Juan Manuel Corchado: The rectors warn of “damage to the reputation of Spanish science” after the 75 research withdrawn from the Salamanca rector’s group | Science | EUROtoday

The rectors of Spanish universities have proven this Monday their “concern” after the choice of the writer Springer Nature to withdraw 75 research by the rector of the University of Salamanca, Juan Manuel Corchado, and his collaborators for fraudulent practices. “The Governing Board of the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE) is aware of the various news, reports and communications that appear about malpractice in the management of the dissemination of scientific results, as well as information on changes in the main affiliation of Spanish researchers to universities in Saudi Arabia. Also about the retraction of articles by one of the most prestigious scientific publishers,” the group stated in a press release. “Faced with this situation, the CRUE Governing Board wants to show its concern, since these actions damage the international reputation of science in our country,” the rectors have warned, with out explicitly mentioning their colleague Corchado.

The assertion warns that these dangerous practices “can call into question society’s trust in the work of science and in that of the people who take on this challenge.” The CRUE is an affiliation made up of 77 Spanish universities. On its Governing Board there are 18 rectors, together with its president, Eva Alcón, rector of the Jaume I University, and its two vice presidents: José Antonio Mayoral, rector of the University of Zaragoza, and Rosa Visiedo, rector of the CEU San Pablo University.

The Governing Board “rejects any unethical conduct in the management and generation of knowledge, regardless of the field, as it is absolutely contrary to the postulates of CRUE.” The governing physique of the rectors additionally “appeals to the responsible behavior of all the researchers it represents, who are perfectly aware of the responsibility that scientific activity entails and the demand for impeccably ethical conduct that must always accompany it.”

The place of the rectors provides to that of the Confederation of Scientific Societies of Spain (COSCE), which already on June 20 prompt the calling of recent elections for the rectorate on the University of Salamanca and the launch of an unbiased fee to analyze the practices of Juan Manuel Corchado. “His reputation as a researcher is clearly and seriously in question, which undoubtedly affects the reputation of the University of Salamanca itself and, by extension, that of the Spanish university as a whole, both nationally and internationally.” , acknowledged the COSCE, a company that features 88 societies that characterize greater than 40,000 scientists.

Despite the retraction of 75 research because of fraudulent practices, reported on Wednesday by EL PAÍS, Corchado continues to have the total assist of native authorities. On Friday, the Minister of Education of the Government of Castilla y León, Rocío Lucas, was photographed smiling, squeezing the fingers of the Salamancan rector. A spokesperson for the Ministry refused to evaluate the withdrawal of the 75 fraudulent research on Friday, when requested by this newspaper.

The mayor of Salamanca, Carlos García Carbayo, prompt on Thursday the existence of a conspiracy towards Corchado. “It is a guerrilla war that exists in that area, it is not very clear who is behind all these issues. For his part, the rector of the University of Salamanca does what he has to do, which is to defend himself against certain issues that appear in some media,” said the mayor in an interview on Cadena SER.

A photograph of Corchado and García Carbayo appeared on page 3 of the Popular Party’s electoral program for the municipal elections of May 2023. The rector, with an annual budget of almost 290 million euros, wants to build a new campus on the old land of Mercasalamanca, with the support of the City Council and the Board. The council itself has transferred a 700,000 euro building to the AIR Institute, a private entity created by Corchado, to direct a 3.5 million euro project to promote the digitalization of companies in the region.

The rectors’ statement also recalls the scandal of the Saudi plot that paid 19 Spanish researchers, up to 70,000 euros a year, to falsely declare that they worked in Saudi Arabia, in order to artificially boost Saudi universities in the rankings international academics. The database of the London multinational Clarivate, in which scientists lied in exchange for money, has just opened an investigation into the specialized magazine Science of the Total Environment (Elsevier publishing house), after receiving complaints about the quality of its content. The director of the publication, the chemist Damià Barceló, declared between 2016 and 2022 that his main place of work was the King Saud University, in the Saudi city of Riyadh, despite the fact that he was actually the director of the Catalan Institute for Water Research , in Girona. Barceló has published 200 of his own studies in the magazine he directs.

The CRUE statement “reiterates, considering the track record of success and the impeccable work of thousands of professionals in the scientific and university field, that the Spanish University System knows perfectly well how to act ethically and opposes any conduct that is not protected by this fundamental principle.” The affiliation’s Governing Board contains the rectors of necessary Spanish universities, equivalent to Amaya Mendikoetxea, from the Autonomous University of Madrid, and Laia de Nadal, from Pompeu Fabra.

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