Senior officials in the Iranian government are suspected of plagiarizing
published scientific content for political gain.
Nature, the international weekly journal of science, reported last week that
its research unearthed even more plagiarism allegations against prominent
figures in Iran. The first person to be implicated more than a year ago was
Masumeh Ebtekar, the head of the Environmental Protection Organization under
President Khatami.
A few months ago, Nature tabbed Transport Minister Hamid Behbahani, who
supervised President Ahmadi-nejad's doctoral thesis, for plagiarism in a
paper he co-authored. Nature says the paper appeared based on three earlier
articles by three different authors. The journal Transport retracted the
paper in October, but the Iranian government has not investigated the
allegations.
Behbahani told the public he did not plagiarize and that only parts of the
article were identical to earlier work. He called the plagiarism allegations
a "media attack, far from fairness and integrity" and "an illegitimate
accusation."
The Majlis did, however, informally investigate Science Minister Kamran
Daneshjou and the four papers he co-authored. Daneshjou oversaw this year's
elections in his previous post of deputy interior minister. The Majlis
Science and Education Committee held an informal inquiry into the case and
dismissed it after Daneshjou's colleague and co-author, Majid Shahravi, took
responsibility for the content in the papers. Three of the four papers have
been retracted from publications. The fourth paper was published in an
Iranian journal.
Nature speculates that the frequent cases of plagiarism in Iran are partly
the result of poor fluency in English. Nature said the culture in Iran and
some other developing countries expects officials to have strong academic
credentials. That encourages resort to plagiarism to uphold this cultural
expectation and gain promotions.
Nature notes many of Iran's best scientists left Iran after the 1979 Islamic
revolution because universities were asked to eliminate Western influences
and staff. Iranian research improved and became more credible in the late
1990s with the help of President Mohammad Khatami who made academic
appointments based on merit, Nature said. It said research in Iran has gone
downhill since Ahmadi-nejad took power in 2005 because political influence
directed promotions within universities.
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