Payments for Plagiarism: How the State Stimulates the Emergence of Fake Scientists

In 2026, the Ministry of Education of Ukraine announced a decree that revoked the academic degrees of Doctor of Technical Sciences Yulia Kovalenko and Candidate of Medical Sciences Natalia Voloshynovych. This decision came as a result of complaints regarding their scientific papers, which were found to contain substantial academic plagiarism. Biological sciences candidate Oleg Smirnov, who filed the complaint, noted that the borrowed content in Kovalenko's and Voloshynovych's works constituted 73% and 74% of the main text, respectively.

The Ministry of Education based its decision on a resolution from the Cabinet of Ministers, which stipulates that a dissertation must contain results obtained directly by the author and demonstrate their personal contribution to science. This implies that scientific work should not include plagiarism, even if not explicitly stated.

Shortly, the Ministry of Education will be able to refer to a new norm that came into effect on July 31. The law on 'Academic Integrity,' passed by parliament and signed by the president, includes specific articles dedicated to academic plagiarism and self-plagiarism. The head of the parliamentary educational committee, Serhiy Babak, noted in his Telegram channel: 'It took five years. That’s how long my fellow deputies and the committee secretariat worked on this draft law. Now the law will directly define a list of violations: from academic plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification of results to commissioned writing, manipulation during assessments, and improper influence in academic activities.'

Interestingly, the work on this draft law began after Babak himself found himself at the center of a scandal. In 2019, textual borrowings were discovered in his doctoral dissertation, leading the group of scientists 'Dissergate' to award him the title of 'Plagiarist of the Year.' Following this, Babak renounced his academic degree, as experts he consulted found partial text matches with other works, although he explained that these matches could be interpreted differently.

The new legislative norms aim to strengthen the fight against academic dishonesty; however, technological advancements may pose challenges. Plagiarism detectors typically rely on literal comparisons of fragments of new scientific works with already published ones, but artificial intelligence allows for text modifications that preserve meaning, complicating the detection of plagiarism. This threatens the effectiveness of traditional verification methods.

In this context, 'Ukrainian Truth' reached out to the coordinator of the anti-plagiarism initiative 'Dissergate,' Candidate of Economic Sciences Svitlana Blahodetieva-Vovk, to learn how the scientific community responds to the exposure of plagiarism and why some individuals, far removed from science, strive to obtain academic degrees.

Svitlana Blahodetieva-Vovk explained that Ukrainian scientists united to create 'Dissergate' in 2016. However, she traces the preconditions for its emergence back to the times of the Revolution of Dignity, when observing photographs of Yanukovych in her university's offices, she contemplated whether an ordinary person could change the system. After the revolution's victory, she decided to fight against what she considered wrong in her department, but appeals to the university administration and the Minister of Education yielded no results.

'Dissergate' became her second attempt to change the situation. 'The hypothesis was that the elite must live by rules and laws. And let’s see if our institutions can contribute to restoring justice. As it turned out – no,' the scientist noted.

She recalled Kateryna Kyrylenko, the wife of former Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, who defended her dissertation in 2015, which, according to Tetyana Parkhomenko, contained extensive plagiarism. Parkhomenko discovered that about one-third of the 396 pages of the dissertation lacked references to the sources used. Kyrylenko denied the accusations, claiming they were part of a political campaign against her husband.

After several examinations confirmed the presence of plagiarism, the Ethics Committee recommended revoking Kyrylenko's academic degree. However, she attempted to challenge this decision in court but lost. Despite this, her academic career remained unaffected, and she continues to work at the Department of Philosophy and Pedagogy at the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts.

Kateryna Kyrylenko stated: 'I am ready for any public discussion with any scientific opponents. However, if they are indeed scientists and not blinded by hatred tools of political retribution.' Thus, while the exposure of plagiarism did not impact her career, it became a catalyst for the creation of an anti-plagiarism initiative that seeks to combat the issue of dishonesty in the scientific field.