{"id":2688,"date":"2025-09-20T17:23:46","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T16:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=2688"},"modified":"2025-09-20T23:26:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T22:26:17","slug":"the-four-stage-strategy-how-to-deal-with-plagiarism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=2688","title":{"rendered":"How to Deal with Plagiarism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Accusations of plagiarism are damaging to famous universities. As Richard Posner in The Little Book of Plagiarism<\/a><\/em> notes, an author\u2019s name \u201cestablishes a brand identity . . . in the market for expressive goods.\u201d In contemporary academia, originality is no longer tied solely to the scholar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professors themselves are brand assets, their reputations for innovation are woven directly into the university\u2019s corporate identity. So accusations of plagiarism are exceptionally dangerous for a top university, as it infects and destroys the brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, we have uncovered the standard UK University Manual for dealing with plagiarism allegations. This is what Research Integrity Offices use. It’s the four stage strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Lie and Deny<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The simplest is the best: Lie and deny all responsibility. It often works (with bullying as well).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one likes to think of a Professor as a shameless plagiarist clawing for recognition and stealing the work of others. Professors are supposed to embody high ethical and academic standards, so they will often get the benefit of the doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A common tactic is to push the blame on someone else, preferably junior. A graduate student did it. A research assistant did it. If the papers are multi-author, then blame the co-authors and deny all responsibility. This is a variant of the classic from Prof Bertram Batlogg of the ETH<\/a>: “If I’m a passenger in a car that drives through a red light, then it’s not my faul<\/em>t”, as the Professor exculpated himself from fraudulent papers on high temperature super-conductivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2<\/strong>. Attack the Accuser<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another well-worn manoeuvre is to turn the tables: the person raising the alarm is accused not of defending ideas but of betraying the spirit of academia, of not being collegial. Their insistence on integrity is reframed as hostility toward the university itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This neat trick recasts the whole dispute. Suddenly, the one pointing out plagiarism is not preserving scholarship but guilty of bad manners; not guarding academic integrity, but tearing it down. (This works so well for bullying that it is a recognised psychological stratagem, DARVO<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And of course, the motives of the accuser can be impugned — especially if they are at a lower-ranking university, or are a humble graduate student or postdoc. They are just jealous of the success of the very gifted plagiarist at a high-profile university. It’s sour grapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Personal Backstory<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is now ubiquitous everywhere — from celebs caught out cheating on their partners to sleazy politicians on the take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trick is to cast yourself as the wounded party (‘Strictly’ is providing an example in real-time at the moment in Tom Skinner. Tom was distraught and in tears as he told The Sun about his extra-marital fling<\/a> this week. Bosh.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a world where personal hardship sells, a dramatic account of torment at the hands of an unfounded plagiarism charge turn condemnation into admiration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is even better if there is a desperate backstory (whether true or not) that transforms the plagiarist as a plucky outsider succeeding in academia against all odds. The oft-repeated “I\u2019m the first in my family to discover Higher Education<\/em>….” can be used to begin the fight by invoking widening participation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4<\/strong>. The Sham Investigation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suppose none of these have worked. Now you say “Plagiarism is very serious charge. This needs a serious, detailed and confidential investigation. We have proper processes. We have proper procedures. We will not be commenting further or participating in a witch hunt.<\/em>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now starts the sham investigation. It’s sole purpose is to take a very long time. It is a good wheeze to choose an investigator who has been accused of research misconduct or bullying. Anyhow, universities know well enough how to get the right result from a conflicted individual or a dodgy barrister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five years later, the investigation reports back & says that the plagiarist made some mistakes & needs some more mentoring which the university is now providing as a responsible employer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But by now, the scandal has blown over. And Tom Skinner is Home Secretary in Farage’s first administration, so we have much more to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 21 Group notes wrily that you may wish to revisit this post later in the week.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Accusations of plagiarism are damaging to famous universities. As Richard Posner in The Little Book of Plagiarism notes, an author\u2019s name \u201cestablishes a brand identity . . . in the market for expressive goods.\u201d In contemporary academia, originality is no longer tied solely to the scholar. Professors themselves are brand […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2688"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2706,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2688\/revisions\/2706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}