Statement of the Rectorʼs Office of the University of Barcelona on the alleged plagiarism of a work by Editions and Publications of the UB

Logo of the University of Barcelona.
Logo of the University of Barcelona.
Institutional
(21/12/2016)

The media has recently informed about the alleged case of plagiarism made by the rector of a Spanish university. Among the alleged plagiarized works, there is the work El status del Poder judicial en el constitucionalismo español (1808-1936) by Miguel Ángel Aparicio, co-edited by Editions and Publications of the UB and the Ministry of the Interior in 1995. To defend the prejudices our publishing house might have suffered from, I want to state the following:

Logo of the University of Barcelona.
Logo of the University of Barcelona.
Institutional
21/12/2016

The media has recently informed about the alleged case of plagiarism made by the rector of a Spanish university. Among the alleged plagiarized works, there is the work El status del Poder judicial en el constitucionalismo español (1808-1936) by Miguel Ángel Aparicio, co-edited by Editions and Publications of the UB and the Ministry of the Interior in 1995. To defend the prejudices our publishing house might have suffered from, I want to state the following:

  • One of the first lessons our students receive at the University of Barcelona is that, apart from the civil and penal responsibilities plagiarism involves, the university considers it as one of the most deplorable behaviors, a total shame.
  • Plagiarism, in the academic field, is not only copying or transferring someoneʼs text to ours. It is something more than “copy” and “paste”. It means taking the ideas, intellectual effort, and creative freedom of another scholar. Not to forget that the ability to do science and advancing knowledge are the raisons dʼêtre of the University. Without the intellectual procedure that leads to new explanations, analyses, perspectives, the University does not make sense and loses the freedom of the researcher. Plagiarism is not banal but it is destructive for the university, it perverts it.
  • One of the first verifications of the alleged case of plagiarism of the work El status del Poder judicial en el constitucionalismo español (1808-1936) shows the seriousness of this case, for we are talking about tens and tens of copied pages. To deeply analyze the case, I asked Editions and Publications of the Ub for a detailed report of the magnitude and specific details of the alleged plagiarism.  
  • I asked Dr. Jaume Alonso Cuevillas -professor of Procedural Law and former dean of the Barcelona Bar Association- for a report on the legal viability about going to court to defend the editorial rights of the University of Barcelona. If this is viable, we will do so.
  • Since the alleged plagiarized book is, moreover, work by a professor and former dean of the Faculty of Law, Miguel Ángel Aparicio, I want to declare my total solidarity with him. The University of Barcelona will provide him with the different reports we asked for in case he is interested in having them for the defense of his individual rights.

     

Joan Elias
Rector of the University of Barcelona