Dissernet Explained

Dissernet
Commercial:No
Type:Social movement
Language:Russian
Author:Andrey Rostovtsev
Launch Date:23 September 2013
Current Status:Working

Dissernet (ru|Диссернет) is a volunteer community network working to clean Russian science of plagiarism. The core activity of the community is conducting examinations of doctoral and habilitation (higher doctorate) theses defended in Russian scientific and educational institutions since the end of the 1990s, and making the results of such examinations known to as many people as possible. The community is composed of professional scientists working in various fields of science both in Russia and abroad, and also journalists, civil activists and volunteers.

The community was established in January 2013. The full Dissernet site, dissernet.org, as well as its reduced version, dissernet.ru, were opened on 23 September 2013.[1]

By 2016, the project identified around 5,600 suspected plagiarists—focusing on officials in government and academia, and other member the country's elite—and released reports on around 1,300 of them.[2] Russian media regularly report on Dissernet's findings, and the site has been credited with raising attention for the issue of academic fraud in the country. In a 2016 exposé, Dissernet showed that one in nine members of the State Duma had obtained academic degrees with theses that were substantially plagiarized and likely ghostwritten.

Activities

The objective of Dissernet's examinations is to detect gross and deliberate violations of the legally established rules for certification of scientific workers, as well as violations of the regulations for awarding academic degrees. Dissernet deems theses containing such violations to be fraudulent, and diplomas certifying the doctoral and higher doctoral degrees conferred after defending such theses to be illegal and subject to cancellation.

The key elements of the dissertation fraud detected in the course of Dissernet's analyses are as follows:

Within the active phase of Dissernet's activity, which started in January 2013, its members have published results of examinations of thesis defended by scores of well-known and powerful Russian politicians and public figures. As of the middle of the year 2014, more than 2000 completed expertises of Doctoral and higher doctoral theses in various directions and branches of science were contained in Dissernet database.[3] Among the people attracting Dissernet's attention were deputies of the State Duma,[4] members of the Federation Council, governors of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, high-ranking officials of executive authorities,[5] heads of security and military services, etc.[6]

Community manifest

The "Dissernet Manifest", which was developed and agreed upon in June–July 2013, contains the declaration of the organizers and members about the basic objectives, tasks and principles of joint activity of the community members:

"Dissernet" is a networking community of experts, researchers and reporters seeking to unmask swindlers, forgers and liars. With their joint efforts based on the use of modern computer technologies and principles of networking division of labor, the community members oppose abusive practices, machinations and falsifications in the fields of scientific research and education, in particular in the process of defending theses and awarding academic degrees in Russia. The analytical work and disclosures of Dissernet equally cover various categories of Russian citizens:

The Dissernet members act on a voluntary basis, on their own initiative and without any outside pressure. The examinations, studies and publications of Dissernet are in strict compliance with the laws of the Russian Federation and do not violate any copyright or other rights. Dissernet is under no obligations to any state authorities, governmental or administrative institutions, political associations or movements, commercial corporations or entities. Its members work in the community irrespective of their political, corporate or any other views, they do not pursue any commercial purposes, their efforts are not aimed at advertising or promotion of any product or trademark, and they do not set any other goals except the above-mentioned ones. Dissernet's expenses in connection with the fulfillment of its tasks are covered by means of voluntary donations by people sympathizing with its mission and sharing its views.

Founders and activists

The community activists includes four co-founders:

There are also project coordinators.

Awards

On 28 February 2014, Sergey Parkhomenko received the "Golden Pen of Russia" award from the Russian Union of Journalists for the year 2013, recognizing his "Dissernet" activity in press and in Internet.[8]

On 24 April 2014, the jury of the PolitProsvet Award 2014 conferred the Dissernet project with two awards, "For Honor and Dignity", and "People's Vote".[9]

On November 20, 2014, the information partner of the Dissernet project, the newspaper Троицкий вариант — Наука, received a special prize of the Enlightener Prize.[10]

In 2019, Dissernet was shortlisted for the final stage of the Yegor Gaidar Prize in the nomination "For actions contributing to the formation of civil society".[11] The award in this nomination was received by the Sandarmokh project,[12] which was warmly welcomed by the members of the Dissernet community: "We believe that this is our victory too. The victory of all those who do not forget about the case of Yuri Dmitriev".

In 2021, the project received the Yegor Gaidar Prize in the nomination "For actions contributing to the formation of civil society".[13]

Some published examinations

Examinations of doctoral theses

A number of prominent doctoral theses examinations published by the Dissernet community which dealt with well-known and powerful figures on the Russian political and scientific scene:

Examinations of books

Among examinations performed by Dissernet, there is a number of monographs. In particular, examinations of the following books have been published:

Mass media coverage

The work of the Dissernet community has gained much publicity and has been broadly covered in Russian[41] and foreign mass media.[42] The result of the research performed by the Monitoring Center Public.Ru (more than 7500 federal and regional social and political and business printed matters, Internet mass media, news feeds of Press agencies, programs of central TV- and radio-channels have been analysed) showed that at 2013 year-end the word "Dissernet" was accepted as third by popularity neologism of the year, after the words "Euromaidan" and "titushky".[43] Also the magazine Russian Reporter mentioned Dissernet's work among the most notable milestones of the year 2013,[44] and the Internet edition The Village published an article about Dissernet in the dictionary "Summaries of 2013: main words and phrases of the outgoing year".[45]

The magazine Kommersant, while listing in its concluding issue the major cultural and social events of 2013, devoted a separate article to Dissernet's struggle with falsifications and plagiarism.[46]

See also

Selected publications

Notes and References

  1. Web site: "Dissernet's" community opened a site. Rupaper.com. September 24, 2013. February 13, 2016.
  2. News: The Craziest Black Market in Russia. Neyfakh. Leon. 2016-05-22. Slate. en-US. 1091-2339. 2016-05-23. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20161230022705/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/cover_story/2016/05/the_thriving_russian_black_market_in_dissertations_and_the_crusaders_fighting.html. 2016-12-30.
  3. http://www.dissernet.org/expertise The latest expertises
  4. Web site: Alexandrova. Lyudmila. Russia's bloggers help authorities expose forged dissertations. Russian News Agency TASS. March 20, 2013. February 13, 2016.
  5. Web site: Russia's Top Investigator Accused of Plagiarism. RIA Novosti. November 25, 2013. February 13, 2016.
  6. Web site: The Moscow minister will ask to cancel his thesis. Rupaper.com . December 2, 2013. February 13, 2016.
  7. Web site: Little. Anastasia. Sergei Parkhomenko and the Protest Movement in Russia. NYU Jordan Center. September 27, 2012. February 13, 2016.
  8. Web site: Лауреаты премий Союза журналистов России за 2013 год. Russian Union of Journalists. February 13, 2016. ru. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304081941/http://ruj.ru/_balls_press/2013.php. March 4, 2016. dead.
  9. Web site: Лев Гудков стал лауреатом премии "ПолитПросвет" сезона 2014!. PolitProsvet. May 29, 2014. February 13, 2016. ru.
  10. Web site: "Троицкий вариант — Наука" получил спецприз премии "Просветитель" — Троицкий вариант — Наука. ru. 2019-08-16.
  11. Web site: Названы претенденты на соискание Премии Егора Гайдара 2019 года . 2019-11-24. ru.
  12. Web site: Названы имена победителей . 2019-11-24. ru.
  13. Web site: XI Yegor Gaidar Prize. Interview with Andrey Rostovtsev . November 17, 2021. ru. Gaidar Foundation.
  14. Web site: DISSERNET.ORG:Ast2006 — DISSERNET.ORG. 18 September 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20140314160127/http://wiki.dissernet.org/index.php/DISSERNET.ORG:Ast2006. 14 March 2014. dead.
  15. Web site: Russia's Children Ombudsman Plagiarized Dissertation – Experts. RIA Novosti. January 28, 2014. February 13, 2016.
  16. Web site: Monaghan. Jennifer. Library Denies Conducting Plagiarism Check on Ombudsman's Thesis. The Moscow Times. January 28, 2014. February 13, 2016.
  17. Web site: DISSERNET.ORG:Btl — DISSERNET.ORG. 18 September 2016.
  18. Web site: Alexandrova. Lyudmila . Russian authorities to put an end to 'cribbing' in theses. Russian News Agency TASS. July 18, 2013. February 13, 2016.
  19. http://wiki.dissernet.org/w/GordeyukDV2003.html Published results of the expertise of Dmitry Gordeyuk’s thesis on Dissernet server
  20. Web site: Newspaper Sued Over Moscow Judges Plagiarism Claims. RIA Novosti. December 10, 2013. February 13, 2016.
  21. http://www.lsbu-multimedia-journalists.co.uk/kretova/ Two Russian opposition journalists have received the subpoena of “the honour protection, dignity and other non-beneficiary” by two Moscow judges
  22. http://wiki.dissernet.org/w/LebedevIV2007.html Published results of the expertise of Igor Lebedev’s thesis on Dissernet server
  23. Web site: Мединский Владимир Ростиславович. 18 September 2016.
  24. Web site: Мединский Владимир Ростиславович. 18 September 2016.
  25. Lipman. Maria. Meet the Second-Rate Academic Who is Vladimir Putin's Culture Cop. The New Republic. May 24, 2014. February 13, 2016.
  26. Web site: "Dissernet's" Experts found plagiarism. Rupaper.com. May 24, 2014. February 13, 2016.
  27. http://wiki.dissernet.org/w/MitvolOL2002.html Published results of the expertise of Oleg Mitvol’s doctoral thesis on Dissernet server
  28. Web site: Митволь Олег Львович. 18 September 2016.
  29. Web site: Parkhomenko. Sergey. Театр одного Митволя. Echo of Moscow. February 10, 2014. February 13, 2016. ru.
  30. http://wiki.dissernet.org/wsave/NikiforovNA2011.html Published results of the expertise of Nikolai Nikiforov’s thesis on Dissernet server
  31. http://wiki.dissernet.org/w/PoltavchenkoGS2004.html Published results of the expertise of Georgy Poltavchenko’s thesis on Dissernet server
  32. http://wiki.dissernet.org/wsave/SokolovMYu2008.html Published results of the expertise of Maksim Sokolov’s thesis on Dissernet server
  33. Web site: Министра транспорта Соколова уличили в списывании диссертации. Lenta.ru. January 31, 2014. February 13, 2016. ru.
  34. http://wiki.dissernet.org/wsave/BastrykinZnaki.html Published results of the expertise of Alexander Bastrykin’s monograph on Dissernet server
  35. Lipman. Masha. Heckling Russia's J. Edgar Hoover. The New Yorker. November 29, 2013. February 13, 2016.
  36. http://wiki.dissernet.org/cgi-bin/SSSread.pl Published results of the expertise of Sergey Sobyanin’s monograph on Dissernet server
  37. Web site: Нарышкин Сергей Евгеньевич. 18 September 2016.
  38. Web site: Нарышкин Сергей Евгеньевич. 18 September 2016.
  39. Web site: Нарышкин Сергей Евгеньевич. 18 September 2016.
  40. http://armedia.am/eng/news/27107/40-of-plagiarism-in-naryshkins-dissertation.html 40% of Plagiarism in Naryshkin's Dissertation
  41. News: Girin. Nikita. Это не про науку. Это про репутацию и враньё. Novaya Gazeta. 107. September 25, 2013. February 13, 2016. ru.
  42. Lipman. Masha. Maria Lipman. March 9, 2013. Russia's dissertation-fraud muckrakers. The New Yorker. February 13, 2016.
  43. Web site: Пресс-слово 2013. Public.Ru. February 13, 2016. ru.
  44. News: Вехи года. Russian Reporter. 50. December 19, 2013. February 13, 2016. ru.
  45. Web site: Krasilnikova. Nastya. Итоги 2013: главные слова и фразы уходящего года. The Village. December 23, 2013. February 13, 2016. ru.
  46. News: "Диссернет" начал борьбу с фальсификациями и плагиатом. Kommersant Weekend. 47. December 20, 2013. 69. February 13, 2016. ru.

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