Outrageous: Professor Finds Her Name On Plagiarized Article she Didn’t Write

Cursory: A university professor has recently discovered something that could have ruined not just her hard-earned reputation but her entire career. The University of Central Florida lecturer revealed that she had accidentally but luckily found out that her name had been used to publish plagiarized work.

Anca Turcu, a senior lecturer in the University of Central Florida’s School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs, was in for a rude awakening when she went over her publication stats a few weeks ago.

Like every year, she was preparing to apply for research awards and update her CV, when she stumbled upon an “unpleasant surprise.” Turcu found herself listed as the sole author of an article entitled “Impact of government intervention measures on recycling of waste equipment in China,” which had been published in the African Journal of Political Science in February 2022. The paper, which had nothing to do with her studies on diasporas and voting, was not something she had authored.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, things got even worse as Retraction Watch looked into the case. In Turcu’s words, they found something “very upsetting.”

The article with her name on it appeared to paraphrase, sentence by sentence, a paper that had been published in another journal a few months prior.

“Not only are they faking a publication in my name, but they are adding my name to something they have plagiarized?” Turcu asked. “This is absolutely terrible! What is it with these people?”

The title of the older study was almost same, and it had been published online in Elsevier’s journal Energy Policy in November 2021. Clarivate’s Web of Science indicates that it has received ten citations since then. The document bearing Turcu’s name was submitted to the journal in January 2022.

The authors of the Energy Policy report, who are associated with Shanghai’s Tongji University, did not respond when we emailed them to inquire about their knowledge of the plagiarism. Additionally, we sent an email to the journal’s senior and coordinating editor Stephen D. Thomas, a professor at the University of Greenwich in London, but received an out of office reply. International Scholars Journals (ISJ) is the publisher of the African Journal of Political Science.This journal’s plagiarism policy is stated on its website:

“The editors of ISJ take a very serious stance against any evidence of plagiarism including self-plagiarism in manuscripts submitted to them. Every reasonable effort will be made to investigate any allegations of plagiarism brought to their attention, as well as instances that come up during the peer review process.”

The ISJ editors treat any instances of plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, in articles that are submitted to them very seriously. Any claims of plagiarism brought to their attention as well as incidents that surface throughout the peer review process will be looked into with as much diligence as is reasonably possible.

We informed Jephias Mapuva, the journal’s editor-in-chief and a professor at Zimbabwe’s Bindura University of Science Education, of the plagiarism and the fact that Turcu was not associated with the publication bearing her name. Our email to him has gone unanswered. Our email to the address mentioned on the publication as belonging to Turcu bounced back because it is not hers.

ISJ states on its website that it “is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and abides by its Code of Conduct and aims to adhere to its Best Practice Guidelines.” We could not find the publisher in COPE’s member directory.

The experience has prompted Turcu to wonder: “Why the heck me??? I have nothing to do with that subject matter, never saw that article before, what on earth made them do this? I do not think I’ve ever interacted with anyone from this fake journal, or anyone who wrote the legitimate article, so… I am really at a loss.”

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