The rectors ask to protect “academic and scientific honesty” after realizing the dishonest of Juan Manuel Corchado | Science | EUROtoday

The case of Juan Manuel Corchado, the one candidate for rector of the University of Salamanca regardless of having cheated for years to inflate his resume, has brought about a shake-up within the educational discipline. “The Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE) considers that academic and scientific honesty is a fundamental value that must be defended and preserved so that the University continues to be the prestigious institution that it is and in which society places its trust. trust,” say sources from this affiliation, made up of 77 universities, when requested by EL PAÍS. The group doesn’t pronounce Corchado's title. “The CRUE respects the electoral processes of all universities and does not value the different candidates for rector or rector,” the identical sources emphasize.

Some 33,000 college college students are known as to vote on May 7 within the elections for rector of the University of Salamanca, an establishment with an annual finances of virtually 290 million euros. The solely candidate is Professor Juan Manuel Corchado, specialised in synthetic intelligence and cybersecurity. On March 15 and April 26, this newspaper revealed proof that the professor, born in Salamanca 52 years in the past, has artificially inflated his scientific affect by including 1000’s of self-citations to his publications, and has given directions to his employees to quote his research. and has benefited from a mess of false profiles of researchers devoted to compulsively mentioning their articles. These tips have helped him to be some of the cited scientists on this planet in several rankings world occasions, regardless of its absence from main worldwide conferences, such because the AAMAS convention.

Sources from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, when requested by EL PAÍS, emphasize their “scrupulous respect for university autonomy” and “for the process by which each university community decides how to choose the person who best represents it.” and he can govern it higher.” The identical sources concern a normal warning: “For this ministry, in any case, any person elected in a process to serve as rector must live up to the values ​​that the university community represents.”

Numerous researchers have publicly criticized Corchado's practices, each inside and out of doors his establishment. José María Díaz Mínguez, professor of Genetics on the University of Salamanca, has assured this newspaper that it’s “a flagrant case of academic fraud.” The physicist Javier Mateos, professor of Electronics, has censored the “cheats” and the “traps” of Corchado.

Emilio de Miguel, a retired professor of Spanish Literature on the University of Salamanca, has proven his “stupor” on the present state of affairs of the establishment, with elections known as urgently after the shock resignation of the earlier rector, Ricardo Rivero. De Miguel has introduced on his social networks that he’s withdrawing from the alumni affiliation as an indication of protest. “If when I was active I tried, like so many others, not to detract from its merits and I certainly tried not to contribute to the University of Salamanca emitting harmful odors, the least I can do now is get as far away as possible from the stench.” “which reveal the rare circumstances of this strange exchange that these rector elections are consisting of,” declared De Miguel.

The solely candidate for rector started a large deletion operation of his most controversial publications in March. Before that maneuver, his numbers confirmed that he was hyperprolific. He revealed greater than as soon as per week for years, typically insubstantial however extremely cited texts. He had 750 paperwork with about 12,000 citations to them, based on the Scopus database. On Google Scholar, he had 2,100 paperwork and 45,000 citations, a scientific affect supposedly higher than that of the good figures in his specialty within the United States. Alberto Martín, an knowledgeable in digital documentation on the University of Granada, analyzed the case of Corchado and detected that round half of the citations acquired by the Salamancan professor on Google Scholar have been self-citations or got here from suspicious paperwork, comparable to these revealed by profiles of scientists invented within the ResearchGate repository. Martín has spoken of “manipulation”.

Corchado, who has refused to provide explanations to EL PAÍS about his conferences with 200 quotes to himself and different practices, has continued his election marketing campaign with obvious normality, with the slogan “The University you want: Get excited.” Professors outraged by Corchado's dishonest are calling for a clean vote on May 7.

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