Most fraud reports at Utrecht University
According to the NRC there were 102 fraud reports since 2005, out of which 28 were upheld. Sixteen of the reported employees were disciplined. Ton Holt, a trustee of the UU, explains why Utrecht has such high scores. “At the UU, people can go to a counselor for academic integrity. We are easy to find and our committee is well known. ”
Rector Bert van der Zwaan welcomes the fact that the number of reports in UU is so high. “For us, it is relatively simple to report a fraud. This ensures that we are on the top.”
This is not the case at Tilburg University. One can only report a fraud to the rector, which is much more difficult than meeting a counselor. When a fraud is reported to the head of the university, one must be sure about the accusations.
Most cases of fraud involve copying and pasting a text without mentioning the source, according to the NRC. The omission of statistical information is much harder to detect. Perhaps scientists in the age of digitization handle sources and references more carelessly than before. Holt also deals with copyright issues: “For example, when an author of a scientific article puts the name of a co-author in the wrong place or does not name the co-author at all.”
