Yogyakarta, November 15, 2024 – The fact-finding or ad hoc team formed by the Dean of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences of Universitas Gadjah Mada (FIB UGM) to investigate allegations of plagiarism in the books ‘Madiun: Sejarah Politik dan Transformasi Kepemerintahan dari Abad XIV ke Abad XXI’ and ‘Raden Rangga Prawiradirdja III Bupati Madiun 1796-1810: Sebuah Biografi Politik’ written by Sri Margana et al., has completed its work of gathering facts and evidence regarding the plagiarism allegations. Although the team was established by the Dean of FIB UGM, the university’s leadership has approved the conclusions and recommendations.
The ad hoc team, consisting of six FIB lecturers representing the positions of professors and lecturers outside the History Department of FIB UGM, collected relevant data and facts and called upon the writing team to examine allegations made anonymously and in an insinuative manner on the social media platform Facebook under the account name Peter Carey.
To test the truth of the plagiarism claims, the ad hoc team applied international standards and academic studies on plagiarism as well as the national guidelines set out in Permendikbud No. 17 of 2010 on the Prevention and Handling of Plagiarism in Higher Education. The team took the following steps: collecting references on plagiarism standards, both international and national, and studying the materials related to the allegations attached in a letter from Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia (KPG) dated November 4, 2024.
The team also examined the material in the accused book and compared it with the contents of the book ‘Kuasa Ramalan’ by Peter Carey, first published in 2012 by KPG. Importantly, the team conducted clarifications with the book’s writing team.
To assess the presence of plagiarism, the ad hoc team used several definitions, rules, and regulations on plagiarism from international and national sources, such as The Oxford University, Standard Office of Community Standards, California State San Marcos, ‘Defining Plagiarism: A Literature Review,’ Chapter II Article 2 (1) items a-e of Permendikbud No. 17 of 2010, Law No. 28 of 2014, Permendikbudristek No. 39 of 2021, definitions of verbatim quotations, and the differences in plagiarism perspectives across institutions, countries, and cultures.
Based on the above criteria for plagiarism, the ad hoc team concluded that according to various internationally recognized concepts of plagiarism, the proper citation of sources is key to preventing plagiarism.
The materials provided by KPG and Peter Carey claimed that long verbatim quotations were found in the books ‘Madiun: Sejarah Politik dan Transformasi Kepemerintahan dari Abad XIV ke Abad XXI’ and ‘Raden Rangga Prawiradirdja III Bupati Madiun 1796-1810: Sebuah Biografi Politik.’ These quotations were considered to have been directly taken from Peter Carey’s book ‘Kuasa Ramalan.’
However, after conducting a thorough examination of ‘Madiun: Sejarah Politik dan Transformasi Kepemerintahan dari Abad XIV ke Abad XXI,’ it was found that the long quotations in the text were introduced with the phrase “According to Peter Carey…” and were indented with endnotes providing full and detailed citations of Peter Carey’s book ‘Kuasa Ramalan’ in accordance with scholarly citation rules.
Similarly, for ‘Raden Rangga Prawiradirdja III Bupati Madiun 1796-1810: Sebuah Biografi Politik’, all quotes and references in the book clearly cited ‘Kuasa Ramalan’ by Peter Carey, both within the text in footnotes, and in the bibliography.
It was noted that the long quotations in both books were made because, during the research process, no primary source was found. At that time, ‘Kuasa Ramalan’ was the only reference available regarding Raden Rangga Prawiradirdja, and the authors wished to preserve the integrity of the information from the referenced text.
Based on Law No. 28 of 2014 on Copyright (Copyright Law), an assessment of whether there was a copyright violation must also consider the provisions of the Copyright Law. According to Article 44, paragraph (1) letter a of the Copyright Law, a citation is not considered a copyright violation if the source is properly cited and is used for educational, research, scientific writing, reporting, critique, or review purposes without harming the legitimate interests of the creator or copyright holder.
Although the Copyright Law does not explicitly define “complete citation,” there are three types of citations: body note, footnote, and endnote. The body notes mention the name, year of publication, and page number of the citation, with the full citation appearing in the reference list. Footnotes provide the name, year of publication, title, city of publication, publisher, and page number. Endnotes mention the name, year of publication, and page number.
The ad hoc team’s report stated that the long quotation began with the phrase “According to Peter Carey…” (up to the final quote) and was followed by an endnote. Regardless of the type of citation used, the team concluded that the citation met the requirements of Article 44, paragraph (1) letter a of the Copyright Law.
Based on the above assessments and considerations, the ad hoc team concluded that neither ‘Madiun: Sejarah Politik dan Transformasi Kepemerintahan dari Abad XIV ke Abad XXI’ nor ‘Raden Rangga Prawiradirdja III Bupati Madiun 1796-1810: Sebuah Biografi Politik’ can be categorized as plagiarism.
The team also added that the first and second editions of ‘Madiun: Sejarah Politik dan Transformasi Kepemerintahan dari Abad XIV ke Abad XXI’ and the first edition of ‘Raden Rangga Prawiradirdja III Bupati Madiun 1796-1810: Sebuah Biografi Politik’ did not include the Author’s Foreword and were temporary versions. These editions were withdrawn and destroyed at the request of KPG through a letter dated March 6, 2020, a step acknowledged by KPG based on a letter from the Dean of FIB UGM dated March 11, 2020, as confirmed in KPG’s official statement of November 4, 2024. As such, these versions no longer exist.
Following a thorough review, the ad hoc team concluded that none of the long quotations or parts alleged to be plagiarized remained in the final versions of the books, namely the third edition of ‘Madiun: Sejarah Politik dan Transformasi Kepemerintahan dari Abad XIV ke Abad XXI’ and the second edition of ‘Raden Rangga Prawiradirdja III Bupati Madiun 1796-1810: Sebuah Biografi Politik’.
Nevertheless, the team noted that while both books provided complete source citations, the long quotations could be considered to violate the “proprietary” standard. However, according to Permendikbud No. 17 of 2010 on the Prevention and Handling of Plagiarism in Higher Education, there is no specific regulation regarding the allowed length of quotations in the text.
Although Permendikbud No. 17 of 2010 has been revoked with the enactment of Permendikbudristek No. 39 of 2021 on December 14, 2021, the latter regulation did not exist at the time the books ‘Madiun: Sejarah Politik dan Transformasi Kepemerintahan dari Abad XIV ke Abad XXI’ and ‘Raden Rangga Prawiradirdja III Bupati Madiun 1796-1810: Sebuah Biografi Politik’ were published. Therefore, the evaluation of the books was based on the provisions of Permendikbud No. 17 of 2010.
This is the conclusion delivered by the ad hoc team of FIB UGM.
Dean of FIB UGM
Professor Setiadi