VUB roots out plagiarism with special software

The faculty of economic and social sciences at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) detected 34 acts of plagiarism among the 627 Master’s theses submitted at the end of the 2015 academic year, the university has announced. There are 16 cases so far this year, a number VUB expects to increase after the second exam period at the end of the summer.

Ghent University (UGent) discovered only 10 cases across the entire institution this year, and Antwerp University (UAntwerp) just six. The reason for the huge difference is that the VUB faculty has begun screening every thesis with plagiarism-detection software. UGent and UAntwerp also don’t carry out extra screenings on theses that suggest a low level of plagiarism – indications that just a few figures or phrases are copied from another source.

Joël Branson, dean of VUB’s faculty of economic and social sciences, told De Standaard that many of the department’s students follow a Master’s degree of only one year. “They have missed a large part of the preparatory programme, in which we focus strongly on research skills,” he said. “They also have less time than other Master’s students, which might lead to excessive pressure and then plagiarism.”

The faculty’s student representative, Dominiek Stroo, said that there needs to be more contact built in between academic advisers and students. “If there were more deadlines during the year, professors could intervene more quickly, and it would be more difficult to submit a thesis with plagiarism,” he said.