Researchers from all areas of knowledge – 77 for greater precision – belonging to 35 different academic entities, most of them members of the National System of Researchers (SNI), asked the SNI Board of Honor to review a “lack of ethics” allegedly committed by Dr. Alejandro Gertz Manero, current attorney general of the Republic, admitted four months ago as a member of the SNI, directly to level III, after ten years of unsuccessful attempts during which he was rejected for “insufficient scientific production.”
As described in the guidelines for the operation of the SNI Board of Honor in its chapter 1, article 3, “it will be understood that an investigator commits lack of ethics when he violates the rules and guidelines of conduct accepted in the area of his professional field. , thereby affecting the prestige, credibility, professionalism and quality of the National System of Researchers or of the rules and procedures established for the appointment and permanence of its members, or when it ignores the fundamental values and principles generically recognized by Mexican society. , such as integrity, honesty and objectivity “.
Therefore, the 55 national level III researchers (seven of them emeritus), 17 level II and four level I, denounce through a letter sent electronically, which Gertz Manero showed as documents proving their academic work at least two books with “abundant” plagiarism, understood as the action of presenting someone else’s text as one’s own, without any type of sign or warning that refers to the original author’s work.
The same document presents links to the documents that support the accusation of plagiarism and invoke section VI of Article XVI of obligations and sanctions of the SNI Regulation, which establishes, among other things, that: “All the information that is presented must be truthful and verifiable. In the event of an alteration of official data or malicious lack of veracity in the information provided, the file will be forwarded to the Board of Honor to prove responsibility “.
The request for review was addressed to María Elena Álvarez-Buylla, director of the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt), to María José Rhi Sausi Garavito, director of the Deputy Directorate of Scientific Development; Liza Aceves, director of scientific vocations and the National System of Researchers; and to Elvia Arcelia Quintana Adriano, president of the SNI Board of Honor.
How do you proceed to a sanction within the SNI?
On other occasions, in the face of similar cases of academic plagiarism, the Conacyt has applied the regulation, stating that “it will not tolerate ethical misconduct that cast doubt on the integrity of the SNI”, and has also ensured that any reported case of this nature will follow a procedure rigorous, always respecting the rights of defense of the subjects involved.
In the past, for example, they proceeded to cancel the appointment of two people as national investigators and apply the maximum penalty for 20 years, ensuring that no criteria or evaluation procedure can be taken as an excuse to commit an ethical fault, this occurred to be known through communiqué 66/15 of the Conacyt.
The regulation contemplates how to deal with any case in which trust is abused and an irregularity is presented by a member of the system, related to their character as an investigator.
In this sense, the board of honor is made up of five distinguished members of the SNI, all level III, who meet when the director of the SNI summons them due to the presumption of an irregularity by a member of the system and that is the reason for a formal complaint and documented.
There are five sanctions contemplated in the regulation: Private or public warning; revocation of the position or commission conferred on him; Suspension of the rights conferred by the distinction as a member of the SNI for up to 20 years, loss of the distinction as a member of the SNI or the impossibility of returning to the SNI for up to 20 years.
The sanction imposed by the Board of Honor is presented to the approval Council for the last analysis, which is chaired by the director of Conacyt and where sector officials and academics participate.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx