The National Council for Science and Technology (Conacyt) dismissed the complaint against the prosecutor Alejandro Gertz Manero on alleged plagiarism in the books of his authorship and that he presented to apply to the National System of Investigators (SNI).
The reason for dismissing the complaint was that “none of the complainants is the author or shows ownership of the works allegedly plagiarized, so there is no direct interest in verifying or rectifying the works indicated”.
This was announced by Andrés Triana Moreno, in charge of the office of the deputy directorate of Scientific Development of the SNI, in the official letter sent this March 9 to the researcher David Romero.
The complaint was filed by researcher Guillermo Sheridan and supported by more than 200 Conacyt researchers for “lack of scientific integrity, in the form of plagiarism“.
Read also: After call leak, Gertz accuses “criminal media extortion” against him
In the letter, signed by the investigators to support the complaint, they appealed that Gertz Manero “showed as supporting documents of his academic work at least two books with abundant plagiarism, understood as the act of presenting a foreign text as his own, without any type of plagiarism.” sign or notice that refers to the work of the original author.
The General Council of the SNI analyzed the case and he didn’t even discuss the alleged plagiarism, but discarded it from the start. Therefore, “the case is considered closed in the sphere of competence of the Board of Honor.”
On October 28, through a digital format, the members of the SNI called the director of Conacyt, the head of the Deputy Directorate of Scientific Development, the Director of Scientific Vocations and the president of the Board of Honor who investigate the “lack of ethics” of Gertz Manero.
In addition, they requested that suspected plagiarism will be investigated made by the Attorney General of the Republic in two books that he presented as evidence of his academic performance to enter the System.
Here we tell you: Members of the SNI ask the Board of Honor to investigate alleged plagiarism of Alejandro Gertz
One month after, around 227 male and female researchers signed a letter in which requested the SNI Board of Honor to review possible faults by Gertz Manero.
In the document, they accused the prosecutor of violating “the rules and guidelines of conduct accepted in the area of his professional field.”
Conacyt resolution opens the door to indiscriminate plagiarism: researchers
After the Conacyt resolution, the investigators, who sent the investigation request against Gertz Manero for possible plagiarism, assured that their request was accompanied by sufficient documentation to prove their complaint.
“This application It was accompanied by abundant documentation which shows evident cases of plagiarism of texts by other authors in two books presented by him for his irregular admission to the SNI”, they postulated through a statement.
The academics warned that the resolution of the General Council of the SNI will generate “even bigger problems for science in Mexico than the misconduct exhibited by Dr. Gertz.”
They highlighted that the Guidelines of the SNI Board of Honor do not restrict the legitimacy of the complainants to being direct victims and ignore the fact that, in the event of ethical infractions – as they accused – the community of researchers and the society.
“Dismissing this case without getting to the bottom of the matter opens the door to the indiscriminate practice of academic plagiarismby setting precedents that only the victim of plagiarism can start a process before the Board”, they accused.
In the document, the researchers recalled that it is the responsibility of the Board of Honor, the Directorate of the SNI and Conacyt to ensure respect for “scientific ethics”, for which they pointed out that the resolution adopted goes against this duty.
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