Plagiate in der Wissenschaft

Every year, 30,000 individuals earn their doctorate in Germany. Around 3,000 of them may have committed plagiarism. These offenses are uncovered and documented by the academic platform VroniPlag Wiki. The consequences: one revocation procedure follows another at universities, doctoral degrees are revoked, politicians are forced to resign, and scientists must rethink their careers. What else has VroniPlag Wiki achieved? How does the platform operate? And what do its critics say? Jochen Zenthöfer explores these questions and describes in his journalistic report the methods, excuses, and outbursts of the accused — and why one should not place too much hope in plagiarism detection software.