Overview[]
- Problematic text parallels can be found in the following chapters (state of analysis: June 28, 2020):
- Part One [5]
- Part Two [66] 66
- 5.1. The IT Productivity Paradox
- 6.4. Putting it all together 106
- 6.5. Criticism [109]
- Appendix 1: XML Tutorial [112]
- Appendix 2: XML/EDI Working Groups [146]
- Appendix 3: XML Business Applications [149]
- Appendix 4: Black-Scholes Option Pricing Table [152]
- References [153]
Prominent findings[]
- There is text parallel that could be considered plagiarism on at least 100 out of 111 pages of this thesis. This extends from the introduction to the conclusion. In many fragments the text has been slightly re-written, but there is still high similarity to the sources found.
- Many pages consist of single sentences taken from sources and spliced together to create the appearance of own scholarship. For example, the pages
- Although sources are sometimes given, brazen word-for-word copies (such as in Fragment 057 01) are not rare.
- In Fragment 099 27 the author assigns to one author a quotation that is actually taken from another and there clearly marked as statements from two different authors.
- The rewriting of a source can lead to grammar errors, for example in Fragment 023 09.
Source issues[]
- The top source, which is not mentioned in the reference section, is Norman (1999). This is a master's thesis in Computer Science that was submitted to the Department of Teleinformatics, Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden.
- Out of 75 sources identified for documented text parallels, 29 of them are not mentioned in the thesis at all.
- Some sources are given, but the material referenced cannot be found there. For example, Fragment 002 11, Fragment 054 12, and Fragment 059 08.
- There are a few in-text references that are not explained in the reference section:
- "(Klein 1997)" on page 13
- "Benaroch and Kauffman (1999)" on page 89
- "Götz (1996)" on pages 104 and 105.
- A number of entries in the reference section are not in alphabetical order.
Other observations[]
- A few pages of the thesis (p. 10, 11, and 15) were published online by the author in 1999 as part of an XML tutorial: [1]. Although this does not preclude the acceptance of the entire text as a doctoral thesis, it would be usual to be clearly identified as such.
- The author demonstrates the ability to use correct citation, as there are numerous direct quotations in the thesis, such as the quotation of
- Dumbill (2001) on page 60
- Rogers (1983) on page 99 f.
- Mansfield (1961) on page 100, etc.
- Page 77 refers to a table that is to be in the appendix ("Appendix 4: Black-Scholes Option Pricing Table", S. 152). However, in the PDF version there is no table on that page, just the text stating that the table shows call option values as a percent of share price.
- In December 2002 the author published a conference paper (Assessing the Risk of IT Investment Projects with Network Externalities - PDF) that consists primarily of material from the dissertation. This is not mentioned in the paper. There are a number of passages in that paper that have been documented here as text parallels that could constitute plagiarism.
- On the third page (unnumbered) of the PDF there is a declaration containing the following assurance:
"Ich versichere:
1. dass ich die Dissertation selbständig verfasst, andere als die angegebenen Quellen und Hilfsmittel nicht benutzt und mich auch sonst keiner unerlaubten Hilfe bedient habe.
2. [...]
3. das [sic] dieses Exemplar mit der beurteilten Arbeit übereinstimmt."
- The "Studienplan Doktorat" which was valid at the time of submission specifies:
- Festlegung der Bildungsziele aus den Doktoratspflichtfächern gemäß § 17 Abs 2 lit c AHStG:
"Die Bildungsziele der Fächer der jeweiligen Studienrichtungen, welche in den Diplomstudienplänen festgelegt wurden, haben auch für das Doktoratsstudium ihre Gültigkeit. Im dritten Studienabschnitt haben die Studierenden darüber hinaus den Nachweis zu erbringen, daß sie in der Lage sind, durch eigenständige wissenschaftliche Arbeit einen Beitrag zur Forschung zu liefern, der bei Studienabschluß in Form einer Dissertation vorzulegen ist und dem im jeweiligen Fach international üblichen Standard für eine wissenschaftliche Publikation entsprechen soll." - [...]
- Dissertation
"§ 3 (1) Der Bewerber um das Doktorat hat durch die Dissertation über die an eine Diplomarbeit zu stellenden Anforderungen hinaus darzutun, daß er die Befähigung zur selbständigen Bewältigung wissenschaftlicher Probleme erworben hat."
- Festlegung der Bildungsziele aus den Doktoratspflichtfächern gemäß § 17 Abs 2 lit c AHStG:
- The Austrian "Universitäts-Studiengesetz" (PDF)) which was valid at the time of submission specifies:
- Dissertation (§ 62)
"(3) Bei der Bearbeitung des Themas und der Betreuung der Studierenden sind die Bestimmungen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes zu beachten." - Widerruf inländischer akademischer Grade (§ 68)
"Die Studiendekanin oder der Studiendekan hat die Verleihung des akademischen Grades zu widerrufen, wenn sich nachträglich ergibt, daß der akademische Grad insbesondere durch gefälschte Zeugnisse erschlichen worden ist."
- Dissertation (§ 62)
- In response to a media report of July 6, 2020 dealing with the case, the second examiner of the thesis, Prof. Dr. Alfred Taudes, published two statements on Twitter claiming:
- "Die Zitationsstandards vor 20 Jahren waren andere und die entscheidende Frage ist nicht wieviele Worte betroffen sind sondern ob die Arbeit den damaligen State of the Art erweitert hat. Die Anwendung der Realoptionspreistheorie war zum damaligen Zeitpunkt jedenfalls innovativ." (July 7, 2020, 3:50 AM)
- "Vor 20 Jahren war die elektronische Veröffentlichung der Dissertation nicht verpflichtend. Die freiwillige Veröffentlichung spricht gegen die Annahme eines vorsätzlichen Plagiats." (July 7, 2020, 3:53 AM)
Statistics[]
- Currently there are 203 reviewed fragments documented that are considered to be violations of citation rules. For 129 of them there is no reference given to the source used („Verschleierungen“ and „Komplettplagiate“). For 74 fragments the source is given, but the extent of the used text is not made clear („Bauernopfer“).
- The publication has 111 pages that have been analyzed. On a total of 100 of these pages violations of citation rules have been documented. This represents a percentage of 90.1%. The 111 analyzed pages break down with respect to the amount of text parallels encountered as follows:
- From these statistics an extrapolation of the amount of text of the publication under investigation that has been documented as problematic can be estimated (conservatively) as about 45% of the main part of the publication.
- In all, text was taken from 75 sources.
- Due to technical reasons, the following sources are counted in the total above, although only fragments in the category of "Keine Wertung" (not evaluated) are documented from these sources:
- Thus, there are only 71 instead of 75 actual sources documented in reviewed fragments.
- The 11 fragments documented from the source Walsh (1998) are part of the Appendix (p. 112-152). They are included in the total number of reviewed fragments, but are not included in the calculation of the total amount of documented plagiarism, as this is only expressed for the main text.
Illustration[]
The following chart illustrates the amount and the distribution of the text parallel findings. The colours show the type of plagiarism diagnosed:
- grau="Komplettplagiat" (copy & paste): the source of the text parallel is not given, the copy is verbatim.
- rot="Verschleierung" (disguised plagiarism): the source of the text parallel is not given, the copied text will be somewhat modified.
- gelb="Bauernopfer" (pawn sacrifice): the source of the text parallel is mentioned, but the extent and/or the closeness of the copy to the source is not made clear by the reference.
(state of analysis: June 28, 2020)