Theft is of the highest degree

I am Andrei Rostovtsev, one of the founders of the free network community "Dissernet". I will try to explain here what kind of society is this. So, free - because no one and nothing (except for their own internal motivation) forces to participate in the work of the community. Network - because this community of like -minded people is arranged horizontal, as opposed to the power vertical, when none of the network nodes are its center. Our universe is about the same: at any point in its point, we will see the stars, galaxies, accumulations of galaxies equally scattered from us in all directions. Although none of these points is the center of the universe. And finally, the name itself, “Dissernet”, suggests that the activists of our community are dealing with dissertations. But unlike many firms offering their services to write and protect linden works, Dissernet is a test for their lipility.

Why do you need all this? It would be a mistake to believe that the Dissernet community is engaged in the clarification of scientific truth or the restoration of the reputation of real scientists. The expert scientific community should once do this. Dissertinet is more like an X -ray apparatus, which allows you to discern a crook under a decent mask of various fashion accessories: expensive watches and a car, secretary blonde and bread service, rest in the cat d'Azur and moralizing speeches facing the people. Over the past ten years, it has become customary to add a degree of candidate or even a doctor of some sciences to these accessories. What are not so important. But it does not matter what is written in this dissertation. Apparently, the stereotype "Anyway, no one reads them." As one of my colleagues put it, “today, as before, they trade under the counter. Only no one noticed that the counter became transparent. ” So, as soon as an opaque tinting scraped off the counter, it immediately became clear that the crook gives out the volume of incorrect borrowing, which his dissertation labor was filled like sausage. It may seem surprising to many, but it really is. There is a strict correlation between the incompetence of the official and the volume of the camp that the craftsmen were able to get in under the guise of independent scientific work.

Someone will ask: well, what does it matter to you that some kind of official bought a poor-quality product there? The fact is that if his competencies (or the competencies of his assistants) were not enough to check this product for quality, then it is clear what decisions he would make in the civil service, how he will motivate his decisions. Moreover, once consciously violating academic ethics, such an official over time unconsciously begins to hate everything related to common sense. This is some kind of immutable paradox of nature. Whether it is the "anti -Sirot law" or the liquidation of the Academy of Sciences. If you look into the root of the problem, then always at the beginning of each such wild, by civilized standards, history will find its own linden dissertation. So in a sense, the Dissertern project is also an opportunity to prevent the development of events that are undesirable from the point of view of common sense.

So we are looking for plagiarism in the "dissertation"? Here we must clarify that we carefully avoid the term "plagiarism". The fact is that the only definition of “plagiarism” available in legal practice is markedly different from its consumption by philistine understanding. Art. 146 of the Criminal Code connects the concept of “plagiarism” with the infliction of major damage to the author or other copyright holder. And since it is practically not possible to prove large damage in our case, the “plagiator” itself goes on the offensive, accusing you of slander, and from the point of view of the Criminal Code in which this legal trap is sewn, it is absolutely right. Meanwhile, the concept of “incorrect borrowing” is not legally defined, and we have the right to use it, as we are prompted by life experience and common sense.

Do not think that the volunteers of the Dissernet community day and night are counted in the murdration of someone's scientific works. Not at all. They prepare these works with the help of computer programs specially designed for this need. You ask: why right now? After all, we know that fake dissertations have been made since time immemorial. In response to this question, I always tell a story about how in the second half of the 19th century the epidemic Fillloxers destroyed almost all vineyards in Europe. The invention of the steam engine and the replacement of the sailing fleet with steamboats were the fault of this. The life of this infection was longer than the time that was required to make the path from America to Europe on the steamer. Exactly with the development of computer technology to the level when you can compare any text with a billion of others in a few minutes by clicking, there was a real opportunity to check the dissertation for borrowing in a reasonable time. True, as far as these borrowings are incorrect, in the end, a person decides. The car only tells him what sources these borrowings could be made.

Now the most important question. Why do officials need these scientists at all?

There is an ostrich farm in the suburbs. Bred there ostriches for sale. When I asked the owners of the farm who buys small ostrifies and quite adult individuals, then the answer was first shocked: they buy mainly for gifts. And only then it dawned on me that, when, as they say, a person already has everything, then there was nothing left, how to give him, for example, an ostrich. “Well, Semenych, congratulations! Guess what are we giving you? " It’s very cool to watch “Semenych” squints, strains the gyrus ... “And here I have not guessed! We, Semenych, gave you ostrich last year. In this you will be a doctor of sciences. And then a mess, which has been going to the candidates for a year now. ” The picture is quite close to reality, given that other characters in the restaurant can ten times higher than the cost of turnkey dissertation.

There is just a desire to add a scientist to their regalia on a business card. But we will not now dwell on any exotic examples of the acquisition of academic degrees, but pay attention to a very specific and understandable argument. The fact is that the career of the state building is not endless. But in the field of science and education, age -related restrictions are not so strict, but there are much more opportunities. Getting a rector at some university is a hidden dream of many officials. Well, if not the rector, then the vice-rector or, at worst, the dean of some faculty. The place is bread, and there is almost no responsibility with the current system of higher education. Life makes youth pay their education. And to be honest, most students are not so important the quality of this education as the very fact of its presence. Exactly just as an official who has become the rector, the content of his dissertation as the presence of a scientific degree is not so important. In this sense, the university leadership and students quickly find each other. The system comes into equilibrium. As this happens, we will analyze the next time on specific examples, but for now we will note that with this practice, no reform of education in the country will lead to anything.

What do we hope for? Today there is a limitation period for dissertation matters equal to three years. Three years have passed since your defense, and no one can prove that you are a crook, even if the dissertation is written off to the last -apered. This was recently stated by Dmitry Medvedev, saying that there is no need to "blow up the landscape." But nothing prevents the Dissernet community from constantly replenishing its collection in the hope that the landscape will inevitably change and all linden candidates, doctors and entire factories for their production themselves will scatter from shame. And public pressure. In this section, we will carefully monitor the replenishment in our collection and, if possible, draw conclusions that we saw through a transparent counter.