To determine the seriousness of academic misconduct, we need to be able to assess the consequences of the behaviour in question.
This assessment takes place once the evidence of a breach of integrity has been established. It involves contextualising the established facts in order to measure the consequences and then assessing as precisely as possible the nature and terms of the reparation to be made for the damage caused by the behaviour analysed.
Any sanctions imposed will also be proportionate to the impact of the reprehensible acts.
(This text has been taken and adapted from the article Bergadaà, M., 2013, Ouverture, Culture & Sociétés, N° 28, 2013, pp. 18-22, and from Bergadaa, M., 2015, Appréhender la gravité du plagiat, in Le plagiat académique, comprendre pour agir, L’Harmattan, Questions contemporaines.)
• Fundamental consequence – Fraud and plagiarism are detrimental to the advancement of knowledge
The fundamental right of the academic scientist is access to the origin of the sources of knowledge. We must cite our sources in our publications so that any new researcher can in turn examine our basic data (whatever its nature), conduct his or her own analysis and propose new interpretations. Anyone who breaks or mystifies the link between those who have gone before and those who come after is a knowledge offender.
• Consequence 2 – Plagiarism is theft of the original creation
The suffering of the victims must be understood and accepted by everyone. Plagiarism is tantamount to making the original author disappear in the eyes of his or her community. Feeling symbolically killed in this way can be devastating. It is not just a question of appropriating the work, but of the authorship of the work. It is the theft of a work of the mind, and therefore unique: it is a serious infringement of the author’s moral rights and interests, which are inalienable and enshrined as fundamental rights (UDHR, art. 27 §2; ICESCR, art. 15 1. c.).
• Consequence 3 – Plagiarism and academic fraud empty a work of its meaning
The very reason for research is the quest/discovery of truth. The technique of patchwork or collage based on one source text or several source texts can make plagiarism difficult to detect and give the illusion to the reader that it has a scholarly meaning. The technique of false positives involves the same behaviour, and the result is an illusion of scientific veracity.
• Consequence 4 – Plagiarism and academic fraud encourage sloppy research
What is sacred about research is the fusional/organic link that exists between the researcher and his work. It sometimes happens that the lazy behaviour of an author who is content to plagiarise or commit fraud here and there upsets our academic conventions and rules. Diluted references, ghost authors and guest authors, truncated data, etc., can then become the habits and customs of their professional entourage.
• Consequence 5 – Plagiarism and scientific fraud constitute a fraud on the academic system
In a system under strain, equal treatment must be a major concern. The offender introduces a major inequity by multiplying the number of publications on his curriculum vitae. He will be able to benefit from professional advantages to the detriment of the honest person who has declared the writings to be of his own merit. Self-plagiarism, which consists of using the same piece of writing, modifying it marginally or simply translating it, without warning, to knowingly multiply the number of publications on a curriculum vitae, is also a fraud.
• Consequence 6 – Unethical behaviour can inhibit competent researchers
Collaborators and co-authors are tainted by the revelation of a scandal. The scandal gives rise to rumours that hurt innocent people. Some had blind faith in the perpetrators of the wrongdoing, others simply didn’t want to see it. By stigmatising a group of researchers, the phenomenon of plagiarism and academic fraud makes some researchers of integrity want to give up the profession.
• Consequence 7 – Fraudulant behaviour causes scientific journals and publishers to malfunction
Scientific journals and publishers are essential to the academic order. They determine which researchers are suitable (or not) to be hired by a given type of institution, or to become laboratory directors. Academic delinquency causes a great deal of turbulence (including economic and financial turbulence) for these journals when it comes to withdrawing an article. They may be tempted to avoid it, even though other researchers are confidently using falsified results or plagiarised writings.
• Consequence 8 – Combating academic misconduct is expensive
The cost of prevention will always be lower than the cost of punishing criminal behaviour. The discovery of a case and the indictment of its perpetrator lead to lengthy and costly commissions of enquiry. The salaries and fees of the associated lawyers and investigators, and the time that the members of the commissions of enquiry could have devoted to research and writing, are not quantified, and this is a mistake.
• Consequence 9 – Plagiarism and academic fraud damage the image of our institutions
Academic delinquency generates suspicion of scientists in civil society. By casting aspersions on his mentors – laboratory heads, thesis supervisors, journal editors – who have failed to reframe him, the image of their institution is damaged. The temptation to remain silent is by no means a solution, because in our profession everything comes out in the end. Institutions have a responsibility to develop their culture of ethics and integrity, as an integral part of their social mission.
• Consequence 10 – Unethical behaviour maintains systemic ambiguity
An institution that chooses to fight plagiarism has to set up long and costly investigations. No one knows the real cost of these investigations, which includes the fees of lawyers and other investigators, the time lost by everyone involved, the reputational costs, etc. But omerta is not the way. The heads of institutions are held responsible when degrees are awarded unfairly, when researchers divulge false knowledge. Their duty is to ensure that the institution is committed to mobilising for knowledge and putting in place the mechanisms for mobilising for academic integrity.