Unfairness by the FAIR Principles Promoters: A Case Study on Misconduct by Complaint Investigators Who Aid and Abet Plagiarists

Abstract

Accountability for integrity in research publishing has been abandoned at some journals and universities. Published reports have proven the plagiarism by Wilkinson et al of their FAIR Principles from the PORTAL-DOORS Principles previously published by Taswell almost a decade earlier. Despite the flagrant plagiarism in this Wilkinson case, it has not yet been retracted by the journals involved. Complaints submitted by Taswell to publishers and integrity offices were disregarded or denied, thereby enabling the plagiarists to spread their plagiarism with impunity. The case study reported here details an account of one of these sham investigations. Investigators aided and abetted the plagiarists by imposing a requirement of confidentiality on the complainant, excluding the documentary evidence submitted by the complainant, and engaging in protracted delays that failed to slow the propagating plagiarism. Investigations of plagiarism should be conducted openly with public debate as done for jury trials in courts of law.