of a web-based alternative.

Featuring: Davinder Malhotra, Professor of Finance at Philadelphia University

Two years ago, Dr. Ferric C. Fang, editor in chief of Infection and Immunity, discovered that a published author within his journal was guilty of data manipulation.  Infection and Immunity responded by retracting the six papers submitted by Naoki Mori; 24 of Mori’s other papers have since been retracted by other scientific journals.

Allegations of plagiarism have struck a second International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, South Korean taekwondo gold medal winner Moon Dae-sung, according to South Korean news agency reports.

A recent accusation of plagiarism levied by Pakistan’s Karachi University student Mehwish Hameed has made its way to the country’s Higher Education Commission, which provides oversight on cases of misconduct. Hameed claims that her supervisor, Dr. Aliya Rehman, plagiarized her research paper.

From a search engine ranking perspective, social media sites tend to do well because they promote sharing content among users.  Pinterest, the newest craze in social media, doesn’t exactly seem to fit into the same mold. Users are more often than not “pinning” images that are not theirs to post, an act that is viewed by many as plagiarism, and potentially seen by stock photography agencies as copyright infringement.

Hungarian President, Pal Schmitt, has officially resigned due to plagiarism accusations. In Monday's vote by Hungary’s parliament, President Schmitt's resignation was accepted by a margin of 338-5. Hungary's Fidesz party, led by Prime Minister Victor Orban, will initiate negotiations with the country's other parties to find a successor for President Schmitt.

Featuring: Sheryl Gregson, Manager of Business Systems from The Richard Ivey School of Business

There are various means of measuring a researchers’s level of success in their field of expertise. Tallying the number of published papers is certainly one of them. Counting how many times each of those papers has been cited in credible journals is another. The problem with each of these methods is that, if you look at the cumulative totals of published works or citations, neither is really an accurate depiction of the quality of work being done by one individual or group. It was for that reason that the h-index, a formula that takes both of these factors into account, was developed.