Polish police are investigating alleged plagiarism in a series of articles by a group of researchers at the University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Retraction Watch has learned.
A university commission also is looking into the allegations, which one of the authors told Retraction Watch had “greatly damaged” his career. While plagiarism is not usually considered a crime, it can be prosecuted under national copyright laws in Poland and elsewhere.
The alleged plagiarism was first discovered by a reviewer for Postępy Mikrobiologii – Advancements of Microbiology, a quarterly of the Polish Society of Microbiologists, said Radosław Stachowiak, who worked as the journal’s deputy editor-in-chief until the end of last year.
The journal investigated, then announced in October that it was retracting five papers that were largely identical or similar to articles published by other researchers. Ahead of the announcement it also notified Krzysztof Kowalczyk, president of the University of Life Sciences in Lublin, who told Retraction Watch he shared the information with the police as well as a “special commission” that is now investigating the case.
Stachowiak said the journal is a “witness” in the case and added that he is “preparing some materials for the police department.” Whether criminal charges have been brought against the authors is unclear.
In an email to Retraction Watch, Dominik Łagowski, a research assistant at the University of Life Sciences in Lublin and a coauthor of four of the five papers, cited “false accusations, invented evidence and lack of any cooperation on the part of the journal.” Łagowski said the editors had retracted the articles “while accusing the authors of the crime of plagiarism.”
“Unfortunately – information about these retractions is already in the Retraction Watch database,” added Lagowski, who recently completed his PhD at the University of Life Sciences in Lublin. “And at that point, it greatly damaged my career as a scientist.”
He also referred to “the intentional denigration of the authors by the above-mentioned journal” and said he was “in a legal dispute with Advancements of Microbiology to clear my name.”
“All I can say is that there was no such intention,” Stachowiak, the former editor, told Retraction Watch, adding that “nobody is going to profit from such a situation.”
Four of the five articles list Sebastian Gnat, a professor at the university, as first author; he is second author of the fifth. Gnat could not be reached by phone for comment. According to Kowalczyk, the university commission investigating the case also has had problems reaching Gnat.
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