Following Integru.org’s Review 10: Olesia Mihai, PhD thesis copy/paste plagiarism, the dean of the Faculty of Economy of “Al I. Cuza” University, Prof Dinu Ariniei has stated that Olesia Mihai has just announced her resignation . . .
Monthly Archives: May 2013
Opinions The Culture of Plagiarized Dissertations in Romania: A Call for Inquiry in the Humanities—and Beyond?
The high-profile cases of plagiarized dissertations recently featured in Integru and elsewhere are typically those from fields—the sciences and economics, especially—where substantial social and professional power is at stake. But what about the humanities? These cases should not be ignored. The standards should be no different from those in the sciences or any other field. If we say that plagiarists in the humanities might be due a bit more compassion, on the grounds that such humanities PhDs are less likely to go on to jobs with major political or economic importance, then we are simply endorsing the marginal position that the humanities too often occupy in modern culture in general. Humanists deserve at least the same standards as anyone else. They can even be credited with inventing such standards. Such were the efforts, for example, by Renaissance philologists and writers who sought to define the actual canon of works by ancient authors as distinct from the numbers of works that medieval writers with greater or lesser disingenuousness foisted on those ancient writers . . .
Reviews Review 10Olesia Mihai – PhD thesis copy/paste plagiarism
Experts confirm that Dr Olesia Mihai (formerly Lupu) from “Al. I Cuza” University, Iasi, Romania, plagiarized extensively within her PhD thesis (April 2005, then a PhD student) the PhD thesis from 1981 of Prof Jay W. Ruud, at the time at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA.
As confirmed by the experts below, including Professor Ruud himself, hundreds of pages have been lifted by copy/pasting. Out of 180 pages of actual content, close to 100% of them were identified as Prof Ruud’s original work, as one can tell from the highlighted thesis compared against Prof Ruud’s thesis (also highlighted).
It is worth mentioning that the original PhD thesis of Prof Ruud is not available online. It is stored as a microfilm and can be only ordered and purchased from ProQuest . . .
Reviews Review 9Liana Mos et al – journal article copy/paste plagiarism
Prof Liana Mos from the Faculty of Medicine Pharmacy and Dentistry from “Vasile Goldis” Western University, Arad, Romania, together with 6 other authors, were identified to have plagiarized extensively within their article entitled “Cytokine and atherogenesis“, published by the “Arad Medical Journal” in 2009, as confirmed by international experts below.
Among the 7 authors are:
- Prof Liana Mos - Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry.
- Prof Corina Zorila - Vice-Dean.
- Prof Coralia Cotoraci - a Professor at the time of writing, today the Rector of the university.
- Dr Ioana Dana Alexa - Associate Professor and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at “Gr. T Popa” University.
The full list of authors is found in the Report section further below.
Among other sanctions to be applied to the journal and to the authors, the international experts below recommend that the authors should be cut off from funding sources and blocked from obtaining promotions. From the list above we can see that a Professor became Rector of the University the moment that this article was published. We can only speculate about the fate should this case had been surfaced earlier . . .
News Integru.org launches Interact (beta): Now you can, and it’s easy!
Recognizing the need for increased transparency, reach and impact, today Integru.org launches Interact (beta), with a first wave of features designed around the idea of community: you can now participate directly and easily in resolving all cases of (alleged) misconduct on Integru.org!
The experts in the field who provide the reviews are still the cornerstone of the Integru platform, however most of the work for resolving a case is done elsewhere, by many independent people: searching for appropriate experts in the field and inviting them to participate are two of the most daunting tasks. Highlighting and annotating documents is another behemoth.
The idea is simple: Everyone — literally everybody — with an internet connection, from the general public to the most prestigious academic, can now easily participate and are highly encouraged to do so! . . .