Dissernet co-founder Andrei Zayakin and Novaya Gazeta published the results of an investigation into nearly all the dissertations of our “public servants” sitting in the State Duma (the lower house of Russia’s parliament).
The result: out of 133 parliamentary dissertations examined, 24 were hidden in such a way that Dissernet could not review them; 3 were basically worthless certificates obtained from shady diploma mills with names like the “New Vasyuki Intergalactic Attestation Commission.”
That leaves 106 dissertations, 51 of which were substantially plagiarized. And only 42 turned out to be completely clean. See the infographic.
Half of the “Candidates and Doctors of Science” sitting in the State Duma are frauds—people with stolen academic work.
By the way, I still don’t understand: why do they even need these dissertations? Just so they can put “Candidate of Economic Sciences” or “Candidate of Legal Sciences” on a business card? Who is that supposed to impress?
Dissernet is doing great work. In the beautiful Russia of the future, this kind of thing will be stamped out completely, and dissertations will be defended only by people who are genuinely engaged in science, not by just anyone chasing prestige.