The University of Vienna is launching an examination procedure for the dissertation by Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens). The university announced this after an internal preliminary check based on an anonymous plagiarism report by the APA. International experts are now being sought – the result should be available in a few months, probably after the summer.
The reason for the introduction is an anonymous report sent to the University of Vienna in February by the online medium Exxpress, which is close to the ÖVP. In 2017, Zadic wrote his dissertation on the influence of the UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on legal developments in the successor states.
“The University of Vienna is committed to the criteria of academic honesty. These apply to all academic work, regardless of subject and person,” the university announced. “If there are indications of suspected plagiarism in work for which an academic degree has already been awarded, the University of Vienna will examine and initiate proceedings if it appears possible that the rules of good scientific practice could not have been observed.”
Zadic’s office told APA that they had been informed about the initiation of the procedure. “We welcome the fact that the anonymous allegations can be objectively checked and cleared up by scientists.”
Plagiarism occurs when “texts, content or ideas are adopted and passed off as one’s own,” according to the University Act. This includes “in particular the appropriation and use of text passages, theories, hypotheses, findings or data through direct, paraphrased or translated adoption without appropriate identification and citation of the source and the author”. The author must also act with the intent to deceive.
Source: Nachrichten
