Guttenberg plagiarism scandal

's dissertation that led to his resignation Guttenberg studied law at the University of Bayreuth, where he passed the first legal state examination in 1999. In 2007, he was awarded a doctoral degree in law, under the supervision of Peter Häberle, with a dissertation on the development of constitutional law in the United States and the European Union. The doctoral dissertation was titled (), and was graded by the university with summa cum laude. ==Loss of doctorate and resignation==

Fischer-Lescano plagiarism review On 12 February 2011 Andreas Fischer-Lescano, professor of law at the University of Bremen, prepared a review of Guttenberg's dissertation for the left-leaning German legal quarterly . Fischer-Lescano was co-editor of this publication. During a reference check he discovered an article of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), published in 2003, of which passages had been included in Guttenberg's dissertation without citation. After this discovery Fischer-Lescano performed further searches and discovered seven more passages lacking proper citation. He discussed the findings with the other editors of and they decided that their publication, with only 1,800 subscribers, was not the appropriate forum to make the findings public. On 15 February 2011, the newspaper contacted law professor Diethelm Klippel, the Bayreuth University ombudsman, and informed him of the plagiarism charges. Klippel had also been on the review committee for Guttenberg's doctoral dissertation. On the same day the newspaper informed Guttenberg and gave him a few hours to respond to the allegations. Guttenberg was on an official visit in Poland that day. Fischer-Lescano informed Guttenberg's research supervisors Peter Häberle and Rudolf Streinz about the charges. On the same day the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported that the introduction of his dissertation was plagiarised from an FAZ-article from 1997, written by the political scientist Barbara Zehnpfennig. In a first statement Guttenberg, who was still in Poland, called the charge of his dissertation being plagiarised "abstruse". He insisted that the dissertation was his own achievement and that none of his employees helped him to draft it. The University of Bayreuth delegated the allegations against Guttenberg to its Commission on Professional Self Regulation in Science. On 16 February 2011, after his return from Poland, Guttenberg left for a surprise visit to German soldiers in Afghanistan. He spent the night in the military camp OP North in the war zone Baghlan province. Although the visit had been planned weeks in advance, allegations were raised that this trip was some kind of "getaway" for Guttenberg. and launched as a crowdsourced platform for internet users to submit claims of unattributed work in Guttenberg's dissertation, with GuttenPlag giving rise to VroniPlag the following month. A scheduled speech at an election campaign in Saxony-Anhalt was cancelled by Guttenberg because of his meeting with Angela Merkel. and confirmed that two criminal complaints had been filed against Guttenberg, one regarding possible copyright violations and another on a possible false statutory declaration. The second was immediately declined by the attorney due to apparent insubstantiality. The same day the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported its findings that Guttenberg had used texts of 19 authors without correct attribution. Chancellor Angela Merkel declared: "He has my full confidence for his work, and this work is important. He has my support […] and we must wait until the university has completed its examination of the allegations". In an interview, the chancellor attested Guttenberg had a "head-on approach" on the allegations. Use of Parliamentary Research Service On 19 February 2011, the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported that Guttenberg had used works of the German Parliamentary Research Service (PRS) without proper attribution. Any publication of PRS papers requires prior approval by the German Bundestag's departmental management. During the weekend of 20 February 2011, Guttenberg re-read his dissertation to examine Guttenplag's findings as well as other findings. and declared that he had "lost track of the use of sources over the course of the seven years in which [he] worked on the thesis", but "at no point made mistakes by intention". Also on 21 February 2011, chancellor Merkel reiterated her support for Guttenberg and told journalists, This statement caused wide-spread anger and condemnation in the German academic community. Annette Schavan, German minister of Education and Research, who two years later had to resign herself because of plagiarism related to her own dissertation, declared that she didn't "consider the incident to be a trifle", because "intellectual theft is not a small thing. The protection of intellectual property is a higher good." The same day it became known that Guttenberg had used another PRS paper without proper citation. That evening Guttenberg attended a campaign event in Kelkheim "Over the weekend I had another look at my doctorate thesis", Guttenberg declared and continued "I lost sight of the sources in one or two places. I wrote this piece of work myself and I stand by it, but I also stand by the rubbish I wrote." Guttenberg admitted "serious mistakes", which had not been made intentionally but "do not meet the ethical code of science", and apologized to people who had been hurt by his work. Distinct criticism on Guttenberg's crisis management was passed by Norbert Lammert, President of the German Bundestag. In an interview on 22 February 2013, Lammert also expressed his doubts about the reliability of the university's awarding process. Loss of doctorate Parliamentary questioning On 23 February 2011, Lammert presided over a parliamentary questioning in the Bundestag on Guttenberg's use of PRS papers in his dissertation. During the questioning, politicians from the opposition called for Guttenberg's resignation and stated "I did not deliberately cheat, but made serious errors". Guttenberg declared: "I was certainly so arrogant as to believe that I could square the circle by trying to coordinate political passion and work, as well as academic and intellectual challenges, with being a young father" and apologized "for me this was overload, and today I regret to say that I couldn't manage it." According to accusations of misusing the German Parliamentary Research Service (PRS), Guttenberg pointed out that all studies had been related to his political work. He noted that all papers had been cited, but without the authors' names, as they had been employees of the PRS. Guttenberg stated that he couldn't answer whether he had sought prior approval to use these reports for his thesis, but that he had already apologized to Bundestag President Lammert in case of a potential oversight. The University's president Rüdiger Bormann declared that Guttenberg had "objectively not conformed" to academic standards. According to Bormann, this fast revocation was possible because of Guttenberg's statement. The doctoral commission made no judgment as to whether Guttenberg had acted intentionally, Such an investigation would "surely have been an extended process", Bormann declared, which was unnecessary after Guttenberg's request for a withdrawal of his title. Chancellor Merkel commented on the revocation of Guttenberg's title as being "in line of what he had requested". However, Lammert acknowledged the fact that it was widespread practice among Bundestag members to use documents prepared by the parliamentary research service without first obtaining the necessary approval. The successor of Guttenberg's research supervisor Peter Häberle at the University of Bayreuth, Oliver Lepsius, alleged that the minister made the mistakes deliberately, and accused him of fraud. Media reported that between 1999 and 2006, a new chair of the University of Bayreuth had been sponsored with by Rhön-Klinikum. Until 2002, Guttenberg's family held a major stake in the hospital, and he had been a member of its supervisory board. In a statement, the university denied any sponsoring by Guttenberg, as the funding had been part of a cooperation between the university, a health insurance, the state of Bavaria, and Rhön-Klinikum. Two days later, minister Schavan in an interview criticized Guttenberg for his thesis: Bundestag's president Lammert called the affair a "nail in the coffin for trust in our democracy". Asked for Merkel's opinion on the fraud accusation by Oliver Lepsius, Seibert declared that "fraud requires intention. Any intention was denied by Guttenberg. The Chancellor believes him." Guttenberg himself gained strong support at a CSU meeting in Munich, while several CSU politicians sharply criticized Lammert and Schavan for their comments. Resignation as Defense Minister On 1 March 2011, Guttenberg declared his resignation from all political offices at national level. He called this decision the "most painful step of my life" and declared "I was always ready to fight, but I have reached the limits of my strength". "I must agree with my enemies who say that I was not appointed minister for self-defence, but defence minister" Guttenberg said in view of his ministerial office. As for the inquiry regarding his dissertation, he announced his full cooperation with the district attorney's investigations. Guttenberg thanked Angela Merkel for her support, trust, and understanding. Apology On 2 March 2011 the district attorney's office in Hof announced the launch of an investigation into potential copyright violations contained in Guttenberg's dissertation as soon as his immunity would be withdrawn. With his official resignation as Member of Parliament the following day, Guttenberg no longer had parliamentary immunity, thus allowing the district attorney's investigations to proceed. Media reported on more than 80 charges, which had been filed. On 3 March 2011 Guttenberg received his dismissal certificate in a ceremony hosted by German President Christian Wulff. The same day, media reported about an anonymous member of the Commission of Professional Self Regulation in Science allegedly accusing Guttenberg of deception. In contrast, Volker Rieble, law professor at LMU Munich, himself a strong critic of Guttenberg's dissertation, published an op-ed disputing the legal basis for further investigations as the university had already revoked Guttenberg's doctorate and that he was no longer affiliated with the university. On March 5, 2011, the research supervisors Peter Häberle and Rudolf Streinz issued a statement claiming that in 2006, when the dissertation was completed, the plagiarism wasn't detectable due to a lack of technical opportunities. Without knowledge of the copied passages, Guttenberg's dissertation demonstrated "a high degree of analytical depths and penetrated the dissertation topic in all its facets", Häberle emphasized. The supervisors commented on Guttenberg's doctoral examination procedure and its grading (summa cum laude): On 7 March 2011 the district attorney's office in Hof announced the launch of a preliminary investigation into potential copyright violations by Guttenberg. The University of Bayreuth, on 8 March 2011, announced the expansion of the commission investigating Guttenberg's dissertation to also include Wolfgang Löwer, professor of law at University of Bonn, and Jürgen Mittelstraß, professor of philosophy at University of Konstanz. A few days later, as a means of taking responsibility for his misconduct, Guttenberg sent personal apology letters to all those authors who were not properly acknowledged in his dissertation. Guttenberg resigned from his last political office, the Kulmbach county council, on 15 March 2011. At the same day the open letter, signed by 63,713 people, was delivered to the Chancellery in Berlin. On 20 March 2011 the Zurich weekly Neue Zürcher Zeitung published extracts of an apology Guttenberg had sent to Klara Obermüller for not quoting her in his dissertation. Commission report and response On 7 April 2011, the Commission of Professional Self Regulation in Science sent its report of preliminary findings to Guttenberg asking for his response by 26 April 2011. On 9 April 2011, there was a first leak of the commission's initial findings to the press, in which Guttenberg was accused of deliberate deception. Guttenberg's lawyer sharply criticized the commission's leaks as an unfair "prejudgment" of his client given that the press reports were published both before the end of the investigation and before the 26 April deadline Guttenberg had been given by the university to respond to the commission's report before its public release. His lawyer also pointed out that the leaks were a violation of Guttenberg's personal rights. an allegation that he rejected. Several representatives from universities and science demanded the release of the commission's report due to public interest. A spokesman of the university rejected the lawyer's charges and stated that there had been no official report accusing Guttenberg of deliberate deception. Guttenberg's lawyers declared on 13 April 2011 that he was still standing by his commitment of full cooperation but that he was opposed to leaks to the press, which violated proper proceedings and caused prejudgment. Guttenberg had no objection against publishing the commission's report after end of proceedings, the lawyers said. A few days later media published extracts from Guttenberg's initial response to the commission. Guttenberg denied any deliberate plagiarism. He described the working-method during the several years of his dissertation as often working in short periods and using various different data carriers. This led to his losing oversight of the dissertation, Guttenberg stated. Guttenberg sent his response to the commission's draft report on 26 April 2011. In the following days media again published extracts of his response. On 10 May 2011 media reported that one author, whose work was copied, filed a complaint against Guttenberg with the district attorney's office in Hof. ==Report of Commission of Professional Self Regulation in Science==

After an announcement on 6 May 2011, already citing the conclusions, the university released the report to the public on 11 May 2011. According to that document, he had "grossly violated standard research practices and in so doing deliberately deceived" and it further stated that it was "obvious that plagiarism was involved". Preliminaries The report started with the elaboration of the commission's historical background, its internal duties within the Bayreuth University, also in relation to other committees like the university's promotion commission. These included institutional enhancements, the evaluation of academic misconduct corresponding to standards of scientific community. The report then defined the criteria of academic misconduct: deliberately or grossly negligent use of misrepresentations (), the violation of intellectual property of others, and the obstruction of research. The term was defined as the fabrication or distortion of data and the "obstruction of research" was defined as unauthorized use of material with arrogation of its authorship. The commission comprised as regular members Wiebke Putz-Osterloh, Nuri Aksel, Paul Rösch, Stephan Rixen as chairman, and Diethelm Klippel as a consulting memberall from the University of Bayreuth. On 8 March 2011 Wolfgang Löwer, professor of law at University of Bonn, and Jürgen Mittelstraß, professor of philosophy at University of Konstanz joined the commission as consulting members. The report listed four commission's meeting on Guttenberg's thesis: 16 February 2011, 8 and 23 March 2011, and the final meeting on 7 April 2011. The hearings of the research supervisors were on 23 March 2011. It reported numerous verbatim forms of plagiarism and plagiarism with regard to content where the use of other authors' material was not clearly expressed. The commission exemplified this in detail on the basis of six Parliamentary Research Service (PRS) papers and listed the passages Guttenberg had used in his dissertation, including all text modifications and extensions. Two of the PRS papers lacked any citation and four PRS papers were cited insufficiently, leading to misconceptions about the initial authorship of the passages. The commission judged this as deception and described a pattern of creation (). As for Guttenberg, the commission concluded on intentional actions and deliberate deception due to the number of violations of academic rules of citations. The commission saw no indications that the dissertation had been written by a ghostwriter. Contrary to previous expectations, and Guttenberg's "exceedingly convincing" oral examination (). Only the supervisors' omission to ask for the PRS papers cited in the bibliography and the grading with was criticized by the commission. Guttenberg's statement In his final response, Guttenberg once again denied that he had deliberately deceived the university and instead blamed severe "errors in workmanship" for the grave deficiencies in his doctoral dissertation. He described a high burden of professional commitments as a result of new political responsibilities with long intervals between working periods. Guttenberg reported on diverse collections of material such as books, loose sheets of papers, more than 80 data carriers, and several laptops spread across several domiciles, used for his dissertation. This led to an overburdening by the dissertation, which further increased during the years, Guttenberg claimed. and his unwillingness to admit weakness, ==Reactions==

Criticism by Walter Schmitt Glaeser The University of Bayreuth's handling of the matter was sharply criticized by its former vice-president and law professor Walter Schmitt Glaeser, who, while agreeing that rescinding the doctoral degree was justified, described the additional measures taken by the institution as a battue (). As any affiliation of Guttenberg to the university was severed by the rescinding of his degree, the university therefore lacked legal standing for any further investigation, Glaeser argued. The leaking of information from the commission's confidential meetings to the pressaccording to Glaeser most-likely done by its membershe called "outrageous" and "more than embarrassing". For Glaeser especially the part of the report looking into a possible deception by Guttenberg should not have been published. Also, according to Glaeser, the fact that Guttenberg had to agree to the report's publication due to massive public pressure, including from University of Bayreuth, cast a shadow of suspicion on the entire proceedings. Glaeser referred to the multiple instances of minor text changeswhich the commission viewed as indicators of cheatingas a typical procedure with a text considered by an author as his own work. and damaged his social existence, Furthermore, the commission's neutrality was disputed as the University of Bayreuth was party to the proceedings. Among these critics was Thomas Goppel, also member of the CSU and former Bavarian Minister of Education, who viewed the report as an attempt by the university to downplay its own responsibility and acquit itself. Others complained about the university's lack of control provisions. Volker Rieble Professor Volker Rieble approved the report of the university but saw the case as an expression of the public desire for "ritual punishment". Rieble decried the widespread practice of academic publications being written by assistants but published by professors as much worse for academia than any plagiarism. Günther Beckstein Günther Beckstein, former Minister-President of Bavaria, referred to Guttenberg by saying that everyone deserves a second chance, after some period of time. ==Criticisms of GuttenPlag Wiki==

In August 2011, the authors of Guttenplag Wiki, which triggered similar initiatives on VroniPlag Wiki, were accused of running a partisan campaign after it emerged that the founder of VroniPlag was a member of the opposition Social Democratic Party of Germany. ==Cessation of proceedings==

In November 2011 the attorney's office in Hof dropped the charges against Guttenberg after having found 23 relevant copyright violations with only minor economic damage. This decision was criticized for being biased toward economic criteria. The court approved this arrangement after Guttenberg had agreed to make a donation of to a German charitable foundation. The attorney's office saw no indications that Guttenberg had intentionally used other authors' texts within his dissertation without proper attribution and judged his explanation of losing track of sources as "comprehensible and irrefutable". Contrary to University of Bayreuth, which had accused Guttenberg of deliberate deception, the prosecution concluded that Guttenberg had made the errors only with contingent intent (). The attorney's office also stated that there was no criminal abuse of his doctoral title nor fraud or breach of trust related to PRS papers either. ==German word of the year 2011 ==

In 2011, the verb was voted to seventh place as the German word of the year by the Society for German Language (). It is a synonym for plagiarise, clone, and comprehensively copy. ==Second doctorate==

Guttenberg was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree by the University of Southampton for a dissertation submitted in November 2018, with the final version submitted in July 2019. Besides changing to a higher-ranked and British university, the research topic of this dissertation is different to that of his first doctoral dissertation. , Guttenberg is the only in the recent series of German politicians to have their doctorate rescinded due to plagiarism who has regained a doctorate. ==See also==