{"id":2708,"date":"2026-07-22T07:39:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T06:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=2708"},"modified":"2026-07-22T08:39:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T07:39:18","slug":"of-plagiarism-and-cambridge-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=2708","title":{"rendered":"Of Plagiarism and Cambridge University"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Cambridge University’s Professor of the Sociology of Education, Jason Arday<\/a>, has become the subject of allegations of plagiarism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Nathan Cofnas<\/a> has highlighted a number of passages that appear to show close textual similarities between Arday\u2019s work and those of other sociologists in the fields of education and critical race theory, one example of which is reproduced above. Similar concerns about Professor Arday\u2019s work have also been noted previously by other academics (for example, see Prof David Harris here<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plagiarism is not a victimless crime. It robs original thinkers of recognition, distorts the integrity of scholarship and undermines the trust on which the entire academic community depends. There will be less well-known or junior scholars who missed out on citations, grants or even tenured jobs because they were deprived of the credit rightfully theirs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it is important to focus on institutional processes and standards rather than on any one individual. The central issue is how Cambridge University addresses and manages such concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worries were first raised in 2023 both with Liverpool John Moores University and Cambridge University regarding Prof Jason Arday’s Ph D thesis and some of his later publications. Two Professors at UK Universities independently wrote to Dr Rhys Morgan, Head of Policy, Integrity and Governance at Cambridge University about possible plagiarism. They both received almost identical replies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The University of Cambridge takes issues of research integrity very seriously and we will always consider allegations relating to research conducted under its auspices in line with our policies. In this instance the research that your concerns relate to was carried out before Professor Arday joined the University and it would normally be for the institution at which the work was done to consider any research integrity concerns with a particular paper published in their name. As such we do not consider it within our remit to investigate the papers to which you refer. If you do choose to approach the institutions at which this work was done we would be content for you to let them know that you have also written to us and to provide my name as a contact point. [Dr Rhys Morgan]<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Whenever an administrator at Cambridge University says, \u201cWe take this very seriously,\u201d it\u2019s usually your first clue that they absolutely don\u2019t … <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Morgan clings to a flimsy excuse as a cover for not investigating — namely, it’s someone else’s job. This is familiar territory. Dr Morgan has ‘previous’ in the matter of Dr Juan Manuel Gorriz, as reported by For Better Science<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The response is wrong for two reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, in his application for a Professorship at Cambridge University, Jason Arday will have provided his curriculum vitae and publication list. Therefore, his present prestigious appointment owes much to his earlier work and his PhD thesis. It is inadequate to dismiss the matter as not “within our remit”<\/em>, as the material was used to acquire his Professorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondly, past mistakes are of relevance to the future. If a scholar’s research methodology is deficient, then — at minimum — further mentoring, training and advice are needed to ensure that in the future proper standards are upheld. Papers that may have failed to attribute the work of others need either correction with proper attribution or withdrawal. Addressing such issues would also be in the individual\u2019s own professional interest and could reasonably be expected to form part of the University\u2019s oversight and duty of care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We take no satisfaction in what has happened. Widening participation in higher education remains an important objective. At the same time, maintaining rigorous standards of research integrity and academic culture is absolutely essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also noted that the 21 Group has received a number of complaints concerning the Policy, Governance and Integrity Section within the Research Strategy Office. This suggests a need for independent external review to assess its effectiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, Cambridge University’s reaction to anything awkward is to cover it up. This is very dangerous. As Ben Bradlee, executive editor of The Washington Post<\/em>, famously said “It’s not the crime, it’s the cover up, that gets you.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cambridge University’s Professor of the Sociology of Education, Jason Arday, has become the subject of allegations of plagiarism. Dr Nathan Cofnas has highlighted a number of passages that appear to show close textual similarities between Arday\u2019s work and those of other sociologists in the fields of education and critical race […]<\/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,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2708","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\/2708","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=2708"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4028,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2708\/revisions\/4028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}