Under the UGC 2018 regulations, similarity up to 10% is Level 0 and carries no penalty. Above 10% the work falls into Level 1 (10-40%), Level 2 (40-60%) or Level 3 (above 60%), with stricter action at each level.
Written by Adithyan, a student who builds PaperCheck. Last updated 31 October 2026.
The regulations exclude quoted work with proper citation, references and bibliography, generic terms, standard symbols and equations, and common knowledge. Your university's software may still show them, so read the report and not only the number.
Indian universities commonly use DrillBit, Ouriginal (formerly Urkund) or Turnitin. Each searches different sources, so the same thesis can score differently on each.
Run your thesis through a plagiarism check first, fix every copied phrase by restating it in your own structure and citing the source, then submit. PaperCheck checks against the papers you cite plus arXiv, Wikipedia, Europe PMC and OpenAlex, and it also gives an AI-writing score in the same report.
Up to 10% similarity is Level 0 under the UGC 2018 regulations and carries no penalty. Some universities set a stricter limit, so check yours.
Not under the UGC regulations: references, bibliography and properly cited quotes are excluded.
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