The Colombian Academy of Sciences rejects the appointment of a new science minister

The Colombian Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences on Monday expressed its disapproval and dissatisfaction with the appointment of Tito Cristian as Colombia’s new science minister. President Evan Duque announced his election on Friday, June 4th.

Through an open letter to President Ivan Duque, the Colombian Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences has expressed its disagreement with the appointment of Tito José Cristian, former rector of the University of La Costa, as the new Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation. (In context: President Duque appoints Tito José Cristian as new Minister of Science)

The board of directors of this union confirmed that it received the news “with surprise and frustration (…), taking into account his confirmed participation in the plagiarism of academic documents.”

The University of the Coast, of which Christian was president, was recognized for being the first to produce scholarly articles in the Caribbean and seventh nationwide. However, that stature was eclipsed last year, after 23 articles from the institution were removed from the international repository of scientific publications IOP Publish, in September 2020, for plagiarism. (Recommend: Plagiarism Problems, under the direction of the new Minciencias, which has surrounded the U. de la Costa)

Articles pulled by IOP Publishing after clear evidence of plagiarism and manipulation of citations. In any event, the work was originally published in Spanish and has been translated and published without permission or endorsement from the original authors. Several new quotes were also added to the post-translation articles, many of which were the work of the new author,” the publishing platform noted at the time.

For members of the Academy, they asserted, this designation constitutes “a very negative message to Colombian society, particularly to the new generations, by ignoring unethical practices that are rejected by the scientific and academic community worldwide.”