Couple plagiarised and fabricated chemistry research.
TWO Rhodes University academics have been fired for falsifying and fabricating research findings submitted to scientific journals.
Dr Bhupesh Samant and his wife Dr Mugdha Sukhthanakar returned to India days before they were found guilty at a top-level disciplinary hearing last week.
Rhodes director of special projects Susan Smailes yesterday said investigations into scientific misconduct and academic plagiarism by the couple – who worked in the chemistry department – had taken more than two years to complete following several attempts to derail the process.
These included a failed Labour Court application and several postponements of the disciplinary hearing process. She said the allegations surfaced after an Australian professor claimed her work had been plagiarised by the couple.
The claims were investigated by Smailes and her findings were put to two experts – one in Australia and the other at Wits University – who both confirmed there was sufficient prima facie evidence to proceed with charges against the couple.
Charges were drafted when they failed to produce laboratory books showing they conducted the research. “It is the first time we have had a case like this at the university involving staff,” Smailes said, adding that scientific misconduct – where it is claimed experiments were conducted when they weren’t – was a very serious allegation.
The couple were found guilty at last week’s hearing chaired by leading employment law expert advocate John Grogan SC. It is trite that at a university, plagiarism, the falsification and fabrication of research findings and other similar acts of academic dishonesty are wholly unacceptable.
An internal e-mail from outgoing vice-chancellor Dr Saleem Badat yesterday said the two had been dismissed after being found guilty of “acts of serious misconduct”.
“Rhodes University expects its scholars and students to adhere to academic ethics, norms and standards with respect to teaching-learning, research and publishing, and all other aspects of the university’s operations.”
Badat also reiterated Rhodes University’s “unequivocal rejection of any kind of intellectual dishonesty”.
“The university will act against any scholar or student when there is compelling evidence that they have committed plagiarism or academic misconduct,” he warned.
According to Badat’s e-mail the university alleged the two academics were “guilty of the academic transgression of plagiarism and that, in one instance, they perpetrated the dishonesty of fabricating or falsifying experiments upon which research findings were purportedly based”.
“In late 2013, Rhodes University instituted disciplinary proceedings against two academics on the grounds that there was compelling evidence that they had committed plagiarism in various academic articles and had also deliberately falsified and fabricated their research findings in a manuscript authored by them and submitted to scientific journals for publication.”
The couple were accused of unprofessional conduct that was damaging to the academic standing and reputation of the university as well as themselves.
They had also irreparably damaged the relationship of trust between the couple and the university.
Badat wrote: “It is trite that at a university, plagiarism, the falsification and fabrication of research findings and other similar acts of academic dishonesty are wholly unacceptable.
“The integrity and reputation of a university depends on the impeccable conduct of its scholars and their adherence to academic ethics and norms in relation to the undertaking of teaching-learning and research and publishing.” — davidm@dispatch.co.za
Rhodes fires copycat pair
TWO Rhodes University academics have been fired for falsifying and fabricating research findings submitted to scientific journals.
Dr Bhupesh Samant and his wife Dr Mugdha Sukhthanakar returned to India days before they were found guilty at a top-level disciplinary hearing last week.
Rhodes director of special projects Susan Smailes yesterday said investigations into scientific misconduct and academic plagiarism by the couple – who worked in the chemistry department – had taken more than two years to complete following several attempts to derail the process.
These included a failed Labour Court application and several postponements of the disciplinary hearing process. She said the allegations surfaced after an Australian professor claimed her work had been plagiarised by the couple.
The claims were investigated by Smailes and her findings were put to two experts – one in Australia and the other at Wits University – who both confirmed there was sufficient prima facie evidence to proceed with charges against the couple.
Charges were drafted when they failed to produce laboratory books showing they conducted the research. “It is the first time we have had a case like this at the university involving staff,” Smailes said, adding that scientific misconduct – where it is claimed experiments were conducted when they weren’t – was a very serious allegation.
The couple were found guilty at last week’s hearing chaired by leading employment law expert advocate John Grogan SC. It is trite that at a university, plagiarism, the falsification and fabrication of research findings and other similar acts of academic dishonesty are wholly unacceptable.
An internal e-mail from outgoing vice-chancellor Dr Saleem Badat yesterday said the two had been dismissed after being found guilty of “acts of serious misconduct”.
“Rhodes University expects its scholars and students to adhere to academic ethics, norms and standards with respect to teaching-learning, research and publishing, and all other aspects of the university’s operations.”
Badat also reiterated Rhodes University’s “unequivocal rejection of any kind of intellectual dishonesty”.
“The university will act against any scholar or student when there is compelling evidence that they have committed plagiarism or academic misconduct,” he warned.
According to Badat’s e-mail the university alleged the two academics were “guilty of the academic transgression of plagiarism and that, in one instance, they perpetrated the dishonesty of fabricating or falsifying experiments upon which research findings were purportedly based”.
“In late 2013, Rhodes University instituted disciplinary proceedings against two academics on the grounds that there was compelling evidence that they had committed plagiarism in various academic articles and had also deliberately falsified and fabricated their research findings in a manuscript authored by them and submitted to scientific journals for publication.”
The couple were accused of unprofessional conduct that was damaging to the academic standing and reputation of the university as well as themselves.
They had also irreparably damaged the relationship of trust between the couple and the university.
Badat wrote: “It is trite that at a university, plagiarism, the falsification and fabrication of research findings and other similar acts of academic dishonesty are wholly unacceptable.
“The integrity and reputation of a university depends on the impeccable conduct of its scholars and their adherence to academic ethics and norms in relation to the undertaking of teaching-learning and research and publishing.” — davidm@dispatch.co.za
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