It’s been described as the ‘tip of the iceberg’ when it comes to unethical practices in Russian academia.
Seventeen of the senior-most officials at Russian universities, known as rectors, have published plagiarized papers in international predatory journals, according to a new report. Thirteen other senior officials, who work as either deans, vice-rectors or directors of universities are also guilty of the practice, the report says.
Described as “damning” by researchers familiar with Russian science, the report brings to light 259 papers that it claims contained text pulled from various works published in the Russian language. The papers under scrutiny appear to have been translated into English from existing texts from already published Russian-language academic studies and online articles, and passed off as new work.
Some of the original Russian works were themselves recycled from other sources, such as dissertations.
