Gender-based violence researcher now up to 10 retractions for plagiarism

A publisher has retracted all of the papers it published by a researcher in Nigeria, citing plagiarism.

The papers, all about terrorism and gender-based violence, were written by Oluwaseun Bamidele. The journal editors and the publisher, Taylor & Francis, decided to retract nine papers by Bamidele because of the overlap to other works — which he also failed to reference.

Bamidele — who also lost a paper on Boko Haram for the same reason — told us he didn’t learn about what constitutes plagiarism until his graduate studies, after he’d already written the now-retracted manuscripts:

If I had known before then, it would not have happened.

Bamidele has completed his Masters degree, and told us he is not based anywhere at the moment.

After Bamidele’s first retraction in 2013, also by a Taylor & Francis journal, he submitted a letter the journal published with the notice, in which he apologizes and explains:

I inadvertently incorporated work that was not my own in my article and failed to properly cite or acknowledge that work.

Since then, nine of Bamidele’s papers published between 2012 and 2016 in Taylor & Francis journals have been retracted for similar issues.

Here’s the notice for a 2016 paper on gender-based violence in Uganda, retracted that same year for plagiarism:

We, the Editors of Democracy and Security and the publishers Taylor & Francis Group are retracting the following article:

Bamidele, Oluwaseun (2016) “I’m Not Leaving, I’m Not Afraid”: (Re)Visiting the Dysfunctional Systems of Justice on Gender-based Violence (GBV) in Uganda. Democracy and Security, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 23–43. DOI:10.1080/17419166.2015.1135059. Version of Record published online 29 February 2014.

We are now cognisant that the article is substantially similar to the previously published works:

ACORD (2008) Unfinished Business: Transitional Justice and Women’s Rights in Africa. Available at: http://www.acordinternational.org/silo/files/unfinished-business-transitional-justice-and-womens-rights-in-africa.pdf

Ahikire, Josephine and Amon A. Mwiine (2013) Addressing the links between gender-based violence and HIV in the Great Lakes region. Available at: http://www.genderandaids.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1222:addressing-the-links-between-gender-based-violence-and-hiv-in-the-great-lakes-region-background-information-on-gbv-and-hiv&catid=52:gender-hivaids-and-conflict&Itemid=96

We note that neither of these previously published works have been referenced in the retracted article. This action constitutes a breach of warranties made by the author with respect to originality and provenance. We note we received, peer-reviewed, accepted, and published the article in good faith based on these warranties, and censure this action.

The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.

“I’m Not Leaving, I’m Not Afraid”: (Re)Visiting the Dysfunctional Systems of Justice on Gender-based Violence (GBV) in Uganda” was published in Democracy and Security, which has not been indexed by Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science, formerly part of Thomson Reuters.

A senior communications manager at Taylor & Francis provided more details on the retractions:

We were alerted to originality issues regarding his papers by one of our journal’s academic editors, and subsequently undertook a thorough investigation. This was informed by Committee of Publication Ethics guidelines and included conducting an originality check. We kept Mr. Bamidele informed at every stage. Our investigation concluded a correction to the scholarly record was appropriate, and as a result we have retracted all of his articles from Taylor & Francis journals.

Bamidele, who began writing about terrorism and gender-based violence in Nigeria while he was an undergraduate student, told us that most schools in Africa don’t teach students about plagiarism at the undergraduate level. As a result, he said he first learned about the problem of plagiarism in 2015, while receiving his Master’s degree from the Institute of Peace, Security and Governance at Ekiti State University in Nigeria:

I began learning about plagiarism when my graduate university brought in a professor from Canada.

Although Bamidele’s first retraction was in 2013 and the majority of the other retractions occurred in 2016, he said that he wrote these papers before receiving more formal education on plagiarism.

Bamidele told us he now sends his articles to a colleague in Canada who checks them with plagiarism software. Bamidele also told us he hopes to educate students in Nigeria about proper referencing and plagiarism so they don’t make the same mistake he did.

Here are the other eight notices, which all cite plagiarism. Most journals have not been indexed:

• “Seized by Sleaze: The Siege of Domestic Terrorism in the North-East Region of Nigeria and the Search for a Workable Solution,” published in Journal of Applied Security Research in 2015.
• “Reign of Evil: (Re)casting the Socioeconomic Crisis of Boko Haram Islamic Extremist Terrorism in Nigeria” published in Journal of Applied Security Research in 2016.
• “Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration of Children in Armed Conflict” published in Peace Review in 2012.
• “Climate Change, War, and Global Struggle” published in Peace Review in 2013.
• “Domestic Terrorism in Nigeria: The Grown ‘Monster’ Within!” published in Defense Studies in 2013.
• “Is there space in between? Religion and armed conflict in African states” published in African Security Review in 2014; article has not yet been indexed.
• “Thomas Matyók, Jessica Senehi, and Sean Byrne Critical Issues in Peace and Conflict Studies: Theory, Practice, and Pedagogy,” a 2014 book review in Democracy and Security.
• “Boko Haram “Jama’atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda’Awati Wal Jihad” in North-eastern Nigeria: implications for Sub-Saharan African peace and security” published in Defense & Security Analysis in 2014 and retracted that year.

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