The acting chief of the Moscow State Linguistic University, who recently called for the restoration of the school's standing as a competitive intellectual center, has allegedly lifted his own doctoral thesis in full from another source, according to a report by the Dissernet online group devoted to exposing intellectual fraud by public figures
The thesis by acting rector Igor Manokhin of the linguistic university — also known in Russia by its Soviet-era acronym “In-Yaz” — presents a “rather rare case,” Dissernet's co-founder Sergei Parkhomenko said on his Facebook page Monday.
“The dissertation has been lifted in full, from the first letter to the last, from a single source,” Parkhomenko said. “In essence, this means that the man has simply taken another person's work, attached a title page with his own name to it, and presented the work as his own.”
A report published on the Dissernet website said that Manokhin's thesis, titled “Armed formations on the territory of Siberia during the civil war and military intervention,” was a near-identical copy of a doctoral thesis by the same name defended in 1999 by military historian Vitaly Voronov.
The Dissernet report comes in the wake of comments made earlier this month by the linguistic university's acting chief, saying he would restore the school as one of the most competitive in the country, with scores of college applicants vying for admission.
The Education and Science Ministry has “entrusted me with the task of restoring the university to the position it had occupied in the past,” Manokhin was quoted by the state-run TASS news agency as saying. “The name of 'In-Yaz' should resound once again.”
Dissernet's Parkhomenko scoffed at the claim.
“Now 'In-Yaz' will be headed by this [person],” Parkhomenko said. “I want to congratulate the 'In-Yaz' faculty on acquiring their new boss.”
