One of the most difficult involved a minister alleged to have plagiarized his doctoral thesis, and who was said to have used material from books that were not accessible on the internet. For the more difficult cases, the process took months of more intensive research. Just how hard is it to spot plagiarism? And how do you do it? In some cases, says Șercan, she found evidence of plagiarism on the first page in others, it took two or three days. The vast majority of examples that Șercan examined, she says, “were plagiarized.” Another dissertation - belonging to an intelligence official and one of the most powerful men in Romania - mysteriously disappeared from the National Library. Șercan went back to the library and found another case, then a third, a sixth - all seemingly linked to that same politician, who had since become a PhD supervisor - and began publishing her exposés in the independent online outlet PressOne. The interim prime minister lashed out at Șercan’s exposé on his Facebook page, calling it a “media lynching.” But the Romanian national agency that oversees university awards and credentials later ruled that his dissertation was plagiarized and recommended that it be withdrawn, according to a report by Times Higher Education. Romanian journalist Emilia Șercan discussing her plagiarism investigations at a recent Center for Investigative Journalism panel. I published the first story: It was silent.” In two hours, I discovered about 40 pages plagiarized - even from his doctoral supervisor who did not notice he was plagiarized by his student. “I said ‘Where, if this is on the first page?’ There were clear signs this dissertation had problems. “On page one, I discovered the first footnote said ‘op cit,’” short for the Latin term “opere citato,” which is used in academic writing to note previously cited references. I was wondering how you could have such work without an introduction and a conclusion if you have to include them even in an essay?” “But there was a sign something was wrong: there was not even an introduction or a conclusion. “I went to the library, opened the dissertation - he got a first ,” she told an audience at the Center for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) in London in July, later elaborating in an interview with GIJN. Skepticism and curiosity led her to start digging. She started working on academic plagiarism “almost by accident.” Listening to the television news one day, she learned that one of the country’s leading ministers, a man with a doctorate, was to be appointed Romania’s interim prime minister, and wondered: Is he really academically capable of writing a thesis? What’s more, he’d held a number of top-level jobs - hardly the kind of career that allows enough time off for deep academic pursuits. The process of writing her thesis, she says, was grueling, complicated, and time-consuming - but it also taught her what it takes to complete studies at this level. She later wrote a PhD herself and is currently an assistant professor in the journalism department at the University of Bucharest. “In two hours, I discovered about 40 pages plagiarized - even from his doctoral supervisor who did not notice he was plagiarized by his student.” - Emilia Șercan A Chance EncounterĪs a reporter and then an editor, Șercan spent years digging into economic and political corruption, later running the investigative department of a newspaper that covered, among other stories, a corruption scandal involving a former prime minister. Taken collectively, her work can be seen as a takedown of the academic credentials of an entire wing of the Romanian establishment, and it all began by examining footnotes and suspicious bibliographies. Among those she accuses of plagiarism are the current Romanian prime minister, ministers of defense, health, and education, a number of university rectors, police chiefs and army generals, prosecutors, and judges. She’s published dozens of investigations about plagiarism and academic fraud involving doctoral theses, relating to around 50 individuals in total. Her investigations have found evidence of copying from famous authors and other students’ work, as well as government ministers notably using different fonts between section chapters – in other words, failing to even change the typeface or page layout from the place it’s seemingly been lifted.

Șercan has spent the last seven years writing about alleged plagiarism in the doctorates of Romania’s top brass. Global Investigative Journalism Network. Global Investigative Journalism Network.

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