Online trading of theses and scientific papers uncovered

The Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad revealed a lively trade in theses, articles and student reports online. Experienced writers offer students a full paper that meets the requirement for a Master’s degree for about 650 euros.
 
The Association of Universities hits the alarm about the trade in student papers. The Association of Universities says they are shocked and appalled by this practice. "We know that some fraud is committed, such as plagiarism. But we did not think there is an online community that is buying and selling theses," said a spokesman.

On various (Dutch) websites you can find advertisements from people who "help" or offer “coaching” in writing a thesis. Some companies are even completely specialised in this business. For example, the website Scriptielatenschrijven.nl contains a catalogue of ghostwriters that provides any a student with a good thesis in no time.

The work of the professional authors is not automatically illegal, they are writing a scientific article or report on behalf of their client –that happens to be a student-. The student pays for it, so there is not necessarily a question of copyright infringement by the author. Although the author can in theory complain if the student publishes the work without mentioning his name, as this infringes moral rights of the author, this is not the most shocking bit of the story: The student is of course completely dishonest towards the school or university.

Submitting a thesis that is not written by the student itself and without disclosing the sources of the work is plagiarism. Student can be expelled from their school and scientists stripped from their academic title if plagiarism has been established. Although plagiarism is not defined by Dutch law, it is the greatest sin in science. There is some debate about what the exact legal meaning of this term is. Many different forms of plagiarism have occurred and, bearing in mind the consequences, many different definitions have been used. But, the three basic ingredients of the plagiarism are that a person takes over -or copies- texts and presents them as if they were their own. Subsequently, the imposter capitalises on that. This is an unlawful act in The Netherlands.

Yet, it is quite dissatisfying that online ghostwriters would get away with this. Surely they should know that they may be facilitating fraud and plagiarism through their services. The educational institutions will undoubtedly consider this question. Providing writing assistance is not a crime, of course. So it will be very difficult to prove that the student did not do any of the academic work he presented.

Source: Algemeen Dagblad (Dutch)