Mr. Volkmann, misconduct at universities can have many faces: plagiarism, sloppy laboratory work, falsifying research results, but also bullying. What is the responsibility of the commission you chair?
Sasha Zoske
Sheet maker in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
Follow I follow
In principle, all cases of scientific misconduct can be brought before the commission.
Most of the time it is about plagiarism, but improper use of data or use of employee results without making this clear are also allegations that we deal with.
Luckily we haven't had to deal with cases of bullying or even sexual harassment in the workplace.
But you would do it if the Commission found out about it?
First of all, we would have other contact points at the university.
But we could certainly take action if this is linked to specific scientific misconduct - for example with regard to the grading of work.
What do you do if misconduct is reported to you?
Whether we take action at all depends on how substantial the tip is.
If someone just says: "Look at him, he must have copied something somewhere," then that's not enough for us.
We need what is called initial suspicion in criminal proceedings.
If there is, we first try to substantiate it in an internal procedure.
If plagiarism is suspected, we can run software over it, provided the text is available in digital form.
In the case of older texts, we have to go through the incriminated passages manually.
To this end, the commission often co-opts a member from the subject concerned.
Based on this initial assessment, we decide whether to initiate a formal process.
What happens after a case has been opened?
Those affected have a right to be heard;
in addition, evidence is taken as in a formal administrative procedure.
The next steps depend on the type of violation.
In the case of a dissertation or post-doctoral thesis, the committee may determine the scientific misconduct and then recommend that the department initiate the procedure for withdrawing the title.
Can the Commission impose sanctions itself?
The Commission can, for example, make a complaint.
This sounds harmless at first, but has serious consequences for a scientist: The complaint can be communicated to the department and the scientific organizations, which can lead to the person concerned no longer receiving third-party funding.
A milder sanction would be a request to withdraw a publication or to indicate that the research results of employees have been taken over.
How many cases has the commission at the Goethe University dealt with in recent years?
There are around one to four cases per year that we are made aware of by reports.
This is distributed quite evenly among allegations of plagiarism, data manipulation and cases in which work results were not correctly assigned or co-authorship was not correctly identified.
How long does an investigation by your commission take on average?
Usually half a year.
Revoking a doctoral degree or a habilitation takes much longer because the courts are often involved.
Such a process can take two or three years.
At least since the Guttenberg case, attention to the topic of plagiarism has increased significantly. We are currently dealing with allegations against Springer boss Mathias Döpfner – a Goethe University alumnus –, the sociologist Cornelia Koppetsch and the political scientist Ulrike Guérot. Is there really more plagiarism than in the past, or does the following apply: who seeks will find?