Comentarii pentru Integru.org https://integru.org upholding academic integrity and ethical values Wed, 15 Jan 2014 17:31:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.9.2 Comentariu la Review 4 Madalina Dutu, Prof Leonard Azamfirei (Rector), et al. – journal paper plagiarism de către Acta Medica Marisiensis (2010-2012) – Prof Copotoiu Sanda | Oricat de urat ar fi adevarul, tot e mai frumos decat cea mai frumoasa minciuna - Nietzsche https://integru.org/ro/reviews/dutu-azamfirei-2011#comment-16814 Wed, 15 Jan 2014 17:31:19 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=1148#comment-16814 […] 1. DUȚU M, Elias Hosp, Bucharest, AZAMFIREI LEONARD, UMPh Tg. Mureş (RECTOR, ExDean), 2nd ICU Dept (Head) et al – Data & Text Plagiarism Article   Sources   RNEC Report   International Assessment of Article: http://integru.org/reviews/dutu-azamfirei-2011 […]

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Comentariu la Cultura disertatiilor plagiate din Romania: Indemn la ancheta in stiintele socio-umane—si altele? de către Andrew Galloway https://integru.org/ro/opinions/the-culture-of-plagiarized-dissertations-in-romania-a-call-for-inquiry-in-the-humanities-and-beyond#comment-13843 Fri, 20 Dec 2013 14:21:21 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4699#comment-13843 As I have read the many very interesting and insightful comments, I have gained a yet deeper respect for the courageous and thoughtful editors reading and organizing Integru, and for those many Romanian academics and intellectuals who are intent on pondering structural changes in the circumstances that promote intellectual integrity. My deepest misgiving is that my term “culture” in the title might seem to imply something unchangeable. “Culture” is a slippery and easily distorted term, though still I believe a useful one in some discussions. As I meant to show in the column itself, my intention was simply to think in terms of systems and quite changeable structures and assumptions, in the humanities in particular but other fields too (as many of the comments indicated), rather than exclusively focusing on individual cases. I have wanted more than once to jump in and say how much I love Mircea Eliade (responsible for the first “opening” of my mind as a youth), and many another Romanian genius and artist. Integru has displayed for me some of the intellectual courage and acuity that constitutes the true Romanian cultural tradition, which I have been grateful for the opportunity to encounter anew.

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Comentariu la Cultura disertatiilor plagiate din Romania: Indemn la ancheta in stiintele socio-umane—si altele? de către George https://integru.org/ro/opinions/the-culture-of-plagiarized-dissertations-in-romania-a-call-for-inquiry-in-the-humanities-and-beyond#comment-13813 Fri, 20 Dec 2013 09:37:06 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4699#comment-13813 It’s clear that the rules are not the same for all. some of scientists or non-scientists, but self-titled as a “doctor”, are supported in EU research, get funded, publish or not the reports, articles, conferences, etc. Nothing touches them, They are over law. Keep the eyes on them!

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Comentariu la Cultura disertatiilor plagiate din Romania: Indemn la ancheta in stiintele socio-umane—si altele? de către Dani Otzil https://integru.org/ro/opinions/the-culture-of-plagiarized-dissertations-in-romania-a-call-for-inquiry-in-the-humanities-and-beyond#comment-12385 Sat, 07 Dec 2013 17:14:14 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4699#comment-12385 I wonder what an effect has Integru.org on these ones: http://bit.ly/1ndYtAS
Finally, after one year, the periodic and final report for one of projects were added. Waiting for the other reports and publications.

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Comentariu la Cultura disertatiilor plagiate din Romania: Indemn la ancheta in stiintele socio-umane—si altele? de către Dani Otzil https://integru.org/ro/opinions/the-culture-of-plagiarized-dissertations-in-romania-a-call-for-inquiry-in-the-humanities-and-beyond#comment-11195 Wed, 04 Dec 2013 15:04:35 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4699#comment-11195 The authors are: Dr Erich Kny, Mrs (ex-Dr) Norica Godja.
I can not beleive that it is possible to get funded for a research project and give back 0 results.

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Comentariu la Cultura disertatiilor plagiate din Romania: Indemn la ancheta in stiintele socio-umane—si altele? de către Dani Otzil https://integru.org/ro/opinions/the-culture-of-plagiarized-dissertations-in-romania-a-call-for-inquiry-in-the-humanities-and-beyond#comment-11194 Wed, 04 Dec 2013 15:01:49 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4699#comment-11194 It s interesting to see that the same authors from CEST-Wiener Neustadt did not publish the periodic and final reports and publications on CORDIS webpages. It seems for them the rules are not really rules.

1) http://cordis.europa.eu/projects/rcn/108902_en.html
2) http://cordis.europa.eu/projects/rcn/110478_en.html
3) http://cordis.europa.eu/projects/rcn/101280_en.html
4) http://cordis.europa.eu/projects/rcn/103464_en.html

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Comentariu la Cultura disertatiilor plagiate din Romania: Indemn la ancheta in stiintele socio-umane—si altele? de către George Luchian https://integru.org/ro/opinions/the-culture-of-plagiarized-dissertations-in-romania-a-call-for-inquiry-in-the-humanities-and-beyond#comment-4538 Thu, 07 Nov 2013 13:39:57 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4699#comment-4538 Dear Dr Alison Abbott,

I would like to see that Nature, in its scientific impartiality, would be interested to publish about using a fake doctor title by Norica Carmen Godja, a manager of scientific area from an Austrian company, even is a Romanian with the Austrian citizenship, in order to get funded by EU programs-Clean Sky.
Her fake doctor title was changed by EU Commission in Mrs after I wrote more times, but not this is a problem. The problem is maybe more grave than that in which someone wrote the references at the end of dissertation. Using a fake doctor title is named imposture and it is punished by law. Why nobody noticed this?

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Comentariu la Integru.org lanseaza Interact (beta): Acum poti, si este usor! de către George Luchian https://integru.org/ro/news/interact#comment-3121 Sun, 06 Oct 2013 07:59:39 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4881#comment-3121 Norica Carmen Godja became just a “Mrs” on Cordis web pages, maybe as a result of being published on integru.org above. Note the (Mrs) used now (see below) as opposed to (Dr) used on 28 Aug (see my comment above from 1.5 months ago).

I ask how it is possible to use a fake academic title and to be still a manager of scientific area and get funded by EU research programs?

http://cordis.europa.eu/projects/rcn/110478_en.html

Coordinator: CEST KOMPETENZZENTRUM FUR ELEKTROCHEMISCHE OBERFLACHENTECHNOLOGIE GMBHÖSTERREICH
Administrative contact: Norica-carmen GODJA (Mrs)
Viktor-Kaplan-Strasse 2, WIENER NEUSTADT, ÖSTERREICH
Tel: +43-26222226618
Fax: +43-26222226650
Email: Contact

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Comentariu la Integru.org lanseaza Interact (beta): Acum poti, si este usor! de către Integru.org Admins https://integru.org/ro/news/interact#comment-2348 Sun, 08 Sep 2013 23:09:48 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4881#comment-2348 Please use the Contact page to submit any conclusive documents and other material that you have. If you can highlight the offending sections/paragraphs in each document, that will help our collaborators analyzing/processing it for review.

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Comentariu la Integru.org lanseaza Interact (beta): Acum poti, si este usor! de către Integru.org Admins https://integru.org/ro/news/interact#comment-2345 Sun, 08 Sep 2013 18:56:50 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4881#comment-2345 Feel free to use the Contact page to submit any conclusive material that you have.

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Comentariu la Integru.org lanseaza Interact (beta): Acum poti, si este usor! de către Anonymous https://integru.org/ro/news/interact#comment-2249 Fri, 30 Aug 2013 21:34:06 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4881#comment-2249 ceva stiri de pe slahdot si nature:

http://www.nature.com/news/romanian-science-in-free-fall-1.13579

http://science.slashdot.org/story/13/08/30/179209/romanian-science-in-freefall

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Comentariu la Autorii din Recenzia 8, incluzand ministrul cercetarii Ecaterina Andronescu, sanctionati international pe termen lung pentru abatere de la conduita academica de către Gheorghe https://integru.org/ro/news/authors-from-review-8-including-minister-ecaterina-andronescu-banned-for-several-years-and-monitored-for-unethical-behavior#comment-2246 Fri, 30 Aug 2013 14:43:30 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4808#comment-2246 Speram sa vad si o interdictie la aparitiile TV ale doamnei Plagiatorica care la un moment dat s-au mai rarit. De curind a re-aparut “pe sticla” cu aceeasi nesimtire pe care i-o stiam din perioadele in care a fost ministru. Ultima perioada de ministeriat a avut consecinte nefaste. Poate va convingeti daca cititi interviul in patru parti al lui Mircea Micle in revista 22 sau daca cititi http://www.nature.com/news/romanian-science-in-free-fall-1.13579.

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Comentariu la Integru.org lanseaza Interact (beta): Acum poti, si este usor! de către George Luchian https://integru.org/ro/news/interact#comment-2204 Wed, 28 Aug 2013 09:36:10 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4881#comment-2204 What is worse: to plagiate a dissertation or to use a fake doctor title?

Norica Carmen Godja, manager of scientific area at CEST-Wiener Neustadt, Austria, with a CV that can be found here http://www.zukunftsakademie.or.at/media/com_eventbooking/cv_dipl.-ing.%20norica-carmen%20godja.pdf is a graduated of the Faculty of Textiles – leather treatment.

She is getting EU projects in electrochemistry engineering using a FAKE doctor title.

http://cordis.europa.eu/projects/rcn/108902_en.html
Coordinator: CEST KOMPETENZZENTRUM FUR ELEKTROCHEMISCHE OBERFLACHENTECHNOLOGIE GMBHÖSTERREICH
Administrative contact: Norica-carmen GODJA (Dr)
Viktor-Kaplan-Strasse 2, WIENER NEUSTADT, ÖSTERREICH
Tel: +43-26222226618
Email: Contact

The title of this project is hilarious and wrong from scientific point of view.
Chromium free surface pre-treatments and sealing of Tartaric Sulphuric Anodizing-

Dr Norica Carmen Godja

The pre-treatments refer to a free surface of Chromium?a free surface is: the surface of a fluid that is subject to constant perpendicular normal stress and zero parallel shear stress, such as the boundary between two homogenous fluids, for example liquid water and the air in the Earth’s atmosphere. Unlike liquids, gases cannot form a free surface on their own(Wikipedia). We can not beleive that the CEST’s Chromium used is forming a free surface.

Chromium refers to a metalic state (0) but the pre-treatments refers to an electrolyte containing chromate(CrO4)2- with Cr(VI). So, it might be chromate instead of chromium. This confusion is annoying for a chemist.

Then – Tartaric Sulphuric Anodizing- which one is anodizing here? The Tartaric Sulphuric? I really can not beleive it. It might be Tartaric Sulphuric Acid (TSA) – anodizing instead of acid is another annoying error.

Sealing of Tartaric Sulphuric Anodizing – who is sealing here? The Tartaric Sulphuric Anodizing? The sealing is of the aluminium oxide pores formed during of anodization process.

Conclusion: not any undergraduated of the Faculty of Textiles could be a scientific manager in chemistry/physics and more, a doctor.

“Dr” Norica Carmen Godja uses to fire the researchers with scientific studies (doctor and professors) maybe she wants to be the only one scientist who remains at CEST.
If the scientific meaning of the title looks as this one, how would be the results of research?

Bellow there are three proposals on a similar topic, all of them looking also very similar

1. Chromium free surface pre-treatments and sealing of Tartaric Sulphuric Anodizing

Dr Norica Carmen Godja

Objective: Corrosion of Al has to be counteracted by first anodizing the Al parts and applying further protective coatings. Anodized aluminium is normally further processed with a sealing as a final step after anodizing. A hot water sealing process is one of the widely used methods. However in order to close (seal) the pores in the aluminium oxide anodized layer for corrosion protection a process involving boiling water containing chromate is still commonly used. Cr(VI)-based sealing solutions have been employed for several decades, but remain one of the most effective and commonly-used methods to improve corrosion resistance of anodized aluminium. Alternative sealing methods have also been proposed for example with Ni(II), Co(II), Ni(II) and Co(II), rare earth salts alkali metal fluorides, alkanolamine salts of phosphonic acids, Cr(III), fatty acids, silicates, etc. Kendig and Buchheit indicate that 45 of the 92 naturally occurring elements have been considered as replacements for Cr(VI) in conversion coatings on aluminium. In general these approaches have not been as successful as the Cr(VI) sealing. Also it should be noted that Ni(II), Co(II) and fluorides are not without health implications, whereas most organic molecules would be expected to have limited lifetimes under the extreme conditions (UV radiation, low pressure, large temperature range) experience by commercial aircraft during operation.
Therefore, of the previously identified approaches Cr(III)-containing or silicate-forming sealing solutions are preferred options. Encouraging results were obtained with deposition of films of CeO2.2 H2O on aluminium alloys in a few minutes at room temperature with or without catalyst, though the performances still do not equal those of CCC. Detailed investigations and characterization of the obtained will be performed. The optimized sealing and pre-treatments process will be applied to a flat test panel of 384 x 742 mm.

2. Corrosion protection of Aluminium unpainted parts: development of an appropriated Cr free sealing process on thin SAA layer (5 µm)

Dr Erich Kny

Objective: Corrosion of Al has to be counteracted by first anodizing the Al parts and applying further protective coatings. During anodizing, Al reacts with the electrolyte and a layer of aluminium oxide is formed, which is highly porous and is subject to corrosive attack. Therefore, anodized Al is normally further processed with a sealing as a final step. Sealed SAA industrial processes providing thicker layers (~10 µm) are already in the market, but the missing step is to develop a well-suited process for thin layers ( 5 µm) that meets the corrosion resistance requirements.
Hot water sealing is one of the widely used methods. However in order to close (seal) the pores in the anodized layer for corrosion protection a process involving boiling water containing chromate is still commonly used. Cr(VI)-based sealing solutions have been used for several decades, but remain one of the most effective and commonly-used methods to improve corrosion resistance of anodized Al. Alternative sealing methods have also been proposed, e.g. with Ni(II), Co(II), Ni(II) + Co(II), rare earth salts, alkali metal fluorides, alkanolamine phosphonates, Cr(III), fatty acids, silicates, etc. It should be noted that Ni(II), Co(II) and fluorides are not without health implications, whereas most organic molecules would be expected to have limited lifetimes under the extreme conditions (UV radiation, low pressure, large temperature range) experience by commercial aircraft during operation. Therefore, of the previously identified approaches Cr(III)-containing or silicate-forming sealing solutions are preferred options. Encouraging results were obtained with deposition of films of CeO2x2 H2O, though the performance still does not equal those of CCC. Characterization with methods such as SEM, EIS, AFM-SECM will lead to more detailed understanding of sealing and corrosion mechanisms and therefore optimizing sealing parameters with respect to corrosion resistance and minimized energy consumption.

3. Chromate free and energy efficient sealing of TSA anodic films for corrosion protection

Dr Erich Kny

Objective: Corrosion of Al has to be counteracted by first anodizing the Al parts and applying further protective coatings. During anodizing, aluminium reacts with the electrolyte and a layer of aluminium oxide is formed on the surface of the aluminium specimen. This coating is highly porous and is subject to attack from the environment and corrosive elements. Therefore, anodized aluminium is normally further processed with a sealing as a final step after anodizing. A hot water sealing process is one of the widely used methods. However in order to close (seal) the pores in the aluminium oxide anodized layer for corrosion protection a process involving boiling water containing chromate is still commonly used. Cr(VI)-based sealing solutions have been employed for several decades, but remain one of the most effective and commonly-used methods to improve corrosion resistance of anodized aluminium. Alternative sealing methods have also been proposed for example with Ni(II), Co(II), Ni(II) and Co(II), rare earth salts, alkali metal fluorides, alkanolamine salts of phosphonic acids, Cr(III), fatty acids, silicates, etc. Already about 45 of the 92 naturally occurring elements have been considered as replacements for Cr(VI) in conversion coatings on aluminium. In general these approaches have not been as successful as the Cr(VI) sealing. Also it should be noted that Ni(II), Co(II) and fluorides are not without health implications, whereas most organic molecules would be expected to have limited lifetimes under the extreme conditions (UV radiation, low pressure, large temperature range) experience by commercial aircraft during operation. Therefore, of the previously identified approaches Cr(III)-containing or silicate-forming sealing solutions in REACH compliant processes are preferred options. An adaption of the electrical TSA cycle for improved corrosion resistance without negative impact on fatigue life of components will be developed. Detailed investigations and characterization of the obtained corrosion protected surfaces via ESEM, Raman + IR-spectroscopy and ESCA will be performed.

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Comentariu la Integru.org lanseaza Interact (beta): Acum poti, si este usor! de către George Luchian https://integru.org/ro/news/interact#comment-2172 Mon, 26 Aug 2013 11:51:53 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4881#comment-2172 Dear all,

I hope that integru.org is a site addressed to universal plagiarism and not just to Romanian one.
Let’s talk about more shortcomings of the evaluation system in research and research, generally not just in Romania. I have met all of these in Italy, Austria, Romania….
.Articles with ten co-authors for which worked just one or two;
.Projects in which are employed “cheap “researchers (usually from Eastern) on very low salaries and the key-researchers of the projects doing nothing else than collecting high salaries, eventually the researchers having no rights to publish;
.Researchers who are employed just on the basis of uncompetitiveness and obedientness criteria – understanding less about projects ensure uncompetitiveness later;
.Commissions according funds created on the basis of friendship, etc
.PhD students with no basic knowledge becoming the next scientists

and the list is open

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Comentariu la Cultura disertatiilor plagiate din Romania: Indemn la ancheta in stiintele socio-umane—si altele? de către Liviu N. https://integru.org/ro/opinions/the-culture-of-plagiarized-dissertations-in-romania-a-call-for-inquiry-in-the-humanities-and-beyond#comment-773 Fri, 24 May 2013 15:52:34 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4699#comment-773 I agree with most of Dorin and Tudor’s comments, but I would be hesitant to use the term “culture of plagiarism” because it might suggest that plagiarism might be programmed into Romanians’ DNA. I know that it was not what Prof. Galloway was conveying in his articled but it might be misconstrued.

I also disagree with Dorin assessment that plagiarism at this scale has been the norme in Romania for the past century. Plagiarism did exist before 1989, but it has grown at an explosive rate only after the political changes.

With this caveat in place, I do agree that plagiarism has reached epidemic proportions in Romanian academia, and there is a real danger that the culture at large may become imune to the stigma attached to this phenomenon.

There is resistance to this phenomenon from within the academia, mostly (but not only) from pre-1989 trained individuals. However, the immense political pressures render these efforts impotent. For example, the University of Bucharest took up the case of Mr. Ponta and concluded it was plagiarism but the powers that be thought otherwise. This to me shows that the academic autonomy of Romanian university is de-facto non existent.

What can be done?

I think that Integru.org is a first important step for two reasons. It brings back in the spotlight the the stigma and immorality of plagiarism. More and more newspapers are quoting Integru findings. The recent resignation in Iasi shows that the public opprobrium can have an effect.

As importantly, Integru is at this moment the only place where intellectuals from inside Romania and beyond its borders can approach and hope that suspicions of plagiarism will be given the attention they deserve, without the fear of political intimidation I sensed in some of my friends bravely on the academic barricades in Romania. Integru makes it easier for the Romanian diaspora to help their colleagues back in Romania who still care about this issue.

Integru alone cannot dramatically change things. Some structural changes are badly needed. Real academic autonomy springs to mind. Rigorously enforced academic honor codes of the type used in many US universities can also help. This is a bit tricky because enforcing ethical standards requires individuals whose reputation is beyond suspicion.

Next, we need to have some concrete data to better gauge the right prescription.

While many of us believe that plagiarism is widespread, none of us have a real idea what widespread means. Take for example the doctoral dissertations in the last 20 years: how many of them are plagiarized, 1%, 10%, 20%? I have to admit that I do not know what organization in Romania can carry such an investigation.

Are the very bureaucratic promotion criteria and the dismal lack of resources aggravating the plagiarism phenomenon? If say a chemist or a biologist is to publish in a high impact journal, yet she has no appropriate resources to conduct research, how can that person make genuine and honest progress?

Im my view there is no immediate solution to this problem, and at some point politicians need to get involved. There has to be a critical mass in the Parliament that thinks that this course leads to the destruction of Romanian education, culture and reputation. How big are the odds of this happening? In my estimation they are discouragingly low. On the other hand I am sure of one thing: if everyone is quiet about this, nothing will change. That is why I am a bit more optimistic since Integru appeared on the scene.

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Comentariu la Cultura disertatiilor plagiate din Romania: Indemn la ancheta in stiintele socio-umane—si altele? de către Tudor F. https://integru.org/ro/opinions/the-culture-of-plagiarized-dissertations-in-romania-a-call-for-inquiry-in-the-humanities-and-beyond#comment-701 Sun, 19 May 2013 00:36:50 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4699#comment-701 Dorin S, I was just about to post the same ideas, but you outlined them better than I could have. I completely agree with you, with the fact that ethics wise Romania is in a dreadful state, that the misconduct scale should make us shiver with shame – being widely spread both vertically and horizontally – and that we need to wake up and do something about all of it.

I’d like to comment on Professor Galloway’s point, which basically says that prevention is better than reaction.

While principially that’s very true, I think that concentrating most or all of the efforts in prevention wouldn’t quite work right now in Romania due to the already wide spread phenomena and the lack of sanctions, but most importantly, the lack of authority. Currently in Romania, sanctions would have to first start being applied in order to discourage others. Then you can build a prevention system on top of that. The problem is that there is no actual authority to implement sanctions: the head of the government has shamelessly copy/pasted his PhD thesis, has been exposed, reviewed by international experts in his field, and still refutes all accusations, and has been supported by the minister of research and education, most heads of institutions, etc ever since they (effectively) overthrew the former government last year (*) and then were voted by the people with an overwhelming majority …

Such a climate makes one wonder “what can really be done to stop this?” And let’s not forget, stopping it woulnd’t be enough, we need to improve it after that. Sure, prevention is better than reaction, but we’re facing a really deep and wide problem which requires actual measures.

In my opinion, these crooks exist because the people allow them to … the people voted for Victor Ponta (plagiarist, then prime minister, still prime minister) and for Ecaterina Andronescu (plagiarist, then minister of research, now puppeteer)! So as Dorin correctly said, the people too are responsible for the current state. In my opinion, the public perception has to change before we can hope for any actual change. How do we do that?

Well, dear Professor Galloway, to me it seems like the hope is coming from you and authoritative voices like you. I’m not saying it’s the only way (although frankly, I can’t quite pinpoint another) but this could really work. Like Dorin, I also hope that more of us realize the importance of this and start contributing.

I too appreciate this platform, Integru.org, and I too appreciate you and the heavy-weights like you for having taken the time to offer reviews on Integru.org.

Tudor.

(*) I should point out that the previous minister of research, Dr Daniel Funeriu, this time a respectable academic internationally (unlike the atrocious and plagiarist Ecaterina Andronescu), made some very impressive steps towards cleaning and improving the romanian academic system, including prevention e.g. by requiring external international reviewers for research grants. It was going in the right direction. Andronescu reversed most of his measures after Ponta and his crooked gang came to power last year, by issuing ministerial orders. For example, following Integru.org’s Review 5 of the plagiariazed research grant asking for 600,000 USD of public funds, Ecaterina Andronescu eliminated the foreign reviewers saying they are too expensive. The funny thing is that all reviewers have been paid the same sum, regardless of geographical location or nationality.

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Comentariu la Cultura disertatiilor plagiate din Romania: Indemn la ancheta in stiintele socio-umane—si altele? de către Dorin S https://integru.org/ro/opinions/the-culture-of-plagiarized-dissertations-in-romania-a-call-for-inquiry-in-the-humanities-and-beyond#comment-700 Sun, 19 May 2013 00:32:03 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4699#comment-700 p.s. And please let’s not compare Romania with Germany in this regard, neither regarding the plagiarism culture (i.e. scale), nor regarding doing something about it. We all know what happens in Germany once such cases are being exposed.

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Comentariu la Cultura disertatiilor plagiate din Romania: Indemn la ancheta in stiintele socio-umane—si altele? de către Dorin S https://integru.org/ro/opinions/the-culture-of-plagiarized-dissertations-in-romania-a-call-for-inquiry-in-the-humanities-and-beyond#comment-698 Sat, 18 May 2013 23:14:54 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4699#comment-698 @Adrian Petrica: Since you asked for my opinion, then yes, of course I fully accept that there is a culture of plagiarism in Romania. The sooner all of us accept that, the better. Prof Galloway may defend his point if he wishes.

You seem to appreciate those who are honest, which is completely skewed. In a normal environment, that’s not something to be appreciated. That’s something to be expected. The fact that in Romania it became something to be appreciated shows that the opposite entity, i.e. the dishonesty, is wide-spread …

The argument you portray continues to baffle me, as I see it skewed and dangerous (if not even harmful). In short, it sounds like “the country is not 100% rotten, so let’s not say that if there are exceptions, and leave the matter alone” … and it is precisely what has been happening in Romania for more than half a century: nothing has been done about it. It continued to flourish and now we have a prime minister with a plagiarized PhD and a whole stream of high, medium and low profile cases like him in pretty much all universities across the country!

Ethics wise, the academic environment in Romania is awfully rotten, and I will not have a debate about exceptions. The first step in fixing any problem is pointing out and admitting that there is one. This step is most efficient if the ones who do the pointing out that there is a problem are authoritative voices. That’s why Prof Galloway’s contribution (both in Review 10 and also in this article) and of all the other international experts on Integru.org is so crucially important.

Remember, we are responsible for this dreadful state too. Let’s wake up, and then do something about it.

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Comentariu la Cultura disertatiilor plagiate din Romania: Indemn la ancheta in stiintele socio-umane—si altele? de către Adrian Petrica https://integru.org/ro/opinions/the-culture-of-plagiarized-dissertations-in-romania-a-call-for-inquiry-in-the-humanities-and-beyond#comment-694 Sat, 18 May 2013 15:31:49 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4699#comment-694 Thank you for your comment Dorin. So you accept that in this country the “plagiarism” (meaning to steal) is a “culture”?. Are you sure we understand in the same way such a broad word like “culture”? Usually a culture is something specific to a population. So the plagiarism is specific to the Romanians? I don’t want to enter into a polemic but I strongly disagree that the plagiarism is in the “culture” of the Romanians. And about how representatives are the peoples referred by the article, to be honest, is the first time I heard their names. So, how representatives are those “teachers” for Romania in comparison with well known Romanians like Mircea Eliade (who accordingly to this paper is part of a “culture” of plagiarists)? Are the politicians fighting in the name of Romania or for themselves when they are trying to accumulate votes using those incorrect means (like counterfeit dissertations) and a lot others by the way? Of course I feel in the best case pity for the peoples using plagiarism, showing just their personal ambitions (to put titles on their names) and not their knowledge, But I am not ashamed of being Romanian, and by no means I consider “plagiarism” part of my “culture” as a Romanian with all due respect for prof. Galloway. In fact I proudly represented Romania in my activity (as a lot of other Romanians) and my personal feeling is that the real Romanian culture is appreciated. On the other side I admit that the plagiarism is a real danger for ALL the cultures nowadays where the access to the information is so easy and there are enough lazy students, lazy candidates for titles and lazy teachers who are not carefully reading the candidates thesis. And Romania should be, beside other countries affected by this (Germany-high rank politicians, Hungary-high rank politicians, and so on) a part of the solution and not part of the problem. So what follows?” The Culture of Plagiarized Dissertations in Germay: A Call for Inquiry in the Humanities—and Beyond?” and “The Culture of Plagiarized Dissertations in Hungary: A Call for Inquiry in the Humanities—and Beyond?”. Maybe the correct title should be “The Culture of Plagiarized Dissertations in the World: A Call for Inquiry in the Humanities—and Beyond?”. And yes, Romania is part of the World. Motto: “Tara este poporul, nu tagma jefuitorilor”-Tudor Vladimirescu (“The country is the peoples and not the group of the robbers”-Tudor Vladimirescu, Romanian revolutionist)

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Comentariu la Cultura disertatiilor plagiate din Romania: Indemn la ancheta in stiintele socio-umane—si altele? de către Prof Stefan Hobai https://integru.org/ro/opinions/the-culture-of-plagiarized-dissertations-in-romania-a-call-for-inquiry-in-the-humanities-and-beyond#comment-691 Sat, 18 May 2013 11:17:46 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4699#comment-691 Distinguished journalist, Ms Alison Abbott, is right that the preventing poor academic practices like plagiarism through careful teaching is better than identification after the event.

Meanwhile in Romania the solving of present misconduct cases is expected by all honest academics as a way of preparing a better future. For this there is Integru.org.

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Comentariu la Olesia Mihai demisioneaza ca urmare a Recenziei 10 a Integru.org de către Ducu https://integru.org/ro/news/olesia-mihai-resigns-following-integru-orgs-review-10#comment-682 Fri, 17 May 2013 09:20:40 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=5152#comment-682 In a Byzantine country such as Romania, there is no more decency, consciousness and dignity. And this is to be seen horizontally and vertically.

Various cases of plagiarism in the past years, and not only from Romania (another recent one refers to Research Minister Annette Schavan in Germany), have been plaguing the academic world of the country.
In this respect, should Victor Ponta still have some honour, has to step down from his office and his PhD degree should be retracted. The same with the other “academics” in Romania.

Regarding “Al.I.Cuza” University, the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration is far from being a genuine European one. The academic staff there trumpet a European ethos. Far from the truth. The dynamics is rather Byzantine-Phanariot, a serf-like approach towards education.

Dinu Airinei in the past stated that one of ithe faculty libraries is funded through private means and actually discriminated against students who do not belong to the faculty. That is why any student of the University but not of the Faculty of Economics has to have his approval to access the library.

But the Faculty is a state one. Moreover, the apparent academic image projected in various conferences, seminars, lectures, etc. contradicts the way various professors and administrative staff behave. There are small “academic castes” within the Faculty which promote their own elected people towards the disadvantage of other students.

One of the the economics professors stated some years ago that the academic system at the Faculty of Economics has not changed in the past 20 years. It is not like in the west.

Dinu Airinei should step down from his office due to his subjective decisions and acknowledged abuses he makes while a dean. Besides making false statements in public documents.

Moreover, in the autumn of 2010, there was a two-three-day conference organised through European financing by the Centre of European Studies. The behaviour of Carmen Pascariu from the Centre was actually evidence of the Phanariot ethos when she declined the possibility of other students taking part in seminars of the conference even if the deadline of applications had passed. Moreover, some of her organising team members were reluctant to having other students participate in the event and displayed the same obnoxious attitude.

On the other hand, the University is haunted by former communist professors. During a meeting with one of the civil society associations in 2009 at the Rectorate, Prof. Vasile Isan declined to make public the names of those professors who were Securitate informants before 1989.

At the same time, at the Faculty of Philosophy and Social and Political Sciences, there are professors who still behave in a Stalinist way. One of this is Anton Carpinschi, old communist “academic”. He remains a Stalinist who likes to have serf-students around him. The entire “academic structure” at the Faculty nourishes this XVIII-th approach toward R&D, towards the EU. Students are given “blank cheques”, are bullied, are constrained to do translations, research and article writing and then the professors put their names on the students’ works, in a word, to do what the thesis advisor wants them to do. Anton Carpinschi is the one “professor” who likes to keep his “proteges” subservient by reminding them that he is the one who brought them to the Faculty. At the same time, he likes to threaten and manipulate his students. But he projects out the image of a European professor…

Where is the system of evaluations for each professor at the Faculty? Where is feedback of students? Why the authoritarian, anti-academic ethos within the University (with various exceptions)?

Moreover, there is hardly the appropriate academic infrastructure within the University. Some professors have massed books in bookcases which are then locked up. Besides, there is enough academic staff who pretends to deliver high-quality educational services. For example, at the PhD level there was a professor who was reading from a 60s’ book on how to write a thesis (Faculty of Philosophy). This was happening in 2009.

A true European academic ethos is wanting. There is only form but no substance. Moreover, the mass media has been writing about the lack of financial resources used for paying the salaries of the University staff. How is this possible with an economist serving as a rector? Where is the money Professor Isan?

However, the Faculty of Letters, at least in the 1990s, boasted remarkable professors such as Grigore Veres, Svetlana Angheloni, Marina Muresan, Cornelia Piticari, Ms. Mirtu, Stefan Avadanei, Dumitru Dorobat, etc.

It is a pity that Olesia Lupu did what she did and, justifyingly, resigned. But the system that has nourished such “academics” and behaviour has its substance entirely plagued. Since 1989 this system has become more and more vicious towards the students and academic staff. Nowadays, PhD and MA titles are granted in a Fordian way. As various PhD graduates acknowledge, there is always a festive lunch/dinner after the defending of the thesis, each committee professor is given a small present, is paid to come over and be part of the committee (if he/she is not from Iasi) and, more importantly, during the defending, there is little interest towards the theme of the thesis.

So then, is there any wonder Romania boasts “academics” like Olesia Lupu, Victor Ponta, E. Andronescu, etc.???

Many thanks to the American and British academics, mostly, as well as to the French and German ones, to have done so much research on Romania’s past and more recent history. And this goes back, at least with the beginning of the XX th century. Comparatively speaking, based on their studies, one can fully grasp what lies beneath the surface of the Romanian iceberg.

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Comentariu la Cultura disertatiilor plagiate din Romania: Indemn la ancheta in stiintele socio-umane—si altele? de către epsilonbee https://integru.org/ro/opinions/the-culture-of-plagiarized-dissertations-in-romania-a-call-for-inquiry-in-the-humanities-and-beyond#comment-674 Thu, 16 May 2013 15:19:52 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4699#comment-674 http://epsilonbee.blogspot.com/2013/05/plagiarism-in-romanian-academia.html

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Comentariu la Cultura disertatiilor plagiate din Romania: Indemn la ancheta in stiintele socio-umane—si altele? de către Dorin S https://integru.org/ro/opinions/the-culture-of-plagiarized-dissertations-in-romania-a-call-for-inquiry-in-the-humanities-and-beyond#comment-658 Wed, 15 May 2013 04:35:14 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4699#comment-658 @Adrian: Your comment baffles me.

First, Prof Galloway’s article and title simply narrow the scope to that of the plagiarism in Romania, and is actually written from quite a fair perspective. The title to me looks pretty much perfect. There is no finger pointed at the country as a whole, but at a phenomena that exists in Romania, regardless of how thick or thin it is in comparison with other countries.

But you do raise an important point, and I again disagree with your opinion on it:

Those authors DO represent the country too, and not only themselves.

I don’t think it’s necessary to remind of the almost endless stream of Romanian research ministers (!!!), prime minister, rectors, deans, “researchers” etc., but just in case, remember Ioan Mang, Corina Dumitrescu, Ecaterina Andronescu, Victor Ponta, Leonard Azamfirei, Constantin Copotoiu, Klara Branzaniuc, Aurel Ardelean etc etc etc? … who still refute any plagiarism or misconduct despite blatantly clear evidence!

All of them very much also represent the country Romania. It is them and their actions that make you (and all of us) feel some shame when seeing “Romania” next to “plagiarism” in the same sentence, and it is THEM, THEIR INSTITUTIONS and STATE INSTITUTIONS who you should target your anger/disappointment/shame to and do something about it.

I for one feel ashamed that such international personalities like Professor Galloway are taking precious time out of their schedule to go beyond the line of duty and try to clean the mess which happens to be in our back yard. As I see it, they’re not doing it for Romania, nor for the worthy academics there, but out of a sense of respect and duty for the academic profession and title.

Quite frankly, we should be thankful to them for stating facts and doing things that we didn’t or still don’t have the courage to face and do … for that, shame on us!

Integru.org is doing a fantastic job by exposing thieves like the ones above, while experts like Professor Galloway are providing the immensely needed authority. The fact that “Romania” and “plagiarism” are in the same sentence should not make us resentful, but instead should make us contribute to fixing the actual problem.

I think it’s time we all did. Integru.org and its experts are doing a fantastic job!

Dorin.

p.s. I will support the Integru.org portal by recommending and inviting experts I know. I don’t yet feel enough of an expert in my field to answer review questions.

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Comentariu la Recenzie 8 A. Ioachim, Ecaterina Andronescu (ministrul cercetarii) et al – serie de 4 articole, plagiat, autoplagiat si posibile incalcari multiple ale drepturilor de autor de către Precedent important: demisie la Universitatea „Al. I. Cuza“ din Iaşi după acuzaţii de plagiat în teza de doctorat | Stiri de Azi https://integru.org/ro/reviews/ioachim-andronescu-2006-2007#comment-647 Tue, 14 May 2013 21:19:06 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=1923#comment-647 [...] autoplagiat şi suspiciuni de multiple încălcări ale drepturilor de autor“. Aşa sună titlul cu care portalul Integru.org a dezvăluit în iarnă un nou caz de încălcare a eticii academice în care a fost implicată [...]

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Comentariu la Cultura disertatiilor plagiate din Romania: Indemn la ancheta in stiintele socio-umane—si altele? de către Adrian Petrica https://integru.org/ro/opinions/the-culture-of-plagiarized-dissertations-in-romania-a-call-for-inquiry-in-the-humanities-and-beyond#comment-641 Tue, 14 May 2013 17:25:01 +0000 http://integru.org/?p=4699#comment-641 Andrew, thank you for the interesting approach of the subject. It is a good “food for thoughts” and I hope for the right people who should understand that a scientific title have nothing in common with their personal ambitions (either political or in the university), but with their capability to express new ideas and made known their real contribution to a certain field. However, I have to admit, I feel rather uncomfortable seeing the name of my country, Romania, beside the word “plagiarism” in the title. As a tribute for the many Romanian scientists who worked and are working honestly for the good of all of us and for the Romanians with important contributions in all the scientific areas, fields and domains yesterday, today and tomorrow I feel that is not correct to point a finger on this country as a whole (as in the title), for the shame that should be on some people representing, in my opinion, in the best case, themselves and not the country. It is well known that the plagiarism is a present virtually in all the countries, and pointing a finger on a particular one (in this case Romania) I believe is not fair. Thank you again for the interesting lecture, opening the dialog for matters sometime considered as “tabu”.

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