tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/academic-fraud-62174/articlesacademic fraud – The Conversation2021-11-30T19:11:44Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1724032021-11-30T19:11:44Z2021-11-30T19:11:44ZStudents who cheat don’t just have to worry about getting caught. They risk blackmail and extortion<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434603/original/file-20211130-21-1jhv1xx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5374%2C3575&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When students use a commercial <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-unite-against-the-academic-black-market-85232">contract cheating</a> service, getting caught by their lecturers is just one of many serious consequences that could damage them and those who trust them. They also expose themselves to blackmail and extortion. Despite these risks, one in ten students at Australian higher education institutions have used a commercial cheating service to complete an assessment, according to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2021.1972093">survey findings</a> presented at the inaugural <a href="https://torrens.eventsair.com/aain-forum2021/">Australian Academic Integrity Network Forum 2021</a> (AAIN) hosted by Torrens University. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/1-in-10-uni-students-submit-assignments-written-by-someone-else-and-most-are-getting-away-with-it-166410">1 in 10 uni students submit assignments written by someone else — and most are getting away with it</a>
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<p>With sophisticated <a href="https://theconversation.com/artificial-intelligence-is-getting-better-at-writing-and-universities-should-worry-about-plagiarism-160481">artificial intelligence</a> and indeed sinister forces coming into play, there is a growing urgency for higher education institutions to act on this increasing threat to academic integrity. The threat isn’t just to the reputation of institutions. It also places students at risk. </p>
<p>When students fill in their credit card number to complete a purchase from a contract cheating service, they are doing business with unscrupulous gremlins. They risk heading down a sinister black hole of <a href="https://www.teqsa.gov.au/sites/default/files/contract-cheating-blackmail.pdf?v=1591659442">extortion</a> and blackmail using the threat of exposure to their university or employer.</p>
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<h2>Services have found a new income stream</h2>
<p>Extortion is the new name of the game. Contract-cheating gremlins have turned to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03075079.2020.1730313?journalCode=cshe20">blackmail</a> as an ongoing source of income from students. They threaten to tell the university the student has bought an assignment unless the student pays up. </p>
<p>Students can be blackmailed even after finishing their degrees when the gremlins threaten to expose their cheating behaviour to employers. </p>
<p>If the student refuses to pay up, then the gremlins get to work on destroying their credibility. The university can revoke the degree the student “earned”. The student loses their qualification and potentially their career and suffers reputational damage and financial loss.</p>
<p>Contract cheating starts off as a rational approach to getting an assignment done quickly and easily. As the student descends the morality ladder, the lines between right and wrong become blurred. The student who engages in academic misconduct is laying the foundations for unethical conduct in the workplace.</p>
<p>There is <a href="https://clutejournals.com/index.php/JDM/article/view/4977">strong evidence</a> that cheating as a student can lay the foundations for unethical behaviour in life and as members of society. </p>
<p>When the US audit watchdog <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/15/us-watchdog-fines-kpmg-australia-over-widespread-cheating-on-online-training-tests">fined KPMG Australia</a> A$615,000 following major cheating in its workplace, it revealed the dangers of the normalisation of these practices in society. Similarly, <a href="https://asic.gov.au/">ASIC</a> is suing the <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/news/asic-is-suing-anz-over-its-introducer-program-alleging-unlicensed-parties-funnelled-borrowers-to-loans-they-could-not-afford/ar-AAR8BEw?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531">ANZ Bank</a> for breaching the Credit Act by allegedly paying commissions to unlicensed third parties who referred borrowers to the bank for loans. Bank representatives overlooked these actions in an attempt to achieve sales targets for bonuses.</p>
<p>Gremlins are smart. They advertise their services as assignment help and tutors 24/7, in an attempt to normalise the practice of cheating. </p>
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<p>Students then unknowingly open themselves up to a raft of offences, including misrepresentation, fraud, forgery and financial advantage from crime. When a student submits a bought assignment and completes the cover sheet stating that it’s their own work, it could be considered fraud because they are making a false or misleading statement. The financial advantage from this action would be the avoidance of retaking a subject and saving on course fees. </p>
<p>It’s potentially an act of forgery when a student submits a fabricated assignment and the university considers it to be original work, legitimately created by the student. So far no students have been charged with fraud for submitting a contract-cheated assessment in Australia. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/artificial-intelligence-is-getting-better-at-writing-and-universities-should-worry-about-plagiarism-160481">Artificial intelligence is getting better at writing, and universities should worry about plagiarism</a>
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<h2>What is being done about cheating?</h2>
<p>The Australian government’s introduction of anti-cheating <a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/school-life/new-laws-passed-could-see-cheaters-who-sell-services-to-university-students-jailed/news-story/599e268e4e5ff39e0766544688274092">laws</a> in 2020 offers some hope of reining in the gremlins. The first <a href="https://www.teqsa.gov.au/latest-news/articles/teqsa-successful-federal-court-action-block-access-cheating-website">successful prosecution</a> by the higher education regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), resulted in the blocking of two illegal cheating websites. </p>
<p>The new law also makes the promotion and selling of contract cheating services illegal. Penalties include up to two years’ jail and a fine of $110,000. </p>
<p>By their very nature, these services are not exemplars of integrity and ethical behaviour. They blackmail their customers and exploit the so-called “academic” writers they employ. They are now also recruiting students to on-sell their services, exposing them to the risk of a criminal record.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-unite-against-the-academic-black-market-85232">Universities unite against the academic black market</a>
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<p>Individuals make a significant investment in their education. But if they turn to cheating, their actions can have far-reaching consequences for their lives. They also harm those around them – their families, partners, employers and society in general.</p>
<p>While the AAIN Forum identified some strategies to encourage students to rethink cheating, it is critical that we create a robust culture of academic integrity across our institutions. Appreciating the true value of a well-earned degree will be just as important as the law in keeping the cheat gremlins at bay.</p>
<p>Let the student buyer beware!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172403/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristina Nicholls does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An estimated one in ten Australian tertiary students have paid a so-called contract cheating service to do their work for them. What most don’t think about is the risk of being blackmailed later.Kristina Nicholls, Director, Academic Integrity, Torrens University AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1208812019-07-25T03:13:58Z2019-07-25T03:13:58ZFudged research results erode people’s trust in experts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285649/original/file-20190725-110170-1342avj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C262%2C3898%2C2372&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Only a modest proportion of all flawed publications are identified and retracted.'</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Triff </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Reports of <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/bad-science-australian-studies-found-to-be-unreliable-compromised-20190719-p528ql.htm">research misconduct</a> have been prominent recently and probably reflect wider problems of relying on dated integrity protections. </p>
<p>The recent reports are from <a href="https://retractionwatch.com">Retraction Watch</a>, which is a blog that reports on the withdrawal of articles by academic journals. The site’s <a href="http://retractiondatabase.org/">database</a> reports that journals have withdrawn a total of 247 papers with an Australian author going back to the 1980s. </p>
<p>This compares with 324 papers withdrawn with Canadian authors, 582 from the UK and 24 from New Zealand. Australian retractions are 1.2% of all retractions reported on the site, a fraction of Australia’s 4% share of all research publications.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/science-isnt-broken-but-we-can-do-better-heres-how-95139">Science isn't broken, but we can do better: here's how</a>
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<p>Australian retractions have fallen from around 25 a year when Retraction Watch was launched in 2010 to an average of 11 in each of 2018 and 2017. This is in line with all retractions falling from 5,108 in 2010 to an average of 660 in the last two years. (However 2010 saw an usually high number of retractions, so this downward trend may not be as stark as the figures suggest.) </p>
<h2>Scratching the surface</h2>
<p>But this is not a good indication of trends in research cheating. Probably only a modest proportion of all flawed publications are <a href="https://theconversation.com/clearing-the-air-why-more-retractions-are-good-for-science-6008">identified and retracted</a>. There can be a delay of several years before research problems are found, reported and verified.</p>
<p>Common reasons for retracting articles include duplicating results, errors in results or analysis, and plagiarism. Other reasons include falsification or fabrication of data, research misconduct and unreliable research. </p>
<p>But not all retractions are for nefarious reasons. One publisher <a href="http://retractionwatch.com/2018/01/25/good-news-able-retract-article-journal/">retracted a paper</a> because it had through misunderstanding published the wrong version of the paper on its website. It promptly published the right version once its mistake had been noticed.</p>
<p>Research misconduct is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/scientific-fraud-sloppy-science-yes-they-happen-13948">long-standing problem</a>. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/behind-closed-doors-what-the-piltdown-man-hoax-from-1912-can-teach-science-today-76967">Piltdown Man hoax</a> in which the hoaxer claimed to have discovered the “missing link” between apes and humans was perpetrated back in 1912. </p>
<p>And research misconduct can have serious consequences. Opposition to vaccination is bolstered by a <a href="https://theconversation.com/mondays-medical-myth-the-mmr-vaccine-causes-autism-3739">fraudulent paper</a> claiming a link between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and autism and bowel disease, which was published in 1998.</p>
<p>It is hard to argue for evidence-based <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-death-of-evidence-in-education-policy-27505">policy</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/evidence-based-medicine-is-broken-why-we-need-data-and-technology-to-fix-it-29625">practice</a> if there are serious doubts about the quality of the evidence. Even where there is no cheating, confidence in all research is undermined by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-replication-crisis-has-engulfed-economics-49202">replication crisis</a> in which researchers can’t repeat earlier findings. </p>
<h2>Misconduct undermines science</h2>
<p>Reports of research misconduct strengthen the <a href="https://theconversation.com/inoculating-against-science-denial-40465">denial of science</a> and undermine the argument for taking concerted action to manage <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-old-school-climate-denial-has-had-its-day-117752">climate change</a> and other problems. </p>
<p>Reports of <a href="https://theconversation.com/fabricating-and-plagiarising-when-researchers-lie-33732">research misconduct</a> are coinciding with reports of student <a href="https://theconversation.com/policing-plagiarism-could-make-universities-miss-the-real-problems-45172">academic misconduct</a>, mostly <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/plagiarism-3644">plagiarism</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-does-getting-help-on-an-assignment-turn-into-cheating-120215">contract cheating</a> where a student pays another to complete their assessment.</p>
<p>The stresses on <a href="https://theconversation.com/publish-or-perish-culture-encourages-scientists-to-cut-corners-47692">researcher</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/policing-plagiarism-could-make-universities-miss-the-real-problems-45172">student</a> malefactors are probably similar. They are the pressures to succeed in an increasing competitive environment. As societies become more unequal there are much higher rewards for apparent success and bigger penalties for failure.</p>
<p>Academic misconduct also likely reflects the contemporary conditions of universities, which are increasingly expected to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-run-as-businesses-cant-pursue-genuine-learning-43402">businesslike</a> in managing their greatly increased resources.</p>
<p>Much higher student-to-staff ratios make it much harder to develop the close and supportive relations between teachers and students that discourage <a href="https://theconversation.com/assessment-design-wont-stop-cheating-but-our-relationships-with-students-might-76394">cheating</a>.</p>
<h2>Tackling the problem</h2>
<p>Universities are responding by increasing their <a href="https://theconversation.com/policing-wont-be-enough-to-prevent-pay-for-plagiarism-42999">regulation and oversight</a> of academic activities. They are using <a href="https://theconversation.com/carrot-or-the-stick-technology-and-university-plagiarism-9802">software to detect cheating</a>, but this is not a <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-must-stop-relying-on-software-to-deal-with-plagiarism-113487">full solution</a>.</p>
<p>The Australian government established the <a href="https://www.arc.gov.au/policies-strategies/strategy/australian-research-integrity-committee-aric">Australian Research Integrity Committee</a> in 2011, but it <a href="https://theconversation.com/cracking-the-code-of-ethical-research-practices-1925">has limitations</a>. It reviews institutions’ responses to allegations of research misconduct, which in turn integrate institutions’ academic integrity policies, employees’ contracts and institutions’ disciplinary policies and enterprise agreements.</p>
<p>The fundamental problem is that the traditional systems for ensuring researcher and student integrity are based on the trust that is built from personal interactions within a much smaller system. They are also based on the volunteerism of the less formal traditional scholarly community for refereeing grant applications and journal submissions. </p>
<p>More systematic and rigorous processes will probably be needed as higher education transitions to universal access and wholesale research. As processes are formalised the costs of refereeing submissions may no longer be hidden in experts’ voluntary contributions to their community of scholars. They are likely to be professionalised, and costed and paid for explicitly.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/dependent-and-vulnerable-the-experiences-of-academics-on-casual-and-insecure-contracts-118608">Dependent and vulnerable: the experiences of academics on casual and insecure contracts</a>
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<p>Academics’ relations with most undergraduate students and with most researchers will become more formal. Sadly, academics will likely have to trust less their students and other researchers. Even collaborating researchers have been caught by the failures of co-authors in the parts of the research and writing they were responsible for.</p>
<p>Conversely, much of what students and researchers have done on trust will have to be checked by new systems introduced by institutions, research granting bodies and publishers. Most students and researchers will experience far more bureaucracy.</p>
<p>The failures of academic integrity of students and researchers may be only a fraction of all work by scholars. But they so corrode trust in academic qualifications and publications that stringent measures will be needed to protect academic integrity. Hopefully those measures will be more preventive than punitive.</p>
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<p><em>Correction: this article originally incorrectly calculated the percentage of Australian papers on the Retraction Watch site. It has also been updated to give some context around the downward trend for all papers on the site.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120881/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gavin Moodie receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and has benefited from traditional scholarly practices as a student, researcher, author, reviewer and editor. </span></em></p>A database of retractions shows hundreds of academic articles with Australian authors have been withdrawn. Research misconduct threatens to corrode trust in academic qualifications and publications.Gavin Moodie, Adjunct professor, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1128262019-04-05T10:43:11Z2019-04-05T10:43:11ZPutin’s plagiarism, fake Ukrainian degrees and other tales of world leaders accused of academic fraud<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267419/original/file-20190403-177163-yjje7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In some countries, politicians are routinely exposed for having lied about their academic achievement.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU1NDM0NjU2MSwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMjgyNjU0MTg4IiwiayI6InBob3RvLzI4MjY1NDE4OC9odWdlLmpwZyIsIm0iOjEsImQiOiJzaHV0dGVyc3RvY2stbWVkaWEifSwiN2huNkNWdFhoOHJkYXRIWFFWSGJsUkp0aytBIl0%2Fshutterstock_282654188.jpg&pi=33421636&m=282654188">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-higher-ed-can-earn-the-publics-trust-after-the-admissions-scandal-113876">college admissions scandal in the United States</a>, which revealed that wealthy parents had bribed officials at elite universities, exposed the price some people are willing to pay to say, “<a href="https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/a26951587/college-admissions-cheating-scandal-hurt-university-alumni-fundraising/">I went to an Ivy League school</a>.”</p>
<p>In a country where the myth of <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-colleges-than-ever-have-test-optional-admissions-policies-and-thats-a-good-thing-89852">academic meritocracy</a> persists despite plenty of <a href="https://theconversation.com/youre-not-going-to-get-accepted-into-a-top-university-on-merit-alone-87985">evidence to the contrary</a>, many people were <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-higher-ed-can-earn-the-publics-trust-after-the-admissions-scandal-113876">shocked</a> to learn that the education system was rife with illegal and unethical conduct.</p>
<p>But academic fraud is nothing new – and it wasn’t invented in the United States. In certain countries, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ararat_Osipian">my research on academic corruption attests</a>, some public officials have built their entire political careers on the false pretense of scholastic achievement.</p>
<h2>Lying leaders</h2>
<p>You’d think that former German Minister of Defense Baron Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Buhl-Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg already had a long enough name.</p>
<p>But in 2006, he decided to add the title of “Dr.” to it, completing his doctorate of law at Germany’s University of Beyrouth.</p>
<p>Or so he said. </p>
<p>It turns out that Guttenburg, then widely seen as the successor to Chancelor Angela Merkel, had plagiarized large sections of his <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/karl-theodor-zu-guttenberg-germanys-minister-of-defence-quits-over-plagiarism-charges">Ph.D. dissertation comparing U.S. and European legal systems</a>. </p>
<p>The internet sleuths who outed his fraud in 2011 gave Guttenberg yet another name – the sobriquet “Googleberg.” He was forced to resign, landing an honorary position at the Washington, D.C.-based <a href="https://www.thelocal.de/20110930/37919">Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank</a>.</p>
<p>Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta initially tried a different approach when he was accused of academic plagiarism soon after taking office in 2012: He <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/20/world/europe/romania-plagiarism-scandal-ensnares-prime-minister.html">denied everything</a>. </p>
<p>“The only reproach I have is that I did not list authors at the bottom of each page, but put them in the bibliography at the end,” he said.</p>
<p>Ponta <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34720183">quit his post in 2015</a> after going on trial for tax evasion and facing a series of other scandals.</p>
<p>But he still defended his academic honor. </p>
<p>“After…stepping down from the political scene, I wish to pursue a new doctorate while adhering to and respecting all of the standards and requirements,” he said bravely, after <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/romanias-pm-gives-up-doctorate-after-plagiarism-allegations-9938287.html">admitting to having plagiarized more than half of his 2004 dissertation</a> on the International Criminal Court. </p>
<p>Ponta later wrote to the rector of Bucharest University to renounce his degree. </p>
<h2>Denial: The strongman’s tactic</h2>
<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin has been far less receptive to repeated <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/mar/24/20060324-104106-9971r/">allegations</a> that he was not the intellectual braintrust behind his 1997 dissertation, “Mineral and Raw Materials Resources and the Development Strategy for the Russian Economy.”</p>
<p>Accusations against Putin first surfaced in 2006, when an <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/events/the-mystery-of-vladimir-putins-dissertation/">investigation by the Brookings Institution</a> alleged he copied about 16 pages of his 200-page Ph.D. dissertation from other sources. </p>
<p>Twelve years later, the Russian strongman found himself defending against accusations that his dissertation had been ghostwritten. According to former Russian legislator Olga Litvinenko, Putin’s dissertation was <a href="https://www.newsru.com/russia/04mar2018/disser.html">written by her father, Vladimir Litvinenko, Putin’s academic advisor</a> and the rector of Saint Petersburg Mining University. </p>
<p>Also helpful in “writing” Putin’s dissertation, says Litvinenko: a photocopy machine. </p>
<p>Employing the only cut-and-paste technology available in the late 1990s, she says her father helped Putin cheat by using scissors to snip paragraphs from various sources, glued them together and copied them to create new pages in his dissertation. </p>
<p>Putin has <a href="http://world.time.com/2013/02/28/putins-phd-can-a-plagiarism-probe-upend-russian-politics/">never responded to the allegations</a>.</p>
<h2>Models of cheating</h2>
<p>Guttenberg’s, Ponta’s and Putin’s reactions to their false doctorate scandals are all completely appropriate, my research finds – if you consider the cultural context in which each occurred. </p>
<p>Leaving office after allegations of academic corruption, as Guttenberg did, is a rational response in his situation.</p>
<p>Germany ranks sixth of 129 countries worldwide in terms of adherence to the law, <a href="https://worldjusticeproject.org/our-work/publications/rule-law-index-reports/wjp-rule-law-index-2019">according to the World Justice Project’s annual “rule of law” index</a>. There, such acts bring professional disgrace. </p>
<p>In an emerging democracy that still struggles with corruption, however, <a href="https://www.transparency.org/country/ROU">such as Romania</a>, bravado is a reasonable way to handle allegations of academic malfeasance. Among European countries, Romania is among the least likely to hold public officials accountable for <a href="https://worldjusticeproject.org/sites/default/files/documents/WJP-ROLI-2019-Single%20Page%20View-Reduced.pdf">abuses of power or to demand transparency from government employees</a>, according to the World Justice Project, which ranks the rule of law worldwide.</p>
<p>And in a <a href="https://worldjusticeproject.org/sites/default/files/documents/WJP-ROLI-2019-Single%20Page%20View-Reduced.pdf">well-established autocracy like Russia</a>, frankly, top politicians can afford the luxury of simply ignoring allegations of a falsified resumes. Putin has held top office, as either president or prime minister, since 1999. </p>
<p>His <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Strongman-Vladimir-Putin-Struggle-Russia/dp/1780765045">grip on power is so all-encompassing</a> that he is immune to the negative consequences of academic scandal – or pretty much any scandal. </p>
<h2>Ukraine’s dissertation factories</h2>
<p>The same holds true in Ukraine, another struggling young democracy. </p>
<p>In Ukraine, it is <a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-601521000/faculty-misconduct-corruption-and-doctoral-degree-fraud-in-ukraine-ararat-osipian-91318">traditional for top politicians to hold doctorates</a>. All of the five presidents that have run Ukraine since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 have had their Ph.D.’s – at least in theory.</p>
<p>But since the country has dozens of private firms that offer ghostwritten <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/world-view/ukrainian-politicians-and-fake-dissertations">dissertations for sale</a>, it has also become a <a href="https://life.pravda.com.ua/columns/2017/04/10/223612/">Ukrainian tradition to expose politicians with unearned doctorates</a>. </p>
<p>President Victor Yanukovych’s doctorate and professorship was <a href="http://neweasterneurope.eu/2019/01/11/as-ukraine-readies-itself-for-presidential-elections-time-to-read-the-dissertations-of-the-candidates/">called into doubt</a> when <a href="https://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2004/09/22/4381275/">people noticed that his 2004 application to run for president</a> contained numerous grammatical errors – including the misspelled word “proffesor.”</p>
<p>In 2017, <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/should-plagiarism-be-bar-presidency">former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk</a> was also accused of plagiarizing his dissertation. </p>
<p>Both followed Putin’s model: Ignore the scandal and hope it will just go away. </p>
<p>It did. Yanukovych became president on his second try in 2010. Yatsenyuk remains one of Ukraine’s leading politicians.</p>
<h2>Don’t ask me about my degree</h2>
<p>When asked about how they made their fortune, billionaires often cite Henry Ford’s <a href="https://www.therichest.com/rich-list/world/6-infamous-billionaire-criminals/">quip</a>: “I am ready to account for any day in my life, but don’t ask me how I made my first million.”</p>
<p>The car manufacturer’s bon mot hints at the shady – sometimes illicit – origins or great wealth.</p>
<p>For some European and Russian politicians – or even American college graduates – today, the modern equivalent might be, “Don’t ask me how I earned my degree.” </p>
<p><em>This article was updated to correct several statements related to the circumstances around Guttenburg’s leaving Germany.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112826/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ararat Osipian does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Several world leaders, including Vladimir Putin, stand accused of plagiarizing their PhD dissertations. Whether they resign, deny or ignore the allegations says a lot about the country they run.Ararat Osipian, Visiting Professor, George Mason UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1134392019-03-13T10:39:30Z2019-03-13T10:39:30ZCollege admission scandal grew out of a system that was ripe for corruption<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263517/original/file-20190313-86696-2gnvbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Recruited athletes often get a leg up in the admissions process.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/lacrosse-team-sports-themed-photo-437537404">Catwalk Photos/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As part of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/us/college-admissions-cheating-scandal.html">“Operation Varsity Blues” case</a> that federal prosecutors announced March 12, dozens of people – including Hollywood actresses and wealthy businessmen – stand accused of having bought their children’s way into elite colleges and universities.</p>
<p>As a researcher who has studied how young athletes get admitted to college, I don’t see a major difference between this admission fraud case and how many wealthy families can buy their children’s way into elite colleges through <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/Justice-Dept-Charges-Dozens/245865?cid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=7200d16c44ee4221b06770bbd65ad1ad&elq=83266aa0a5144d1298f7367b045b335d&elqaid=22486&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=11094">“back” and “side” doors</a>.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442266285/How-College-Athletics-Are-Hurting-Girls'-Sports-The-Pay-to-Play-Pipeline">my research</a>, I show how most intercollegiate sports are fed by wildly expensive “pay to play” youth sports pipelines. These pipelines systematically exclude lower income families. It takes money to attend so-called “showcase tournaments” to get in front of recruiters.</p>
<p>In many ways, then, those ensnared in the current criminal case – which alleges that they <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/us/college-admissions-cheating-scandal.html">paid for their children to get spots on the sports teams</a> of big name schools – couldn’t have succeeded if the college admissions process wasn’t already biased toward wealthier families.</p>
<h2>Bypassing the front door</h2>
<p>Even if college sports is taken out of the equation, the college admissions process already favors wealthy families in a variety of ways.</p>
<p>It has long been known that higher family income usually correlates with higher standardized <a href="https://theconversation.com/students-test-scores-tell-us-more-about-the-community-they-live-in-than-what-they-know-77934">test scores</a>. There are many test prep companies, including some that <a href="https://www.kaptest.com/hsg">guarantee higher scores</a> for approximately US$1,000. Taking advantage of test prep may not be “fraud.” But it certainly provides advantages to the wealthy that have little to do with academic merit. </p>
<p>In his book “<a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2006-12572-000">The Price of Admission</a>,” Daniel Golden highlights a number of other ways wealthy families can buy their way into elite universities. These include large donations, financing new buildings, creating endowments and playing on parents’ celebrity status. These also have little to do with an applicant’s academic merit, but would never be considered criminal. </p>
<p>Sociologist David Karen has <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226655821_Achievement_and_Ascription_in_Admission_to_an_Elite_College_A_Political-Organizational_Analysis">documented</a> how attendance at expensive boarding schools gives wealthy students an admissions advantage to Ivy League universities. That may not be fraudulent, but it certainly seems unfair.</p>
<h2>Athletics and admission advantages</h2>
<p>So how do the wealthy get an advantage when it comes to college athletics? Research has shown that recruited athletes receive the <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/%7Etje/files/files/webAdmission%20Preferences%20Espenshade%20Chung%20Walling%20Dec%202004.pdf">largest admissions advantages</a> independent of academic merit.</p>
<p>The advantage varies by sport and athletic division, but is almost universal within higher education. Many sports – particularly squash, lacrosse, fencing and rowing – are pricey to play, so rich kids get opportunities that are out of reach for the poor. Even non-elite sports such as soccer and softball are subject to class-based restrictions. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263519/original/file-20190313-86696-1how2p8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263519/original/file-20190313-86696-1how2p8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263519/original/file-20190313-86696-1how2p8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263519/original/file-20190313-86696-1how2p8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263519/original/file-20190313-86696-1how2p8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=662&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263519/original/file-20190313-86696-1how2p8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=662&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263519/original/file-20190313-86696-1how2p8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=662&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many sports are out of reach for children from families of lesser means.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/491389582?size=huge_jpg">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Mellon Foundation’s report <a href="https://mellon.org/grants/grants-database/grants/national-opinion-research-center/19600698/">“College and Beyond”</a> found that recruited athletes with lower academic credentials get admitted at four times the rate of non-athletes with similar credentials.</p>
<h2>Athlete screening</h2>
<p>In the Varsity Blues case, some students’ parents essentially bought their children’s spot on a team. For instance, Stanford sailing coach John Vandemoer is <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/Stanford-sailing-team-implicated-in-college-13682141.php">charged with accepting contributions</a> to the sailing program in exchange for recommending two prospective students. He <a href="https://abc7news.com/stanford-coach-pleads-guilty-in-college-admissions-scam/5186275/please%20update">pleaded guilty</a> March 12.</p>
<p>How could a coach pull off this sleight of hand without drawing attention? </p>
<p>The answer, I believe, lies in the growing role of intercollegiate sports in adding some predictability to the very unpredictable enrollment process. Schools want to lock prospective students in as quickly <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/11/the-new-college-chaos/302815">as possible</a>. College athletes are generally admitted through a school’s early decision process. As the proportion of admitted athletes increases, so does the proportion of locked-in applicants.</p>
<p>Colleges also benefit by admitting more students early since those people are not part of acceptance rate calculations. The result is a lower acceptance rate, which inflates the school’s perceived selectivity. This in turn spurs an increase in future applications, which further lowers the acceptance rate – and again increases perceived selectivity – without any objective changes in the actual quality of teaching and research. </p>
<p>College sports teams are an increasingly attractive venue for locking in these early admissions. It is not unusual to have 30 or 40 players on a college soccer or lacrosse team. Most will never play. <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Billion_Dollar_Ball.html?id=n8FJBgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q&f=false">Women’s crew teams</a> often have more than 100 rowers. Most will never get into a boat. Many will quit the team after one season but remain students.</p>
<p>Of course, because a family can afford to have their child play a sport doesn’t mean the student is a good athlete. The pipeline system is far better at identifying the <a href="https://theconversation.com/until-youth-soccer-is-fixed-us-mens-national-team-is-destined-to-fail-85585">best payers rather than the best players</a>. Since scholarships are quite rare, it costs colleges almost nothing to have some bad players on the roster. And there are benefits.</p>
<p>I’m certainly not defending the families and entrepreneurs at the heart of the Varsity Blues scandal for breaking the law to take advantage of a system already fraught with inequalities. The prosecutors in this case have insisted that “<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-spt-college-coaches-admissions-bribery-case-20190312-story.html">there can be no separate admissions system for the wealthy</a>.” For that to be true, current practices that favor deep-pocketed families would have to be abandoned. That will require much more than prosecuting a few people who use their wealth to take advantage of an admissions process that already favors the rich.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113439/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rick Eckstein does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The college admission scandal that involved big bribes, coaches and Hollywood actors grew out of a system that favors rich parents and gives coaches too much leeway in admissions, a scholar argues.Rick Eckstein, Professor of Sociology, Villanova UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1099622019-02-05T13:42:50Z2019-02-05T13:42:50ZFake qualifications are on the rise. How universities can manage the risk<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254910/original/file-20190122-100261-1h9681y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fake credentials are becoming more common in South Africa. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fake credentials have become a global problem. The National Student Clearinghouse, a US NGO that offers a degree verification service, reports that falsified academic credentials are a <a href="https://nscverifications.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/CostOfAcademicFraud.pdf">serious, prevalent and ever-increasing problem</a>. In 2015 the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/opinion/a-rising-tide-of-bogus-degrees.html">New York Times</a> reported on a billion-dollar industry consisting of 3 300 “diploma mills”. These were fake universities that sold certificates for all levels of degrees, worldwide.</p>
<p>Buying totally fake academic certificates is only part of the problem. Those who have degrees may falsify their academic transcripts. This is made easier by the availability of sophisticated technology. Higher education is highly sought-after and provides a measure of status and <a href="http://opensaldru.uct.ac.za/handle/11090/884">improved job prospects</a>. So some working professionals may not be able to resist the temptation of adding or altering a qualification on their CVs. </p>
<p>Fake credentials are becoming more common in South Africa. In 2018, the country saw a <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/shock-increase-in-fake-credentials-18264458">sharp increase</a> in the number of fraudulent qualifications reported to regulatory bodies such as the South African Qualifications Authority. Higher Education Minister Naledi Pandor revealed that the number of reported cases spiked from just 37 in 2011/12 to 982 in the 2017/18 financial year. </p>
<p>This only represents the number of fake credentials reported. The real number may be much higher. This poses a serious problem for universities and employers. It undermines their legitimacy and reputation and robs honest candidates of opportunities for further education or employment.</p>
<p>Fortunately, there are steps that universities and employers can take to protect themselves. These include the use of verification systems, reference checking and competency-based interviews.</p>
<h2>Implications</h2>
<p>For universities, fake qualifications pose <a href="https://studentclearinghouse.info/onestop/wp-content/uploads/CostOfAcademicFraud.pdf">a reputational risk</a> – within other academic institutions and in the workplace. If postgraduate students manage to gain entry on a falsified transcript, their performance will be below standard. Future applicants from that university may be disadvantaged by association.</p>
<p>This also poses a risk to university selection criteria data and policy, as it damages the validity of using prior academic records as a predictor of success.</p>
<p>Another consequence is that fraudulent qualifications may increase the tendency for institutions to hire their own – accepting more students from their own institution for further study, or employment, rather than recruiting from further afield. That’s because students who’ve already been trained by the institution are more easily verified and represent a known entity.</p>
<p>For employers, hiring those who have falsified their qualifications or lied on their CVs can lead to costly exposure to legal action, high staff turnover, lost revenue and public reputational damage which may take years to repair. </p>
<p>For example, in 2012 it was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/19/business/the-undoing-of-scott-thompson-at-yahoo-common-sense.html">discovered that Scott Thompson</a>, the then CEO of Yahoo, had not earned the computer science degree he claimed. Instead, he had a degree in accounting. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120908803557643829">Herbalife’s CEO, Gregory Probert</a>, was forced to resign in 2008 after it emerged that he did not have the MBA he claimed to.</p>
<h2>Checks and balances</h2>
<p>The University of Cape Town, where we work and conduct research, checks the validity of every undergraduate applicant’s school-leaving certificate. Postgraduate applicants must undergo rigorous selection processes. If falsified documentation is discovered, the application is rejected; in some instances, an enquiry or disciplinary process follows.</p>
<p>This approach is available to all universities in the country. South Africa is ahead of the curve when it comes to the ability to verify qualifications. It boasts a fully-automated, centralised online degree verification system, called <a href="https://www.mie.co.za/">MiE</a>. This was the first commercial background screening company of its kind worldwide. </p>
<p>The system links higher education institutions to a centralised database where third party queries may be fielded. The service verifies Grade 12 certificates and checks tertiary qualifications. These include short courses, diplomas and degrees, which are checked directly with local and global institutions. The system also checks whether an academic institution is accredited by the relevant governing body.</p>
<p>For employers, and universities who are also large employers, it is imperative to follow due diligence and check references. Developing collegial relationships across institutions and other organisations can facilitate the due diligence process. Employers must do their homework online as well: check candidates’ online presence and across social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook.</p>
<p>In addition, a competency-based interview can go a long way in alerting interviewers to what may be a falsified qualification. Use the interview process to look for depth of knowledge across the applicant’s field.</p>
<p>Finally, when in doubt, don’t appoint. Additionally, have the courage not to appoint straight away. Even if someone appears to tick all the boxes, there is still a responsibility for due diligence. Re-advertise and continue the search to find other applicants when doubts arise. Taking extra time and care to properly vet qualifications, references and CVs will pay dividends in the long run.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109962/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suki Goodman receives funding from: I have been a recipient of an NRF grant in the past.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linda Ronnie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fraudulent academic qualifications have increased dramatically in South Africa.Linda Ronnie, Associate Professor, University of Cape TownSuki Goodman, Associate professor, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1054562018-11-12T14:40:34Z2018-11-12T14:40:34ZA mindshift in sciences and humanities is the only antidote to hoaxes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244079/original/file-20181106-74766-14sp3g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recently, Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay published <a href="https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/conceptual-penis-social-contruct-sokal-style-hoax-on-gender-studies/">a peer-reviewed paper</a>, <a href="http://retractionwatch.com/2017/06/02/publisher-retracts-conceptual-penis-hoax-article/">subsequently retracted by the publisher</a>, titled “<a href="https://www.skeptic.com/downloads/conceptual-penis/23311886.2017.1330439.pdf">The Conceptual Penis</a>”. </p>
<p>The paper was ridiculous in every respect. It appeared in a peer-reviewed journal, albeit one that’s pay-to-publish. These journals require the author to pay “page fees” for publishing. They may be rigorous but typically have low circulation, which is why they ask authors to cover costs. Financial dependence on authors raises obvious questions and challenges for such journals.</p>
<p>The whole exercise was meant to show that the discipline of gender studies is deeply flawed. It was a hoax characterised as “Sokal-style” after a famous episode in the 1990s, which saw physicist Alan Sokal publish <a href="http://www.physics.nyu.edu/sokal/weinberg.html">a spoof article</a> in a well-regarded journal.</p>
<p>Such hoaxes are troubling for those of us working in the humanities. They grossly mischaracterise what most of us do, which I would fiercely defend as rigorous, critical, insightful work – and which is anything but easy to publish.</p>
<p>Yet they strike a chord, even with many dedicated humanities scholars. There <em>is</em> discontent within the humanities. For as long as I can remember, people have talked about “the crisis in the humanities”. There is also discontent <em>with</em> the humanities: whatever else the hoaxes are, they most certainly constitute a public relations disaster.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-got-a-hoax-academic-paper-about-how-uk-politicians-wipe-their-bums-published-99417">I got a hoax academic paper about how UK politicians wipe their bums published</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>So what do the hoaxes really show, and how should the humanities respond?</p>
<h2>What the hoaxes don’t show</h2>
<p>Hit the right political tone and use the right jargon, the hoax authors argue, then target a pay-to-publish journal – and you’re in print, even if you write transparent garbage, and even though your piece goes through peer review. </p>
<p>The authors contend that we live in an academic world where scholars do what they must to get published. The result, the authors argue, is entire disciplines filled with ideological propaganda of no intellectual worth.</p>
<p>Some responses to the hoax have been unhelpful. It does not further our cause to argue, for instance, that these male authors seek to prevent study of gender and have penis issues. Such responses do nothing but support the critics’ claims, being ad hominem, question-begging, and evasive with regard to the intended point.</p>
<p>However, there are serious defences to be mounted. One is that pay-to-publish journals are not very well-regarded, or at least not well-cited. </p>
<p>Secondly, bias is an unfortunate feature of academic life in general, and not confined to the humanities. Scientists, too, can be <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/pseudo-scientific-racism-and-social-darwinism-grade-11">ideologically tainted</a>. Nor are the sciences free of their own embarrassing <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/323/7327/1450">academic hoaxes</a>.</p>
<p>And it has nothing to do with the ease of getting published. It’s often no easier, perhaps harder, to get published in a humanities journal. Below the stratosphere (<em>Nature</em>, <em>Science</em>), acceptance rates are no higher and may even be lower in humanities journals than in equivalent science journals.</p>
<h2>What went wrong?</h2>
<p>Defences are necessary but not sufficient. Is there anything important that the hoaxes show, either in substance or in the traction they gain? How did we get into this acrimonious mess of academic discord and public mistrust?</p>
<p>I don’t know for sure, but here’s a hypothesis.</p>
<p>Academic disciplines were formerly much less numerous and less sharply distinguished. Explaining the way the world is, and theorising about how it should be, were done together, by the same people. </p>
<p>But new empirical methods – accompanied by a new division of academic labour – proved extremely successful at explaining the natural world. The “moral sciences” were contrasted with the “natural sciences”, and the “<a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume/">fact/value distinction</a>” arose. Scholars who did not use empirical methods were left with, on the one hand, purely conceptual questions, and, on the other, human topics.</p>
<p>So, I hypothesise, many of the humanities scholars styled themselves as experts in <em>should</em> rather than <em>why</em>. They were gripped by the idea that expertise requires an exclusive domain. Science appeared to be the expert in offering answers to why-questions in <em>every</em> domain. So humanities scholars stopped claiming to be experts in <em>why</em>, and styled themselves instead as critics and commentators – experts in <em>should</em>. </p>
<p>This is a caricature, of course. Still, I think it traces a recognisable outline.</p>
<p>In their ascendancy, the sciences lost something too. They lost their grip on <em>should</em>: they lost the critical stance that characterises humanities approaches, and binds them together more than any shared subject matter. </p>
<h2>Humanities and sciences merge</h2>
<p>The solution is for the sciences and humanities to come together.</p>
<p>The sciences need to rediscover the value of critical thought, without losing what is valuable about disciplined cooperation. The humanities can provide that in spades.</p>
<p>The humanities, for their part, need to reestablish themselves as <em>investigations</em>, with the goal of understanding the world. It’s time to reassert their role in answering <em>why</em>-questions, and not merely commenting on what the sciences claim to have “discovered” as “facts”.</p>
<p>The humanities must also acknowledge that they have no special domain of explanatory expertise – and see that <em>that’s ok</em>. Contemporary science is science of everything. But the humanities can offer much-needed explanations and understanding <em>in the same domains</em> as the sciences, <em>with</em> the sciences.</p>
<p>There are some exciting cases where such interaction is already happening. One is interdisciplinary palaeo-research. Another is work on evidence-basing of policy, medicine, and other interventions designed to make life better. Contemporary work on causal inference is another great opportunity for science-humanities collaboration.</p>
<p>The opportunities are out there. Taking advantage of them requires a mindset shift in both humanities and sciences, and perhaps also institutional structures. I’m not sure when the integrated Faculty of Science and Humanities will become the norm. But I believe it’s “when”, not “if”, and I suspect it’s sooner than we might think.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105456/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Broadbent does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Recent hoax papers in humanities don’t show what they claim, but need to be taken seriously.Alex Broadbent, Executive Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Director, African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.