U of R engineering professor found guilty of plagiarizing student's work

University of Regina engineering professor Shahid Azam has been reprimanded by Saskatchewan's engineering association for plagiarizing the work of one of his master's students.

A December 2016 report by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan (APEGS) says the evidence shows Azam published an academic paper but "failed to acknowledge the contribution of [co-author and student Arjun Paul] to the submitted academic paper." 

In 2014, Azam published the article in the journal Environmental Geotechnics. When Paul saw it, he complained to the journal and APEGS, alleging his professor had plagiarized his work.

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While APEGS' report doesn't use the word 'plagiarism,' it does conclude Azam "is hereby reprimanded for professional misconduct," because he failed to give credit where it was due.

Paul said this ruling is proof that his complaint was justified.

"It feels really good," said Paul.

He said he worked hard on his master's thesis and Azam's actions really hurt.

"Claiming a false claim and taking my work — that makes me stressed," said Paul.

Journal withdrew paper

APEGS isn't the first body to have raised concerns. 

Following an investigation in 2014, Environmental Geotechnics decided to withdraw the paper after concluding Azam "had not fully credited Arjun Paul's thesis."

Also in 2014, CBC's iTeam did a side-by-side comparison of Azam's article and Paul's master's thesis, and found they were 24 per cent identical.

Edward Eckel, a researcher from the Western Michigan University who has published papers on plagiarism involving engineering master's theses, said Azam's behaviour clearly meets the definition of plagiarism.

CBC reached out to Azam for comment but he declined.

Azam admitted guilt but offered explanation

According to the APEGS report, Azam agreed he committed professional misconduct, but he offered a caveat.

"The member, through counsel, acknowledged guilt, with an explanation to the effect that the complainant's [Paul's] contribution was not significant and therefore the normal protocol for academic writing would not require co-authorship or similar acknowledgement," the report says.

Eckel said Azam's claim is "silly" and "unacceptable." 

"No one gets to rewrite the rules of academic protocol for academic writing. You are supposed to cite sources regardless," said Eckel.

"So the idea that he could just say, 'Well, the complainants' contribution was not significant and therefore I didn't need to cite him or require co-authorship' ... this guy has a lot of gall."

Azam's explanation to APEGS for his behaviour is similar to what he told CBC's iTeam in 2014. 

He said the reason there are so many similarities between Paul's thesis and his own paper is that Azam, in effect, wrote some of Paul's master's thesis himself. 

He went further, claiming Paul would have been unable to write parts of that thesis because he didn't have the technical writing skills necessary.

"None of the alleged material in the disputed paper reflected Paul's original writing, ideas or thoughts because he was heavily dependent on me in all of these areas," Azam said.

Paul defends academic record

Paul didn't respond to Azam's criticism when CBC broke the story back in 2014. He said he knew Azam's claims were false but he decided to remain silent until the professional association had completed its review.

Now, Paul said Azam is critiquing his ability in order to save face. 

He said his master's degree from the U of R refutes Azam's claim.

"Absolutely not true. It can't be right because I graduated from a very renowned university," said Paul. 

He also pointed out he's now working as a professional engineer. 

Eckel said by questioning Paul's abilities, Azam is harming his own reputation. 

"He basically indicts himself as an adviser and as a professor and as a mentor in the department," said Eckel. "It's like he's blaming his student but he's also revealing his own department and degree program to be shoddily managed." 

Azam is 2nd guilty U of R prof

Eckel said it's surprising to note that Azam isn't the only U of R professor to have been found guilty of plagiarizing his student's work. 

In 2014, the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta found U of R professor Ezeddin Shirif guilty of submitting an article to an academic journal without giving credit to his master's student who was the lead author. 

"Dr. Shirif knew that [his student] was the author of the paper and failed to ensure that full credit was given to the complainant," said the report, which was published in the association's winter 2014 magazine.

The association also found Shirif guilty of failing to co-operate with the investigation and "failing to provide a substantive response to the complaint."

Shirif did not reply to CBC's request for an interview.

Both Shirif and Azam continue to work at the University of Regina.

Eckel said that is telling. 

"The fact that both of these people are still employed there despite such blatant copying simply leads one to believe that the system is designed to kind of protect the people in power, which means these professors. Because if a graduate student had done this, they probably would have had to leave the program," he said.  

CBC asked the U of R for comment on Azam's case. 

In a written reply, the university said it "takes all allegations of academic and scholarly misconduct very seriously." 

But it pointed out that because of provincial privacy legislation and the collective agreement with professors, "the university is unable to disclose information about disciplinary proceedings."