Диссернет. Экспериментальная социология

Abstract

There is a broadly accepted practice in Russia to falsificate the doctoral dissertations (theses) for members of the ruling society, for wellknown and powerful Russian politicians and various public figures. The trade with academic degrees became a social institution integrated within the political system of Russian Federation. Since the beginning of 2013 the voluntary community «Dissernet» is working in Russia to uncover such scientific fraud. By the end of 2014 about three thousand recent Russian doctoral theses have been found to be fraudulent. The collected statistical data allow a number of sociological studies to be made. The present report makes an attempt to investigate the roots of this phenomenon, its inner mechanisms, its potential dangers and looks for a ways out of this social crisis.