COIMBATORE: As many as 257 English books published under the name of a non-existent foreign publishing house, Vintage Press Limited, were removed from the Periyar Arivulagam library in Coimbatore on Friday.

The removal followed complaints by two research scholars, R Prem Kumar and S Satheesh Kumar, who flagged discrepancies in the publisher's credentials, ISBN details and the contents of the books.

The scholars pointed out that several books, each containing only around 300 pages, had been priced as high as Rs 10,000. An analysis by them of one of the titles, Tourism: Principles, Practices and Philosophies, authored by Emily Lawson, using plagiarism detection software, reportedly revealed 64 per cent plagiarism and 70.72 per cent AI-generated content. Photographs of foreign authors featured in several books were also found to have been copied from various online sources.

"We are examining other sections of the library also to ascertain whether more such fabricated books have been procured. The books removed include titles on tourism, science, chemistry and botany," said Prem Kumar.

Following their removal, empty spaces were visible on the bookshelves on the fifth floor of the library, located in Gandhipuram. Nearly 2,000 Tamil books had already been removed amid allegations of irregularities in procurement.