Polish professor could face three-year sentence for plagiarism

The Catholic University of Lublin (KUL): photo - wikipedia

Professor Stanislaw T. (full name withheld under Polish privacy laws), who is also ordained as a priest, has consistently denied that he knowingly plagiarised other authors' works.

According to the district prosecutor's office in Lublin, the professor submitted a book for publication in 2008, declaring himself to be the sole author of the work.

However, following the publication of the volume, which is entitled “The evolution of Polish Church law until the 19th century in the light of codification”, other academics cried foul.

A professor of law at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow presented numerous examples where Stanislaw T. had apparently transcribed other authors' works, without acknowledging the sources.

“It concerns excerpts from publications of five other people,” revealed Beata Syk-Jankowska, spokesperson for the Lublin prosecutor's office, in an interview with the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

At a disciplinary hearing at the university this March, the accused acknowledged that some parts of his work were similar to those of other authors, but that this was an unintentional coincidence.

Professor Stanislaw T. is currently on unpaid leave from the university. (nh)