Plagiarism and similarity reduction in Trivandrum

What similarity limits do Thiruvananthapuram’s universities actually write down?

The table holds only what each institution’s document says. Where a document gives no figure, we say so. We don’t borrow the UGC number to fill the gap.

Two things follow. First, if you’re a University of Kerala scholar, you have no written percentage to aim at. Clause 11(3) of the PhD Regulations 2022 says only that the University will detect plagiarism with “well-developed software applications”. Clause 11(4) wants your undertaking and your supervisor’s originality certificate. Ask your research centre what figure your Doctoral Committee accepts. The usual reference point is the UGC’s 2018 levels, set out in our plagiarism limits guide. Second, KTU calls its 20% a guideline, not a hard ceiling. Your supervisor’s judgement still matters.

How does the Kerala University Library’s DrillBit check work?

The library’s plagiarism detection service note sets out the procedure for University of Kerala research scholars. It rests on a University order of 9 May 2021. A later order, made after a Syndicate resolution of 28 December 2023, prescribes DrillBit Extreme for theses. The library’s research support page lists DrillBit and iThenticate.

• One shot, final version only. Test checks are not allowed. The finished thesis goes in at least two weeks before you submit it.
• The file. You send one PDF that starts at the introduction and ends with the bibliography. Drop the preliminary pages (declaration, acknowledgement, abstract, lists and contents). Leave out appendices such as the glossary, index or questionnaire too. The title page goes as a separate file. You email it to the library’s plagiarism address with your name, department, guide, research centre and registration order.
• The title is locked. Once submitted, the thesis title can’t be changed. Check spelling and wording first.
• Fees. ₹105 for a DrillBit check. iThenticate costs ₹105 for students and scholars and ₹420 for teachers, with ₹50 for a recheck.
• Exclusions need your guide. A matching source is removed from the report only with a consent letter from your research guide.
• The certificate. The University Librarian issues it, and the one-page report is uploaded to Shodhganga with the thesis and included on the CD.

The application form also asks for the document language, the format and the number of pages. There are no practice runs. So any work on the text has to be finished before the library sees it. Our DrillBit guide explains how to read the report once it arrives. The Kerala thesis format guide covers the rest of the submission.

What does KTU’s 20% guideline leave out, and who signs for the check?

Clause 21.2 of KTU’s 2023 regulations is short. You certify that a standard software or platform was used. Your supervisor makes sure the thesis was checked before submission and endorses your undertaking. As a general guideline, similarity may be limited to 20%, excluding the bibliography and self-plagiarism. There is one way out of the check. A supervisor may seek relief from the Dean (Research) where the thesis has intellectual property implications or touches national security. That matters if you work on defence or space projects.

Read the self-plagiarism exclusion with care. It doesn’t mean your own earlier papers can be pasted in unmarked. It means matches to your own work, properly cited, shouldn’t be counted against you. A College of Engineering Trivandrum presentation on the KTU regulations lists two reports. One is a plagiarism report with the approved synopsis at the synopsis meeting. The other is a certificate of plagiarism check, plus the report, with the final soft copy of the thesis. But the presentation is older than the 2023 regulations. Confirm with your college’s research office which stages need a report now.

KTU’s thesis template also carries a declaration of academic honesty. In it you accept that copying can bring disciplinary action by the University. It can also bring penal action by the sources you failed to cite.

What do KUHS, IIST and IISER expect for the medical and institute theses in the city?

KUHS. Are you at one of the city’s medical, nursing or pharmacy colleges? Then you come under the KUHS Academic Integrity and Plagiarism Policy. Clause 12.8 of the KUHS PhD regulations also requires an electronic check of the final thesis, with the report attached. The policy is more specific than most:

• A citation is needed once 14 words are taken together from a source. An accumulated 40 words must go in quotation marks, in italics.
• If copied open-internet content exceeds 30% in aggregate, the work is not considered at all.
• The check leaves out the reference list and bibliography, the contents page, preface and acknowledgements. It also leaves out standard symbols, equations, laws and generic terms.
• Quoting your own published work needs a self-plagiarism declaration (Annexure II). Co-authored papers need the co-authors’ signed consent (Annexure III).
• Anything above Level 0 goes to the Institutional Academic Integrity Committee of your institution. That committee has 45 days to send its report and recommended penalty to the University committee.

The Annexure III consent is the step medical scholars miss. Does a thesis chapter draw on a paper with five co-authors? Collect all five signatures early.

IIST. The October 2025 guide book asks for a plagiarism report from a tool IIST subscribes to. Your supervisor endorses it, and it goes in with the soft copy of the thesis. It gives no percentage.

IISER Thiruvananthapuram. The Central Library made Turnitin available to library users in September 2018, with login details from the library. The PhD guide book names no figure. Its honour pledge commits every student not to plagiarise.

The University of Kerala’s own research policy document calls itself non-binding. Its warning is still worth reading. Once plagiarism is shown, it is presumed to have been knowing, and the researcher has to prove otherwise. That is why we refuse paraphrasing tools and character tricks. Our ethics policy sets out where we stop. Our paraphrasing and quoting guide shows the honest way to handle a source.

Working with us from Trivandrum

Start by sending the document with the similarity report that will count at your institution, or the closest version you have. We sort the matches with your institution’s exclusions in mind. Then we work through them with you on a video call and in tracked changes. Each fresh report we produce comes from a standard checker, with its settings written on it. It tracks progress. It doesn’t replace the official check.

The timing depends on where you are registered:

• University of Kerala: the library allows no test runs. All revision has to be finished before you email the final PDF, and that email has to go at least two weeks before submission. We plan to finish a week or two before that. Is a match to your own cited paper or a standard text? Raise it with your guide early. Only a consent letter from the guide gets it excluded.
• KTU: the report is needed at the synopsis meeting. So we work through the synopsis and draft thesis before that date. Your own papers get cited properly, so the self-plagiarism exclusion applies.
• KUHS: we check passages against the 14-word and 40-word rules. While the revision is under way, we remind you to collect the Annexure II and III declarations.

If your thesis is written in Malayalam, tell us at the consultation, before any quote, so we can say plainly whether we can help with it.