Academic Fraud: Unveiling the Dark Side of Academia

Academic fraud undermines the integrity of education and research, shaking the foundation upon which knowledge is built. It encompasses a range of unethical behaviors by students, researchers, and educators that misrepresent the truth. This blog delves into the types of academic fraud, real-world case studies, and measures implemented to combat this issue.

 Types of Academic Fraud

·   Plagiarism: The unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author without acknowledgment. Plagiarism can occur in various forms, such as:

o   Direct Plagiarism: Copying another author's work word-for-word without citation.

o   Self-Plagiarism: Reusing one's own previously published work without acknowledgment, presenting it as new research.

o   Mosaic Plagiarism: Piecing together ideas, phrases, and concepts from different sources without proper citation, creating a patchwork of borrowed material.

o   Accidental Plagiarism: Unintentional failure to cite sources correctly, often due to lack of knowledge about proper citation practices.

·       Fabrication and Falsification: These are serious offenses in the realm of research and academia.

o   Fabrication: Making up data, experiments, or findings that were never conducted or observed. This includes creating fictional research results and reporting them as real.

o   Falsification: Manipulating research data, equipment, or processes to produce desired results. This can involve altering data points, selectively reporting results, or modifying images in research publications.

·       Cheating: Dishonest behavior in academic assessments, encompassing various tactics used to gain unfair advantage.

·    Ghostwriting: When someone writes work for another person, who then submits it as their own. This practice is prevalent in academic publishing and student assignments.

o   Academic Papers: Scholars hiring ghostwriters to produce articles or research papers submitted for publication.

·    Data Manipulation: Subtly altering research data to achieve more favorable outcomes without outright fabrication or falsification.

o   P-Hacking: Manipulating data analysis until nonsignificant results become significant, often through selective reporting of positive results.

o   Cherry-Picking: Only reporting data that supports a desired hypothesis while ignoring data that contradicts it.

·      Unethical Collaboration: Inappropriate or dishonest collaboration between researchers, often to enhance the perceived credibility or impact of their work.

o   Gift Authorship: Listing individuals as authors who did not significantly contribute to the research, often to curry favor or inflate the paper's credibility.

o   Salami Slicing: Splitting one significant piece of research into several smaller publications to increase the number of publications on a CV.

·       Misrepresentation of Sources: Citing sources that were not actually used or misrepresenting the context of cited information.

o   Fake Citations: Inventing sources or citing nonexistent works to support research claims.

o   Distorted Citations: Misrepresenting the conclusions or findings of a source to bolster one's own arguments.

Frauds done by Publishing House

Academic fraud is not limited to the actions of individuals; publishing houses can also engage in unethical practices that undermine the integrity of scholarly communication. Here, we explore various types of fraud committed by publishing houses, illustrating the consequences of these actions and the steps being taken to address them.

·  Predatory publishing refers to exploitative academic publishers that charge publication fees without providing legitimate editorial and publishing services. Characteristics of predatory publishers include:

o   Lack of Peer Review: Accepting and publishing papers without rigorous peer review, thereby compromising the quality and reliability of the research.

o   Aggressive Solicitation: Spamming researchers with invitations to submit papers or join editorial boards, often with the promise of rapid publication.

o   Misleading Metrics: Using fake or misleading impact factors and other metrics to appear more credible

Citation manipulation involves practices that artificially inflate the citation metrics of a journal or specific articles. This can occur through:

o   Citation Cartels: Agreements between journals to cite each other’s articles extensively to boost impact factors.

o   Coercive Citation: Editors pressuring authors to add citations to articles from the editor’s journal that are not relevant to the paper’s content.

·       Some publishing houses organize fake conferences and launch bogus journals that exist solely to extract fees from researchers:

o   Fake Conferences: Hosting conferences with little to no academic value, often accepting any submitted abstract or paper for a fee.

o   Bogus Journals: Creating journals that mimic the appearance of legitimate ones but lack rigorous editorial and peer review processes.

·       Encouraging or allowing duplicate and redundant publications dilutes the scientific literature and misrepresents the amount of unique research:

o   Duplicate Publication: Publishing the same research in multiple journals or conference proceedings without proper cross-referencing or justification.

o   Redundant Publication: Splitting a single study into several parts to increase the number of publications without significant new information.

Case Studies of Publishing House Fraud

OMICS International, a publisher known for organizing conferences and publishing journals, has faced criticism and legal action for predatory practices. In 2019, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) won a court case against OMICS, accusing it of deceiving researchers about the nature of its peer review process and the true costs of publication.

In 2014, SAGE Publications retracted 60 articles from one of its journals after discovering a peer review ring, where the same individuals were reviewing each other's work without proper oversight. This incident highlighted the vulnerabilities in peer review processes and the potential for abuse.

In the mid-2000s, Elsevier faced a scandal when it was revealed that it had published six fake journals sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. These journals appeared to be legitimate, peer-reviewed scientific journals but were, in fact, marketing tools for the companies' products.

Case Studies of Academic Fraud

The LaCour Scandal: In 2014, Michael LaCour, a political science graduate student at UCLA, published a study in Science claiming that gay canvassers could change people's views on same-sex marriage. However, in 2015, it was revealed that LaCour had fabricated the data. His co-author and the journal retracted the paper, and LaCour faced severe professional consequences  .

The Diederik Stapel Case: Diederik Stapel, a Dutch social psychologist, fabricated data in dozens of research papers over several years. His fraud was uncovered in 2011, leading to the retraction of over 50 papers and significant damage to his career and the credibility of social psychology research.

Steps Taken to Combat Academic Fraud

 1. Institutional Policies

Many educational institutions have implemented strict academic integrity policies. These policies outline the definitions of fraud, the consequences of engaging in such behavior, and the processes for addressing allegations. For example, Harvard University has an Honor Code that emphasizes integrity and details procedures for handling violations .

 2. Technological Solutions

Software like Turnitin and Grammarly is widely used to detect plagiarism in student submissions and scholarly works. Additionally, digital tools for data verification and statistical analysis help identify anomalies in research data, aiding in the detection of fabrication and falsification .

 3. Education and Training

Institutions are increasingly focusing on educating students and staff about academic integrity. Workshops, online courses, and orientation programs aim to instill ethical research and academic practices from the outset .

 4. Regulatory Bodies and Journals

Scientific journals and academic conferences are tightening their peer review processes. Organizations like the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) provide guidelines to maintain high ethical standards in publishing. Journals are more vigilant in retracting fraudulent papers and publicly addressing issues of misconduct .

 5. Whistleblower Protections

Encouraging the reporting of academic fraud is crucial. Many institutions have established confidential channels for whistleblowers and offer protections against retaliation. This ensures that individuals can report unethical behavior without fear of negative repercussions .

 Conclusion

Academic fraud is a multifaceted issue that threatens the credibility and reliability of academic work. Through stringent policies, technological advancements, educational efforts, and robust support for whistleblowers, the academic community is actively combating fraud. Continued vigilance and ethical commitment are essential to preserve the integrity of academia.

 References

1. Martin, B. (2013). Plagiarism: Policy against Fraud in Student Work. University of Wollongong. https://policies.uow.edu.au/document/view-current.php?id=26

2. Office of Research Integrity. (2020). Fabrication and Falsification. https://ori.hhs.gov/data-fabrication-and-falsification-how-avoid-detect-evaluate-and-report

3. ‘Teddi’ Fishman, T. (2016). Academic Integrity as an Educational Concept, Concern, and Movement in US Institutions of Higher Learning. In: Bretag, T. (eds) Handbook of Academic Integrity. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-098-8_1

4. COPE Council. (2019). Guidance for Editors: research, audit and service evaluations. Guidance for Editors: research, audit and service evaluations. https://doi.org/10.24318/B0fI5nuw

5. Turnitin. (2021). How Turnitin Works. https://www.turnitin.com/search/?query=how+Turnitin+works

6. Marcia McNutt, Editorial retraction. Science 351, 569 – 569 (2016).  https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.351.6273.569-a

7. Levelt Committee, Noort Committee, & Drenth Committee. (2012). Final Report: Flawed Science: The Fraudulent Research Practices of Social Psychologist Diederik Stapel. Tilburg University. https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/sites/default/files/download/Final%20report%20Flawed%20Science_2.pdf

8. Carafoli, E. (2015). Scientific misconduct: the dark side of science. Rendiconti Lincei, 26, 369-382. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12210-015-0415-4

9. Umlauf, M. G., & Mochizuki, Y. (2018). Predatory publishing and cybercrime targeting academics. International Journal of Nursing Practice, 24, e12656. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ijn.12656

10. Paraskevopoulos, P., Boldrini, C., Passarella, A. et al. The academic wanderer: structure of collaboration network and relation with research performance. Appl Netw Sci 6, 31 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41109-021-00369-4

16. Siler, K., Vincent-Lamarre, P., Sugimoto, C. R., & Larivière, V. (2021). Predatory publishers’ latest scam: bootlegged and rebranded papers. Nature, 598(7882), 563-565. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02906-8#:~:text=In%202018%2C%20the%20US%20Federal%20Trade%20Commission%20%28FTC%29,academic%20disciplines%20with%20little%20or%20no%20peer%20review.

17. Buranyi, S. (2017). Is the Staggeringly Profitable Business of Scientific Publishing Bad for Science? The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jun/27/profitable-business-scientific-publishing-bad-for-science

18. Van Noorden, R. (2023). More than 10,000 research papers were retracted in 2023—a new record. Nature, 624(7992), 479-481. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03974-8

19. Grant, B. (2009). Elsevier Published 6 Fake Journals. The Scientist. https://www.the-scientist.com/elsevier-published-6-fake-journals-44160

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) aiding objectives of NEP 2020

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) are adaptive instructional systems which incorporate AI techniques with educational methods. The important feature of these systems is the ability to customize the instructional activities and strategies based on the learner’s characteristics and needs. The ITSs have a classical architecture with four modules which are known by different names in studies. The first part is the expert module. This part includes the knowledge that the student wants to learn (domain knowledge). Furthermore, the techniques of the problem-solving and analyzing the student’s activities in the learning process are used in this module, like human experts. The second part is the student diagnosis module or student model, built by factors such as the level of knowledge, activities, responses, behaviors, learning styles, student’s knowledge deficiency, and other information about learner gathered and updated in the process of learning in the system. The third part is known as instruction, tutor, or pedagogical module. It detects the knowledge deficiency in students and focuses on the strategies and methods of teaching for compensating the identified shortage of knowledge in a specific field. Adaptive feedback, hint, and recommendation-generating, navigation of the learning path, and presenting adaptive educational content constitute the core of this module. The last module is the user interface which is communication part of ITS for controlling the interaction between user and system. There have been some reviews in e-learning systems which have been incorporated with AI techniques to improve the adaptive and customized learning. For an understanding, on the current implications of ITS in education, kindly refer to the chart:

Integrating Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) into the education system aligns with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020's goal of transforming the Indian education system using technology and innovative teaching methods. Personalized and adaptive learning is the core of ITS that is used to analyse student data, such as performance on assessments, and provide personalized feedback and instruction to help them improve their understanding of the material. In addition to this, ITS can help students to visualize the relationships between different concepts and understand how they fit together. This can help to improve their understanding of complex topics consequently student engagement and retention and aligns with the NEP 2020's focus on personalized learning and student-centric education. ITS helps to reduce the workload of teachers, allowing them to focus on more important tasks such as providing personalized instruction and feedback to students. Yet another set of advantages of ITS is it provides students with opportunities to practice problem-solving skills and receive immediate feedback. This can help students to develop their critical thinking skills and prepare them for real-world applications. Also, when integrated with virtual laboratories, students get real time feedback as they conduct experiments. 

Further, ITS ensures that instruction is consistent and objective, reducing the risk of bias and errors in the teaching process, resulting in unbiased and legit student evaluation. Next, ITS provides greater flexibility in the types of instruction that can be used, allowing for more innovative and effective teaching methods. Lastly, it can provide inclusive education, as it can be designed to provide instruction in multiple languages and can accommodate students with different learning styles and abilities. This aligns with the NEP 2020's goal of providing equitable education for all students. Overall, integrating ITS into the education system can help to create a more effective and student-centric education system that aligns with the NEP 2020's vision of transforming the Indian education system using technology and innovative teaching methods. By providing personalized learning, improving efficiency, ensuring quality assurance, providing flexibility, and promoting inclusivity, ITS can help to create a more effective and equitable education system for all students. The below illustration describes the categorization of the purposes of applying AI techniques in ITSs.

Research Branding and Promotion

Brand is a company’s or organizations or person’s USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Traditionally and in terms of marketing brand is associated with the name making and reputation of an organization. However, today scenario is different. Every person, society or even a social media page is brand. For instance: Amitabh Bachchan is a brand name, because many a times he is known for a movie or product, rather than the movie or product itself. Similarly, we use name of a certain society in the locality we live as landmark, which is brand. Brand in a layman’s term is nothing but identification without an ID Card. You do not need Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi’s ID Card to recognize him, just his name and face is enough. That is Brand.

Now, taking again the aforementioned examples of two dignitaries, let us see how they have created their “BRAND.” There are few simple and key steps; first, they make sure they are active on social media; secondly, they make sure they are involved with the public (current affairs, daily updates); thirdly, they do not forget to acknowledge people who do well or appreciate them; and last but the most important, they do magnificent work in their respective field. Next comes the promotion. “Jo dikhta hai, woh bikta hai” Promotion is what you do create an image, that consequently creates a BRAND. So, promotion leads to brand. However, here I am going to discuss about the promotion techniques and methods for brand evaluation for the people who are in research or academia, i.e., if you are a researcher, scientist, postgraduate, doctoral, or postdoctoral researcher, professor or allied in institutes, and many more. Taking forward I would like to discuss on the question “What is the importance of promoting research?” The answer is it directly affects your professional or research career. Let us say, if you are a famous researcher than, more people will be looking for your work, which means it will increase the visibility of your work (papers, books, patents, etc.). This will increase the citations to work and enhance the impact on the research area. Also, if you are currently doing research in an area and you get stuck at an indispensable problem than you can come across people who can help you and vice-versa. Also, it is limpid, that this promote your research area too; and you will be able to create generations for your work; this consequently will also increase implementation and rationalization of your work; additionally, it will even help you get your multi-disciplinary and more practical for applications.

Moving ahead there are enormous ways in which you can promote your work, you can do this online as well as offline mode (taking both paths is inevitable), and almost all of them are easily available on the internet, to cut short the article and avoid plagiarism, I will just jot the crux of them here. For promoting online, start with putting together the strategy, think about which researchers and audiences will be interested in your research, the disciplines they work in, and where they are available the most; writing summary, drawing graphical abstracts, or posting short videos and reels will give you an extra advantage in gathering audience. You can make use of several tools that come in handy for creating vivid and engaging visual aids. Providing all your data is another way, you can do this by one or more of the following ways: (i) providing all your data in paper; (ii) you can use supplementary data available options while publishing your paper; (iii) you can even use the option of data available from author on request, or (iv) you can just share unpublished data on social media or internet or blogs. Well, it has been over a decade, and most of the publishing house encourages you to share the links of your published work on all available social media platforms. If you have something which is not really intense work for publishing or may get omitted from your actual manuscript, because of lack proper evidence or substance, you can use blogs to communicate the same to the people. Even, as a geek researcher, if you have kept yourself isolated from social media, you must be active on professional and research social media sites. It is always a promising idea, to share the links of your profiles in your mail signatures. Make attempts in creating a non-virtual research office too; this do not mean to set-up infrastructure but having discussions on your thoughts about your work to other people working in same domain is always a solution where everyone benefits. Further, if possible, try to publish as free access, most publishing house permits free access publications now. However, this feature is chargeable and may cost you, but, if your funding agency facilitates, then you must go for free access.

Before closing, a few tips and tricks, and the most basic one is not to be shy, be bold and audacious to discuss about your works and ideas; make sure your work is authentic and ethical, this will give you confidence; use research platforms and always look for Google’s Scholar (a free platform) for your research work visibility; use the classic style of promotions too (like putting stuff on your bulletin boards, newsletters, etc.), get yourself, accustomed with Intellectual Property Rights and get maximum benefit out of it; furthermore, it is always good idea to learn new things about research writing through tutorials. Lastly to conclude, I would just like to say, you can always be creative and think out of the box for promoting your work. Having a sound brainstorming with your seniors, peers and even sub-ordinates is always a go. If you are in academic profession, you can always communicate with your students for getting enlightened about the various tech-enabled platforms and ideas for promoting your work, this will directly help you in pushing your work towards next generation. 

The Scientific Edge - Book Review

Padma Bhushan and UNESCO’s Kalinga Award awardee, Prof. Dr. Shri. Jayant V. Narlikar, an eminent Cosmologist, Scientist, Professor, Writer, Visionary and Founder Director of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai has made his landmark achievement, by putting his thoughts in words and made it available to the lay man with this book. Before making any remarks on his book, I would like to mention how fortunate we are to get his thoughts in the form of a book. He has authored several books in both fiction and non-fiction categories in English, Hindi as well as Marathi languages.

Over here, I am going to write about the book that I just finished reading, “the Scientific Edge”, published by Penguin Random House India Books, well published in 2003 i.e., two decades back. The book is an excellent collection of thoughts about science from Vedic to early 21^st century.

The book is divided into three categories namely: (i) India’s Science in a Historical Context; (ii) Learning to Live in the Age of Science; and (iii) The future of Science in India.

The book begins with, the Science in India through ancient times and dates to the era, while Science was an important aspect of life for Indians. The author has given enormous, elaborate quotes and examples from the ancient texts and manuscripts while discussing this section. There are quotes from Bhagwat Gita, Vedas, Samhitas and many more. While reading these pages it gives a lucid picture of authors insight through these texts. And the way he has reviewed through, gets the reader on toes as he reveals his thoughts one after the other. He has also stated that in the past Indians were passing the legacy of knowledge via oral methods and thus, lack of written documents lags India behind in claiming the legacy of the same. Further, most texts are written in poetic or literary form rather than pellucid phrases, which causes ambiguity while outlining the meaning of the same.

In the next section, the author has critically discussed about the hurdles that has impeded progress in science over the ages in India along with pointing out on the serious misconceptions that has been seeded regarding what belongs to India and what has been inherited from the west, along with how science fiction and superstitions has overruled the real essence of science. He has asserted many instances on how other civilizations flourished during the contemporary times in comparison to India and vice-versa at other times. In these chapters he has advocated for the Britishers and other foreign invaders for making India achieve a few milestones during the era in science. He has also given instances on how science always evolves on needs of mankind, rather than just curiosity.

In the last section of the book, the author discusses about the current scenario of science in India as compared to globe. I would like to accord here that despite the book is written a couple of decades back, most of the hurdles are still as prevalent as then and few of them has been even worse. However, not being a book spoiler over here, I won’t mention any of the author’s key thoughts and I believe as Prof. Narlikar has left, and I too will leave the end thought about the book as open ended and will welcome thoughts from people who have either already read the book or will after reading the review. Additionally, too few as a disclaimer I will mention that this book might look anti-religion, but one must understand and even as author tries to put Science and Religion can’t go hand in hand and while reading a book on science one must be incredibly open minded.  

PS: This is my first ever blog on Book Review and I know that being an amateur in review as well as blog writing and this isn’t great. But I am open to all the suggestions about my writing skills, so please do mention them in the comments. Also, please mention the thoughts on books and authors in the comments section too.

Link to purchase the book via Amazon: https://www.amazon.in/Scientific-Edge-Indian-Scientist-Modern/dp/0143030280

Book Cover Page Picture Courtesy: Amazon India

J. V. Narlikar's Image Courtesy: Getty Images 

Intellectual Property – Concept to Commercialization

Commercialization of IP

Commercialization in terms of intellectual property rights refer to the process of converting an intellectual property into money-making strategy, i.e. business model. The success rate of intellectual property commercialization is dependent on the choice of commercialization tools. The hybridization of intellectual property rights with business strategies lead companies to a solution where everyone benefits.

Intellectual Property Rights commercialization usually takes place through knowledge transfer via licensing, franchising, joint venture and spin-off, and material transfer agreements.  The other ways include (a) Internal product development and (b) Assignment or sale. The scheme for internal product development is as follows: 

The Intellectual Property Rights commercialization is an on-going process, and in most successful cases it has been found that money is gambled on the idea at the hypothesis level or beginning of the research. Studies done by researchers suggest that a mere 5% of all patented innovations are demonstrated victorious in business commercialization. Thus, it becomes a trend for big companies to route their business through IPRs as they can spend money and have sufficed the research and development section. Moreover, studies even suggest that for successful IPR commercialization, the IPR should be commercialized at each stage of research. 

The stages of commercialization of IPR are listed as follows, though the individual components have been discussed elsewhere.

• Inception Stage
• R&D Stage
• Application for IP
• Financing
• Partnership
• Further R&D
• Integrating IP tools
• IPR enforcement

For e. g.: Coco-Cola is one big name and is enjoying perks of using intellectual property rights in terms of copyright of design of bottles, registered trademark, the patent for barrier coated plastic containers, and patent for manufacturing secrets. Further, Coke Zero or Diet Coke a subsidiary of Coca Cola, inc., is achieving milestones in low sugar drinks due to the exclusivity of the brand name – ‘Coca Cola’. 

An example of the impact of Intellectual Property Rights commercialization can also be quoted from the telecommunication industry. This is of Microsoft acquiring mobile handsets business of Nokia wherein, Microsoft paid $5 bn to Nokia for business take over and an additional $2 bn for patent licensing for over a decade. This implies almost 30% of the total deal was specifically for carry forwarding the Intellectual Property Rights owned by Nokia.

Some important statistical data related to IP commercialization for India are tabulated below. 

University Startups and Spin-off Models 

The university start-up programs are designed to promote commercialization of intellectual property either via internal university programs and/ or external programs; and the modes through which resources are being shared and attracted. The models are developed in such a way that they facilitate R&D and aid business services, management, and financing. These programs can be one or more of the following:

• Commercialization Programs 
• Technology Development
• Accelerator Models

Commercialization Programs

The major components of commercialization program models include:

a)    Proof of Concept – It refers to a situation where an intangible component (an idea or thought or hypothesis) is realized into tangible or feasible components. (Product, service, methodology).

b)    Networking – These are events that foster a relationship between budding minds and startup companies. Usually, such networking models provide contacts with collaborators, service providers, management, and mentors.

c)    Partnering – These programs build bridges between startup companies and other companies. In terms of research and development collaborators, strategic investors, end-users, or providers of sales, marketing, and distribution.

d)     Team Building – This usually promotes inter-disciplinary work and help in overcoming the loopholes both primary (ideation, technology transfer, scale-up and troubleshooting) and secondary (patenting, legal matters, marketing, finance, etc.).

e)     Education and Training – Several courses are available globally that provides education and training on the commercialization of intellectual property and the creation of a startup company.

 Technology Development

There are two ways in which universities promote the ideation to realization practice. The first one is the Sponsored Research Programs. In this case, the university provides resources either by directly funding the projects or by providing funds through government organizations, non – government organizations, or companies or promoters. The second mode of providing help includes allowing access to resources available within the campus or providing access to resources available with other institutions or organizations; this is known as Shared Research Resources. 

Accelerator Models

They can be either startup accelerators or business incubators. Their duty is to support the budding companies by providing resources and services; this even includes accessibility to funds. These incubators are situated in the vicinity of university premises and are readily available to guide the students.

One such incubation center in India is “SINE” (Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship) a fostering incubator at IIT Bombay. And as of the latest numbers, they have supported more than 160 startups, with 550 + entrepreneurs and who provide employment to over 4000 individuals. 

There’s a basic difference between startup accelerators or business incubators which can be understood from the following table:

Angel Investors: These are rich individuals who are interested in investing money in startups and entrepreneurs, in return having ownership equity in the business. The Angel investors can be even friends or relatives or some high-end business tycoons looking for exploring new business ideas. Nowadays, there are several online platforms who bring investors and entrepreneurs together.

Ericsson – Micromax (2013) (Case Study)

In the year 2013, Ericsson (Swedish multinational) took legal action against Micromax for patent infringement for eight of its standard-essential patents (SEPs), related to 2G, 3G, and EDGE devices that were heard by the learned counsel of Hon’ble Delhi High Court. The SEPs owners like Ericsson are required to reveal some of their patents as necessary to the determined standard and, offer these patents to license on Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) terms, to any probable licensee. However, there are several legal issues related to this process:

• The SEPs are potent to create a monopoly for the owner (industry)
• There would arise question on legal implementation of FRAND commitments.
• It may lead to none or improper revelation by patent holder
• And there could also arise a situation wherein licensees refuse to settle FRAND terms in good faith.

Hon’ble Delhi HC directed the companies to enter a predetermined FRAND arrangement for a fleeting period of one month and appointed a mediator to supervise and settle the dispute. However, aggrieved by the dominance of Ericsson in the royalty terms for its GSM technology-related patents, Micromax filed a complaint u/s 26(1) of the Competition Act, 2002, with the Competition Commission of India (CCI). CCI pointed out that Ericsson owns 33000 patents out of which four hundred were granted to India and that the respondent was the largest holder of SEPs for the aforementioned mobile technologies. The commission further noted that there was no alternate technology available in the market and Ericsson was the kingpin of the technology. CCI further highlighted those royalties charged should be on the patents associated with the chipset technology and should not be randomly calculated as a percentage of the sales price of the licensed downstream product.

CCI ordered the Director General to interfere in and investigate the matter. Ericsson discontented with the order, challenged the same again in the High Court, Delhi. According to the judgment pronounced by the Hon’ble Court, in case of misuse of dominance by a company, CCI has complete jurisdiction to order an investigation in such matters. The court further ordered that the base of calculating royalties to be charged for the license can be the net sales price of the final product which was already determined in an interim order dated Nov 12, 2015

This is an important case as not only Micromax but several other mobile handsets manufacturing companies like Intex, Lava, Gionee, Xia and iBall was sued by Ericsson on similar grounds. Further, Intex also retaliates just as Micromax. Last but not the least, Vringo also sued ZTE and Asus in the same fashion. 

Conclusion

The report here is on Intellectual Property – Concept to Commercialization. The report contains gist on need and ways of IP commercialization; it also mentions the way in which universities promote the IP Commercialization, this includes – Commercialization Programs, Technology Transfer, and Accelerator models. Various examples have been included to understand the concept, these include – Coco Cola’s IP strategies, Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia and a detailed case study on Ericsson versus Micromax.

HOW TO WRITE YOUR FIRST REVIEW PAPER BEING A NAÏVE RESEARCHER

Review paper writing though sought an easy task, it isn’t. Often it is confused with going through all the literature required for particular research and at other times it taken as an essential part to complete course credit. On the other end, the huge research community sites it as a methodology to gather complete knowledge on a topic from an expert in the field. This is where the gap lies and here in this article, I will help you to build a bridge. But before, I start to let me make it clear review paper writing or literature review is not a copy-paste thing nor it portrays of the mere background of your work.

The review paper is a written document of up to date research and findings were done in a particular field and thus few points are really necessary to understand. Firstly, a review paper isn’t just about papers published in journals, it is also about all the other materials authentically documented such as conference proceedings, books, patents, case studies, letters, thesis and even unpublished yet on-going research in a particular field. But with this, it is even necessary to note that you should not include irrelevant materials, plagiarised materials, unauthenticated data or materials that are yet to be proved. Secondly, it is important that the review paper should provide accurate information, along with clear statements regarding loopholes, troubles, demerits and/or limitations of a research area or topic. It should as far as possible also clearly quote future scope and current research going in the field. Third, there is a usual debate regarding the amount of content or number of papers to be included; honestly, there is no such thing as limit while writing a review paper, usually more the merrier but at times few journals have publishing limits also it is suggested that review paper should not look like a thesaurus. Next, you should keep in mind you are not writing a novel at the same time review papers may sound like history or storytelling so choose the language, words and expressions wisely; even too mundane won’t encourage readers to go on. Moreover, data tabulated, charted or added as supplementary materials is more anticipated rather than mere plain text. A graphical abstract if possible can also be a good way to begin your paper with; images always lure readers.

Coming next to level of expertise required for writing a review paper; of course I believe if you are reading this article for knowledge you aren’t an expert in academia but that doesn’t mean you cannot write a review article, but I suggest a few things before you start writing you very first review paper. To begin with, reading a lot of review papers written not just in your field but others too, this will help you understand the flow of writing and language skills required. The next important thing is your passionate interest and reading about your topic more you read better you can write. Never try to repeat or simply rephrase written works, try to establish a connection between all the articles and then write; a dashboard will be really helpful. Do not hesitate to use referencing software while writing they are really handy and easy to use and helpful. Also, remember review paper isn’t one-time writing; your first draft and final published version can be generational different, but that’s good. Also, take help from peers for language as well as the content of the paper.

Ethics is an important aspect, do not hold loose on it, so first thing no plagiarism, no copy-pasting or even straight art of stealing. If you are willing to make use of particular data, make sure the original contributors grant you permission and also you have the permission for republishing. It is highly recommended to cite every document you have the slightest reference to in your paper.

Lastly, publication guidelines, make sure of following when you are ready with your manuscript; you have carefully chosen a journal for your article and thoroughly understood the publication guidelines. Non-adherence to guidelines results in strict rejection. You must seek help from publication experts or your faculty members if you find it difficult to understand any of it. If language is a big barrier for you, most publication house has their own language editing team you can definitely use them too.

To conclude, it is necessary to have a deep interest in your research topic, this will keep you motivated while writing a paper; also remember paper writing is a roller coaster; especially if you are part-time researcher or multi-tasking. Writing review paper needs persistence, focus and the skill of understanding and explaining, make sure you stick to it.

"Good Luck for Writing!!"

Literature Survey, Literature Review and Critical Review

In most of the post-graduate and higher education institutes, the review paper writing constitutes the critical part of projects. Usually, the need for the literature review is translated in the form of identification of the problem or what is peculiarly called the research gap. Even if your projects are directly suggested by your supervisor as in case of many premier institutes - it is asked to go through the available literature. In fact, an excuse for the literature review is even mentioned as getting the latest knowledge in the field.

So before we begin, we need to identify what does literature mean? Literature can be said as any material whether print or electronic, which is authentic and verified by various experts in the field and provides logical, relevant and accurate information. Literature can be in the form of following matters:

1. Journal Paper 
2. Conference Proceedings 
3. Web Articles 
4. Books and Handbooks 
5. Magazine Articles 
6. Case Studies
7. Patents 
8. Materials from designated bodies – Law Articles, Data from Ministry of Region, etc. 
9. Thesis and Report 
10. Working Paper or any other material

Usually, people consider Literature Survey, Literature Review and Critical Review all as the same but they are significantly different from each other, usually while considering for publication literature review and critical reviews are excepted.

Literature Survey

It is nothing but a summary of all the materials that you have gone through for the current research. The literature survey is done to achieve one or more of the following objectives:

• To get the relevant information, data, theory and/or equations 
• To revisit the past knowledge
• To know the current extremes of the topic being considered
• To identify who are the pioneers or experts in the field
• To know which companies or industries are active with the topic

Literature Review

It is a more than just referring the documents as in case of literature survey. It encompasses the SWOT analysis of the topic in the field of study, it is usually done to identify the loopholes in the current area of knowledge and also to identify possible ways to troubleshoot the same. The literature review is always preceded by a literature survey. It is undesirable for someone doing a literature review to state the published material as incorrect, identifying loop-holes is different from criticizing a published work. For the literature review, it is suggested to go through a paper via three filter pass. After every stage, the desirability of paper with respect to the research area has to be justified. 

1. Go through the title, abstract and conclusion
2. Quick go through across the paper
3. Detailed study of the paper

Critical Review

It comprises of giving feedbacks, summaries as well as suggestions to already published articles. The critical review is always done by experts in the field. As a student, it is never suggested to give a critical review. Critical reviews are even requested by the authors of the paper itself to identify the gap between the theoretical aspects given in the paper and practical aspects of the industry. In fact, peer review or blind reviews are also segments of critical review. The critical review requires line – by – line study in fact even reading in between the lines of every article being considered. 

It is recommended that one should go through a variety of already written literature surveys or reviews before start writing of your own. This will help you understand the cohesiveness of language, how to be lucid with your words and presentation style of content. It is also advised to make sure that your work is plagiarism free and free from grammatical as well as linguistic error.

SWOT Analysis of Biodiesel - An Indian Perspective

Biodiesel refers to a non-petroleum-based diesel fuel consisting of short chain alkyl (methyl or ethyl) esters, made by Transesterification of vegetable oil or animal fat (tallow), which can be used (alone, or blended with conventional petrodiesel) in unmodified diesel-engine vehicles. Biodiesel is distinguished from the straight vegetable oil (SVO) (sometimes referred to as "waste vegetable oil", "WVO", "used vegetable oil", "UVO", "pure plant oil", "PPO") used (alone, or blended) as fuels in some converted diesel vehicles. "Biodiesel" is standardized as the mono-alkyl ester.

Biodiesel is a biofuel produced from various feedstocks including vegetable oils (such as oilseed, rapeseed and soya bean), animal fats or algae. Biodiesel can be blended with diesel for use in diesel engine vehicles. Biofuel – The term biofuel applies to any solid, liquid, or gaseous fuel produced from organic (once-living) matter. The word biofuel covers a wide range of products, some of which are commercially available today, and some of which are still in research and development. Biodiesel is a fuel made from plant oils that can be used in a conventional diesel engine.

SWOT Analysis: Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threat

SWOT Analysis of Biodiesel

                                
Strengths of Biodiesel

·        Production of biodiesel contributes to the independence of energy supply: 98% of the energy used in the transport sector comes from fossil fuels. Oil reserves are estimated to be limited to 50 years. Biodiesel is contributing to the diversification of sources and technologies benefiting to the economy.

·        Mitigating climate change: Biodiesel reduces GHG emissions (30-71%). GHG emissions are leading to irreversible damages to the ecosphere affecting the environment, economic development, food security, and livelihood.

·        Biodiesel reduces emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) by approximately 50% and by 78% on a net lifecycle basis because the carbon in biodiesel emissions is recycled from carbon that was in the atmosphere, rather than the carbon introduced from petroleum that was sequestered in the earth's crust.

·    Biodiesel contains fewer aromatic hydrocarbons: benzofluoranthene: 56% reduction; Benzopyrenes: 71% reduction.

·        Biodiesel can reduce by as much as 20% the direct (tailpipe) emission of particulates, small particles of solid combustion products, on vehicles with particulate filters, compared with low-sulfur (<50 ppm) diesel.

·        Particulate emissions are reduced by around 50%, compared with fossil-sourced diesel.

·        Biodiesel has a higher cetane rating than petro-diesel, which can improve performance and clean up emissions compared to crude petro-diesel (with cetane lower than 40).

·       Biodiesel is biodegradable and non-toxic - the U.S. Department of Energy confirms that biodiesel is less toxic than table salt and biodegrades as quickly as sugar. The flash point of biodiesel (>150° C) is significantly higher than that of petroleum diesel (64° C) or gasoline (-45° C).

·        Pure biodiesel (BlOO) can be used in any petroleum diesel engine, though it is more commonly used in lower concentrations.

o   Some areas have mandated ultra-low sulfur petro-diesel, which reduces the natural viscosity and lubricity of the fuel due to the removal of sulfur and certain other materials.

o   Additives are required to make ULSD properly flow in engines, making biodiesel one popular alternative. Ranges as low as 2% (B2) have been shown to restore lubricity.

o   Many municipalities have started using 5% biodiesel (B5) in snow-removal equipment and other systems.

    Biodiesel contributes to rural development: Farmers would find new market opportunities thus participating in the objectives of increasing GDP, employment, social welfare, and diversification of the rural economy.

Weakness of Biodiesel

·        There is ongoing research into finding more suitable crops and improving oil yield, this implies it is still a long way for biodiesels to rule the fuel world.

·        Using the current yields, vast amounts of land and fresh water would be needed to produce enough oil to completely replace fossil fuel usage.

·        There is a need for a biomaterial which is abundant in nature, which is preferably nonedible- or a product of a plant wherein some part of it is edible (like fruit, leaves) and some of it is non-edible (stem, seeds), so that food cycle is not disturbed.

·        Biodiesel should not contain any esters when mixed with diesel for biodiesel formulation to prevent gelling at low temperatures.

·        Biodiesel may contain small but problematic quantities of water. Although it is hydrophobic (immiscible with water molecules), it is said to be, at the same time, hygroscopic to the point of attracting water molecules from atmospheric moisture; in addition, there may be water that is residual to processing or resulting from storage tank condensation. The presence of water is a problem because it reduces the heat of combustion of the bulk fuel. This means more smoke, difficulty in starting, less power.

·        Water causes corrosion of vital fuel system components: fuel pumps, injector pumps, fuel lines, etc.

·        Water freezes to form ice crystals near 0⁰C (32° F). These crystals provide sites for nucleation and accelerate the gelling of the residual fuel. Water accelerates the growth of microbe colonies, which can plug up a fuel system.

·        An inappropriate use of pesticides and fertilizers for maximum production of feedstock may lead to negative effects on the environment (water).

·        Price of vegetable oil may be rising because of higher demand and increase prices of Biodiesel production.

·        The energy content of Biodiesel is lower than the one of Diesel (37-38 MJ/kg instead of 42MJ/KG).

·        Biodiesel emits more NOx emissions compared to diesel fuel.

Opportunities available with Biodiesel in India

·        India meets just 23% of petrol demand through domestic production while the rest is met from imported crude. Keeping this in view, India’s energy security remains vulnerable until alternative fuels to substitute/supplement petro-based fuels are developed indigenously.

·        India believes that Biofuels can increasingly satisfy India’s growing energy needs in an environmentally benign and cost-effective manner; reducing dependence on import of fossil fuels and thereby providing a higher degree of National Energy Security.

·        Indian approach to biofuels is different to the current international approaches which could lead to conflict with food security. It is based solely on non-food feedstocks to be raised on degraded or wastelands that are not suited to agriculture, thus avoiding a possible conflict of fuel vs. food security.

·        The Indian Biodiesel Policy:

o   Facilitates and bring about optimal development and utilization of indigenous biomass feedstocks for production of biofuels.

o   Envisages development of the next generation of more efficient biofuel conversion technologies based on new feedstocks.

o   Set out the Vision, medium-term Goals, strategy and approach to biofuel development.

o   Proposes a framework of technological, financial and institutional interventions and enabling mechanisms.

·        Five hundred government buses in Mysore are proposed to be run on biodiesel as per proposals cleared by Karnataka Cabinet. This is a part of the central government-sponsored Sustainable Urban Transport project. The Centre would fund Rs 17.5 crores of the more than Rs 19 crores project for Mysore. Under the initiative, an intelligent transport system project would be also be taken up in Mysore involving 500 buses, which would give information in advance to commuters like departure and arrival times and the next bus stops. The buses are proposed to be run on biodiesel under the “Innovative Environmental System” initiative. Under these initiatives to be taken up over an 18-month period, 105 bus stops and six bus terminals (45 platforms) would be covered in Mysore.

·        The Indian Railways has put forward plans to set up four biodiesel plants costing about Rs 1.2 billion. Two of these plants will be built at Raipur and Chennai during the next two years, the other two units will be built later. Each plant is expected to cost Rs300 million and will produce up to 30 tonnes of biodiesel a day. The plants will use waste oil, fatty acid and non-edible vegetable oil as a feedstock and the biodiesel will be blended with the HSD oil for running the trains. The use of biodiesel is expected to ear the railways Rs20 million a year in carbon credits. The Railways currently consumes 2.2 billion litres of diesel a year. Indian Railway Organisation for   Alternative Fuels has been formed to take up projects to introduce alternative fuels such as CNG and biodiesel.

·        A research project in India has fuelled a Chevrolet diesel Tavera on a 20 percent biodiesel blend made from marine microalgae. The project was part of the New Millennium India Technology Leadership Initiative (NMITLI) with researchers from the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The Central Salt Marine and Chemical Research Institute found the microalgae growing naturally on the western coast. The B-20 biodiesel to operate the diesel Tavera was prepared from these microalgae mats and the test drive recorded a mileage of 12.4 km better than the 10-11 km recorded by diesel-run SUV’s. The aim is now to run the test vehicle on B-100 (neat biodiesel) marine microalgae biodiesel and evaluate economic viability.

·        Pune-based My Eco Energy is entering the bio-diesel market and planning to invest Rs. 550 crore for the acquisition, upgrading the facilities and setting up of infrastructure. The company is planning to increase the capacity to 10 lakh litres of bio-diesel per day through their own and contract manufacturing.

·        Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the country’s biggest oil marketing company, is looking to acquire 50,000 hectares of wasteland in Uttar Pradesh for plantation of non-edible oilseeds, such as jatropha and karanjia, that are used for biodiesel production. The company has already acquired 30,000 hectares in Chhattisgarh and another 2,000 hectares in Madhya Pradesh.

Threats to Biodiesel

·        Over publicity.

·        Abundance of misleading information.

·        Malpractice in input materials.

·        Costly input materials.

·        Low (no) support price for seed.

·        No sustainable Procurement Mechanism available in the Market.

·        Requirement of seed in large quantity even to fulfill the demand of 5% blending with diesel.

·        Government strategies towards Biodiesel project are not implemented properly.

References:

[1].  http://www.biodieseltechnologiesindia.com/whatbio.html

[2].  Bharat Vasandani, “India’s Bio-diesel Policy and current turmoil”, Biofuels, Energetica India, Jan-Feb ’12

[3].  Chandrasekhar Bhaskaran Nair, Pillarisetti Venkata Subbarao, Phanikumar Pullela, Gopalkrishna Mangalore Kin, “A biofuel composition, process of preparation and a method of fueling thereof”, WO2009004652A1, Jun’07.

[4].  http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/my-eco-energy-entering-biodiesel-market/article5264493.ece

[5].  http://www.biodieseltechnologiesindia.com/recent.html