LAHORE, Feb 8: With the Punjab University already struggling to wriggle out of the plagiarism web, a fresh case has surfaced.

This time a senior teacher of the psychology and applied psychology department has been accused of plagiarizing four international articles that have earned him promotion as associate professor. Now, he is a candidate for the post of professor.

The university, it may be added, has not been able to take the `much publicized’ plagiarism case reported in the Centre for High Energy Physics (CHEP) to its logical end.

A formal application, filed by another teacher of the same department, carries evidence regarding the associate professor’s intellectual theft, copyright violations and plagiarism of serious nature. It was sent to the vice-chancellor on Nov 20 last.

The PU administration which is yet to proceed on the complaint has instead transferred the complainant to the special education department to restore a “conducive environment” in the psychology department.

PU registrar Prof Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan admitted that the VC office had received the complaint. He said faculty of life sciences dean Prof Dr Shahida Husnain had been asked to look into the matter.

The complaint that carries evidence, including original research papers, reflects that associate professor has completely copied a research article “Socialization of the physical attractiveness stereotype: Parental expectations and verbal behaviors” by Gerald R. ADAMS, Mandy HICKEN and Mahshid Salehi; Utah State University, Logan, USA. This original research work was published in International Journal of Psychology 23 (1985) 137-149, publishers North Holland.

The research article claimed by the accused professor carries the same title: “Socialization of the physical attractiveness stereotype: Parental expectations and verbal behaviors” with a few changes. The major changes made in the original research work include a sentence “A total of 86 children and their parents (mothers and fathers) were sampled from a university pre-school laboratory and a nearby elementary school” which has been replaced as “A total of 86 children and their parents (mothers and fathers) were sampled from Sunrise school, Lahore, and a nearby elementary school”.

By going through both the articles, one can also find that the original Table-I that represents “Children’s responses and parents’ expectations on the social choice task” has completely been reproduced by the accused in his plagiarized article. The PU professor has even reproduced the chi square values, which may not be the case in Pakistan.

The complaint further says that the professor has never got this article published but claims it as a published one in his application submitted for the post of professor.

The complaint has also been referred to Higher Education Commission’s executive director Dr Sohail H Naqvi and American Psychological Association (APA) senior director Susan J A Harris.

Answering a question, PU registrar Prof Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan said the varsity administration would investigate all the issues with complete objectivity and neutrality. “However, strict disciplinary and administrative action will be taken against teachers who have ruined and spoiled the conducive environment in the department.”

He said the complainant in this case was “emotionally unstable” and did not enjoy good working relations with any colleague or student. He said the university administration was receiving complaints against her for the last two years.

Initially, he said, the administration had transferred her services from the psychology department to the special education department so that she could fulfil special children’s psychological needs.