In 1987, Rao and his team published a series of four papers, of which three were in the "Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences" ("Chemical Science"), "Pramana", and "Current Science", all published by the Indian Academy of Sciences. A report was submitted to the Society for Scientific Values that the three papers had no mention of the dates of receipt, which were normally explicitly mentioned in those journals. Upon inquiry, it was found that the paper manuscripts were actually received after the date of publication, indicating that they were backdated. The society declared the case as "Use of Wrong Means to Claim Priority."