In a rare move, Korean prosecutors indicted Thursday 179 professors across the country on charges of republishing existing books in their own names after replacing the covers.

According to Uijeongbu District Prosecutors’ Office, 74 professors have been indicted in relation to the case while other 105 have been summarily indicted. They have been charged with copyright infringement and disrupting public duty.

Out of the 105 who have been summarily charged, the professors who stole their peers’ work have each been fined 10 million won ($8,440), while the original authors face a 3 million-won fine.

The officials have also indicted five publishing company employees on suspicion of taking part in the scheme.

This is the first time that the authorities have staged a mass crackdown on the widespread “cover-swapping” sham, whereby scholars disguise an already-published book by another scholar as their own.

The original author condones the process in order to maintain an amicable relationship with the publishers for future book deals, who in turn get to sell their inventory as new books.

As local universities have policies against rehiring faculty members who have been fined 3 million won or more, it is likely that they will be banned from returning to their teaching posts.

Prosecutors have notified the list of the indicted professors to their respective universities, and plan to expand the investigation by launching a special team dealing specifically with illegal activities related to research and studies.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)