In this week’s editorial, Nature suggests to suspend disbelief. That is also our message to the public.
A general summary of the past few months is made, reminding of the Prime Minister and three Ministers of Research involved in plagiarism. They speak about the importance of the exposed scientific misconduct and the possible effect on public perception.
You should also read: Response from Experts and Integru.org on Ministry’s first press release
The Ministry of Education and Research issued another press release, this time regarding the misconduct Review 8 and the B1 TV show which discussed it at great length. We shall not comment on all the Ministry’s arguments related to the misconduct as most were already covered by 4 experts on Sunday.
As was the case with the previous press release, we underline that it was not the Ministry, a state institution, involved in these misconducts of plagiarism and suspected copyright violations, but the persons A.C. Nechifor, A. Ioachim, E. Andronescu et al. In total, 12 persons . . .
Robert Turcescu from B1 TV, on his show “Sub semnul intrebarii” today, presented the Integru.org misconduct Review 008 of A. Ioachim, E. Andronescu (minister of research) et al. A recording is available online at:
http://inregistrari.b1.ro/view-02_Dec-2012-sub_semnul_intrebarii-88.html
The guests of the show are: . . .
This case refers to 4 works published in the period 2006-2007, revealing serious breaches of ethical academic conduct, including multi-submission, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and copyright violations, as confirmed by 4 international experts after careful and independent investigation.
The content of all 4 papers is virtually the same, although the title and the authorship changes from one paper to the next. Moreover, two new authors, Ecaterina Andronescu and Sorin Jinga, both from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, are added on the last 3 subsequent re-publications of the original article, with essentially no new contribution. As the experts mentioned, this is seen as plagiarism of the initial work.
The papers have been published in two Elsevier journals (Thin Solid Film and Journal of the European Ceramic Society), the IEEE International Semiconductor Conference, and a Romanian Academy journal (Romanian Journal of Information Science and Technology) . . .
Acest caz se refera la doua situatii de incalcare a eticii si conduitei academice, avand si consecinte legale, la Facultatea de Stiinte Economice (FSE) din Universitatea Petrol-Gaze Ploiesti (UPG).
Prima vizeaza acordarea abuziva de note de catre decanul FSE, Prof Ion Iarca, la discipline unde nu este titular. A doua arata existenta unor studenti care sunt in acelasi timp si cadre didactice, predand si examinand grupele de studenti din care fac parte.
La 1 Mai 2012, Prof Florin Oprea demisioneaza din Senatul UPG, citand apararea infractiunii penale si secretizarea raportului comisiei de analiza de catre Senatul UPG. Ambele situatii sunt aduse la cunostinta Ministerului Educatiei prin sesizarea facuta in 12 Mai 2012 de Prof Oprea. Ministerul nu a oferit inca un raspuns, desi termenele legale au fost depasite . . .