The short answer
The University Grants Commission (Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2018 sort similarity into four levels. Up to 10% is Level 0, “minor similarities, no penalty”. Above 10% to 40%, above 40% to 60% and above 60% are Levels 1, 2 and 3, with penalties that rise at each level, separately for theses and dissertations and for academic and research publications.
The regulations also require each institution to write and publish its own plagiarism policy. So the UGC levels are the national framework, and your university’s approved policy is the document you actually submit under.
Who and what the regulations cover
The regulations apply to “the students, faculty, researchers and staff of all Higher Educational Institutions in the country”. A Higher Educational Institution (HEI) here means a university, a deemed university, an affiliating college or institution, or a constituent unit of a university.
The rules are written around a “script”, which the regulation defines as a research paper, thesis, dissertation, chapter in a book, full-fledged book or similar work submitted for assessment or opinion leading to Masters and research level degrees, or for publication. The definition then adds an important exception:
“however, this shall exclude assignments / term papers / project reports / course work / essays and answer scripts etc.”
So the similarity levels and penalties below are aimed at Masters and research work and at publications, not at routine coursework. Your institution’s own policy may still deal with plagiarism in assignments, and plagiarism in an essay is still plagiarism.
The regulation defines plagiarism as “the practice of taking someone else’s work or idea and passing them as one’s own”, and common knowledge as “a well known fact, quote, figure or information that is known to most of the people”.
The four levels of plagiarism
Regulation 8 quantifies plagiarism into levels “in ascending order of severity”. Regulation 12 then attaches penalties to each level. The penalties apply to students at Masters and research level and to researchers, faculty and staff.
| Level | Similarity | Thesis or dissertation (Reg. 12.1) | Academic and research publication (Reg. 12.2) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 0 | Up to 10% | Minor similarities, no penalty. | Minor similarities, no penalty. |
| Level 1 | Above 10% to 40% | Submit a revised script within a stipulated time not exceeding 6 months. | Asked to withdraw the manuscript. |
| Level 2 | Above 40% to 60% | Debarred from submitting a revised script for one year. | Withdraw the manuscript; denied one annual increment; may not supervise any new Master’s, M.Phil. or Ph.D. student for two years. |
| Level 3 | Above 60% | Registration for that programme is cancelled. | Withdraw the manuscript; denied two successive annual increments; may not supervise any new Master’s, M.Phil. or Ph.D. student for three years. |
The regulation does not name a software tool or say how the percentage is calculated. It leaves the tool to the institution (see what institutions must do). Different tools search different sources, so the same thesis can get different percentages in different tools. Our guide how much plagiarism is allowed? explains why a similarity percentage is not the same thing as plagiarism.
Penalties for theses and dissertations
Under Regulation 12.1, the Institutional Academic Integrity Panel imposes the penalty “considering the severity of the Plagiarism”, using the levels in the table. Two notes add to it:
- Repeated plagiarism. The student is punished at one level higher than the previous level committed. If the highest level was already committed, the highest penalty applies.
- After the degree is awarded. If plagiarism is proved after the degree or credit was awarded, the degree or credit is “put in abeyance” for a period recommended by the IAIP and approved by the Head of the Institution.
Regulation 12 also sets a condition on every penalty. Penalties are imposed only after academic misconduct “has been established without doubt, when all avenues of appeal have been exhausted”, and after the person has had enough opportunity to defend themselves “in a fair or transparent manner”.
A worked example
Suppose a PhD scholar’s thesis shows 18% similarity after the exclusions in Regulation 7 are applied. That falls in Level 1 (above 10% to 40%). Under Regulation 12.1, the scholar would be asked to submit a revised script within a period set by the institution, not longer than six months. At 8%, the same thesis would be Level 0, with no penalty. Before relying on either number, check which tool your university uses, which exclusions it applies and whether its own policy sets a different limit.
Penalties for faculty, researchers and staff
Regulation 12.2 covers academic and research publications. At every level from 1 upward the author is asked to withdraw the manuscript. Levels 2 and 3 add loss of annual increments and a bar on supervising new Master’s, M.Phil. and Ph.D. students, as shown in the table above. The notes add:
- Repeated plagiarism. The manuscript is withdrawn and the penalty is one level higher. If a Level 3 offence is repeated, the HEI takes disciplinary action “including suspension/termination as per service rules”.
- Benefit already obtained. If plagiarism is proved after a benefit or credit was obtained, it is put in abeyance for a period recommended by the IAIP and approved by the Head of the Institution.
- Complaints against senior people. A complaint against the Head of an HEI is handled by its Controlling Authority. A complaint against a Head of Department or institutional authority is handled by the IAIP, with approval of the Competent Authority. A panel member facing a complaint must stay out of the meetings on their case.
What is excluded from the similarity check
Regulation 7 says the similarity checks for plagiarism shall exclude:
- all quoted work reproduced with all necessary permission and/or attribution;
- all references, bibliography, table of content, preface and acknowledgements;
- all generic terms, laws, standard symbols and standard equations.
The same regulation adds a note about the core of the research:
“The research work carried out by the student, faculty, researcher and staff shall be based on original ideas, which shall include abstract, summary, hypothesis, observations, results, conclusions and recommendations only and shall not have any similarities. It shall exclude a common knowledge or coincidental terms, up to fourteen (14) consecutive words.”
In plain terms, the abstract, summary, hypothesis, observations, results, conclusions and recommendations are expected to be your own, while common knowledge and coincidental runs of up to 14 consecutive words are not counted against you. The wording leaves room for interpretation, so ask your research office how your university applies it, for example whether its software is set to ignore matches of that length.
Two practical points follow. A quotation is only excluded if it is properly attributed, so quotation marks and a citation matter. And reusing your own published paper in your thesis is not automatically excluded; see self-plagiarism and follow your university’s rules on including your own publications.
What institutions must do
Regulations 5 and 6 put most of the work on the institution, not the student. Every HEI must, among other things:
- run awareness programmes every semester and teach proper attribution, and train students, faculty, researchers and staff in plagiarism detection and reference management tools;
- include academic integrity in UG, PG and Master’s curricula, and research and publication ethics as compulsory course work for Masters and research scholars;
- use “appropriate software” to check that theses, dissertations and publications are free of plagiarism at the time of submission, and make that facility accessible to everyone doing research;
- develop its own policy on plagiarism, get it approved by its statutory bodies and place it “on the homepage of the HEI website”;
- submit soft copies of all Masters and research dissertations and theses to INFLIBNET, within a month of the award of degrees, for the Shodhganga e-repository, and keep its own institutional repository.
Two duties fall on students and supervisors directly:
- The student’s undertaking. Every student submitting a thesis or dissertation must submit an undertaking that the document is their original work, free of plagiarism, and “duly checked through a Plagiarism detection tool approved by the HEI”.
- The supervisor’s certificate. Each supervisor must certify that the work done by the researcher under them is plagiarism free.
How a case is handled: DAIP and IAIP
Anyone in the academic community who suspects plagiarism “with appropriate proof” reports it to the Departmental Academic Integrity Panel. The institution can also act on its own (suo motu) or on an examiner’s findings; those cases go to the Institutional Academic Integrity Panel.
| Detail | Departmental panel (DAIP), Reg. 10 | Institutional panel (IAIP), Reg. 11 |
|---|---|---|
| Chair | Head of the Department | Pro-VC, Dean or senior academician of the HEI (not the DAIP chair) |
| Members | A senior academician from outside the department, nominated by the head of the HEI; a person well versed with anti-plagiarism tools, nominated by the Head of the Department | Another senior academician; one member from outside the HEI; a person well versed with anti-plagiarism tools, all nominated by the Head of the HEI |
| Tenure and quorum | Two years for members; quorum 2 of 3, including the chair | Three years, including the chair; quorum 3 of 4, including the chair |
| Role | Investigates, assesses the level and recommends penalties | Considers and may review the DAIP’s recommendations, investigates cases itself, decides penalties |
| Time limit | Report to the IAIP within 45 days of the complaint or start of proceedings | Report to the Head of the HEI within 45 days of the DAIP recommendation, complaint or start |
Both panels must follow the principles of natural justice. The IAIP must give a copy of its report to the person it concerns. If you are the subject of a complaint, ask for that report and for your institution’s appeal procedure.
Your university’s rules come first
Because Regulation 6 requires every HEI to approve and publish its own policy, the rules you submit under can differ from the summary above. A university may, for example, set a lower limit for submission, require a particular tool, or specify which sections are checked. Institutions may set stricter rules than the UGC levels, so treat 10% as the national reference point, not a guaranteed safe number.
To find the rule that applies to you:
- open the plagiarism policy on your university’s website homepage, where Regulation 6 says it must be;
- read the PhD or Masters ordinance and any thesis submission guidelines from your research office;
- ask your supervisor or the library which tool is used, which settings and exclusions apply, and who runs the official check.
Before you submit
The best protection is in the writing, long before the official check: quote with quotation marks and a citation, paraphrase in your own words and still cite, and keep a complete reference list. Our guide on how to paraphrase without plagiarizing shows the method, and the citation generator formats references in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE and other styles.
You can check drafts as you go with the free Plagiarism Checker Plus plagiarism checker, which shows passages that match other sources so you can quote, cite or rewrite them. It is not your institution’s approved tool, its percentage will differ from the official report, and it is not a substitute for the undertaking the regulation requires. Use it to find problems early, not to predict a number. For why a percentage needs reading before it is judged, see how to interpret a plagiarism report.