Doctoral thesis - University of Bayreuth investigates suspected plagiarism against AfD leader Alice Weidel
According to a media report, the University of Bayreuth is investigating whether parts of AfD leader Alice Weidel 's doctoral thesis could be plagiarized. As reported by the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" (SZ), a preliminary examination by the university has revealed that the doctoral thesis should be examined more closely. The work will be dealt with by the university's "Commission for Academic Integrity". Weidel spoke of a "campaign" that had been "unleashed" against her and focused on her dissertation.
"No large-scale plagiarism, but plagiarized fragments"
According to the report, two plagiarism investigators had previously contacted the university. They accuse Weidel of having used external sources in her doctoral thesis from 2011 and of not having labeled this sufficiently or at all. According to the newspaper, both have drawn up an expert opinion on Weidel's work and submitted it to the University of Bayreuth.
"We do not see any large-scale plagiarism in Ms. Weidel's dissertation, but many small fragments of plagiarism," the lead author of the report told the SZ. "There is a suspicion of plagiarism here." According to the report, both authors wanted to remain anonymous for fear of possible danger. According to the newspaper, the University of Bayreuth did not comment on the case "for personal and data protection reasons".
According to the SZ, which has access to the report by the two plagiarism experts, the accusations are presented on 36 pages. According to the report, 32 plagiarized fragments and 18 incorrectly marked quotations are listed. These are all individual text passages, a few coherent sentences or sentence fragments that Weidel is said to have copied verbatim or in spirit without making this sufficiently clear.
Weidel wrote in the online service X (formerly Twitter) of "absurd accusations". "My doctoral thesis has probably already been scrutinized by dozens of plagiarism examiners with as much detail and attention as without results," she said in a video published at the same time.
Alice Weidel: "Political motivation is obvious"
Unknown persons had sent the"SZ" an anonymous report, "in which no classic plagiarism was discovered, but citation errors that were blown up into plagiarism", Weidel continued. "The political motivation is obvious."
She has since "asked for an independent opinion from a scientist", Weidel continued, without giving further details about the scientist. He had come to the conclusion "that the accusations are rejected as unfounded and the allegations of plagiarism are considered unfounded".
Weidel's doctoral thesis deals with the pension system in China. She received the top grade summa cum laude for her work.
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Source: www.stern.de
