The Visva-Bharati University Faculty Association has alleged that a senior professor's Google Scholar page has listings of research work that aren't even related to his field of work. While the professor teaches at the Department of Ancient Indian History Culture and Archaeology, the papers listed on his Google Scholar profile have everything from research on polymers to cancer proteins. Sources close to the professor said that this is nothing but a technical glitch and that the professor has never used these publications in his CV.
An internal source said that the professor's official CV uploaded on the Vidwan portal, which is the official portal for professors in VBU, reflects his work properly. But the official profile page of the professor does quote the Google scholar link as well. "He is not aware of any such allegations. This must be a technical glitch that needs to be resolved. But people who do not have anything else to do will pick up such issues to build a mountain out of a molehill," said the source.
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Calling it unethical, the VBUFA said that these issues reflect badly on the university. "Such desperation in academics not only affects the prestige of the institution but also may cause irreparable damage in the assessment and ranking platforms like NIRF/NAAC in the long run," said a senior professor of the VBUFA. "We notified this first on November 21. If it was a technical glitch, why weren't efforts made to get it corrected?" he asked.
The VBUFA also circulated a letter stating that the said professor is close to the Vice-Chancellor, Dr Bidyut Chakrabarty and also enjoys positions of power.
Sources close to the professor said that he is not involved in politics and is only concentrating on his teaching and research. "He said that computers and their functions are not part of his expertise so he could not comment on how it happened but this is surely a glitch. His is a very common name and could have been mingled with someone else's very easily," said the sources.