Outstanding cum laude to a ten-page errata that heads the thesis and that questions its academic rigor. This has been the evolution of the doctorate in Law of Emilia Fernández, Citizens’ deputy in the Madrid Assembly between 2019 and 2021. The Complutense University, which awarded her the title in 2016, began an investigation four years later that concluded with the annulment of the doctorate for “lack of originality of the thesis”, a decision that has been supported by the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid, with a ruling in which the judges even speak of “plagiarism”. Sources from the rectorate confirm the exceptional nature of the case, since they only have evidence of one more similar procedure in the entire Complutense.
The scrutinized text consists of more than 300 pages published under the title ‘Shared custody and legal protection of minors’, defended in February 2016 in the Civil Law department of the Complutense University. This work earned Fernández, who has been a university professor of Law, the grade of outstanding cum laude. In 2023 he ran for the autonomous elections of the Community of Madrid as number three of Ciudadanos, already with a court ruling that confirmed the decision of the rectorate.
The title review process began in 2018, when a university professor notified the coordinator of the Complutense University’s Doctorate of Law program about a “significant similarity” between Fernández’s thesis and his own doctorate, titled ‘The interest of minors’. in shared custody’, which addressed a similar topic, according to the documentation consulted by elDiario.es. This academic defended his research at the University of Salamanca in 2008.
Sentence appealed
At the request of the affected teacher, the Complutense turned to two experts in Civil Law to evaluate the case. The analyzes carried out concluded that there were “numerous and concrete coincidences between both research works.” In addition, they determined that Fernández’s doctoral thesis incurred “serious deficiencies and irregularities when citing texts and authors, without applying the criteria for recognizing the authorship of others typical of scientific methodology.” This is stated in the ruling issued by the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) on September 12 and which has been appealed, as confirmed by the affected party.
Fernández distances himself from the accusations of both the Justice and the Rectorate of the Complutense, he considers himself a victim of “an unfair and arbitrary process.” In conversation with this newsroom, he assures that he was not inspired by the claimant’s doctorate to carry out his research. “I didn’t read the thesis, I read the book, but I read books by a zillion authors,” he explains, to justify that the work of the teacher who initiated this procedure is one more of the sources he resorted to in the preparation of his thesis. . Similarly, Fernández maintains that the two “shared” common sources, that is, always according to their version, in both works reference authors in the field of child custody were cited.
The thesis initially presented by the appellant did not contain references to the thesis of the University of Salamanca defended in 2008 by the co-defendant, and it was not until a later moment that the appellant “included them.”
However, the former regional representative acknowledges that she did not review her “thesis well” before presenting it. “From there there would have been bad faith, of course not,” he says to defend his work. Furthermore, she maintains that both she and her thesis director have maintained “impeccable” diligence throughout the research procedure. After completing the thesis, he confirmed that “there had been a series of erroneous data” and non-existent citations. To correct it, she included an errata, as suggested by the University, as she herself explains.
For the judges, it is relevant that “initially” in the annulled doctorate there were no “references to the thesis” of the affected professor, which the court of first instance interpreted as an indication of “lack of rigor and honesty in the work presented.” According to the ruling, these quotes were not included until 2019, through an errata and were incorporated after the copied professor submitted the review request. Fernández denies this accusation. “I made an errata before knowing that a procedure was being opened,” he explains.
The University did not have anti-plagiarism programs
Currently, the errata precedes the thesis, occupying ten pages located before the index. In this text added later, the author of the research corrected “certain errors” caused by “the loss of data at certain times.” Among the qualifications, it included all citations to the claimant’s academic work, with a total of 17 references incorporated a posteriori. The former deputy assures elDiario.es that at the University they explained to her that this was a “quite common procedure” to include modifications.
After a process that lasted several years, on December 10, 2020, the rector of the Complutense University issued a resolution declaring the “proceedance of the ex officio review and consequently” annulled the appellant’s doctoral degree due to “the lack of originality of the doctoral thesis entitled ‘Shared custody and legal protection of minors’”.
The plaintiff’s thesis may be an informative work on the legislative evolution and jurisprudence of the care and custody of minors, but it is not an original work.
The doctoral student appealed this decision to the courts. Neither in the first instance nor in a subsequent appeal has Justice agreed with him. On the contrary, the magistrates of the TSJM determine that “from the analysis of the evidence carried out, the existence of authentic plagiarism of the doctoral thesis emerges.” Even so, the former deputy insists that the ruling is not yet final and she is waiting for the Supreme Court to take a position on her appeal.
“The plaintiff’s thesis may be an informative work on the legislative and jurisprudential evolution of the care and custody of minors, but it is not an original research work that allows access to the degree of Doctor,” states the ruling issued in September, in which the judges also note that in the research analyzed there is no “own idea that structures the plaintiff’s work, and that gives rise to the creation of an original research work.”
Before a resolution was reached, this conflict passed through the Legal Advisory Commission of the Community of Madrid on two occasions. In the reports issued by said organization, they explain that in 2016, when the thesis was read, “neither the Department of Civil Law nor the Complutense University of Madrid had anti-plagiarism detection programs to be able to submit the doctoral thesis to them.” according to the documentation consulted by this editorial team.
The affected person denounces “irregularities” in the process
After learning of the accusations against Fernández’s work, “all members of the tribunal” were “absolutely in favor of the annulment of the doctor’s degree granted”, after consulting the reports prepared and “given the multiple coincidences subsequently verified”, adds the autonomous advisory body.
The only dissenter was the director, who defended “the validity of the work” of her pupil. Along these lines, he argued that “there is a difference of eight years between the theses compared and that, despite the fact that the work whose review is in question was based on the analysis of the 2008 thesis, the legislative evolution would have been included in the 2016 thesis. and jurisprudential in the matter of guardianship and custody.” elDiario.es has tried to obtain the version of the director of the thesis and the members of the tribunal, without success for the moment.
After a process that has lasted several years, the former deputy maintains that she has been the victim of “a series of irregularities.” Firstly, he explains that he does not know how the complaining professor accessed his thesis in 2018 because, according to the review, his academic work “was not even published” at that time. In addition, it points out that there have been anomalies “in the notifications” and “in the deadlines.” For their part, the UCM press office limits themselves to ensuring that they are waiting for the matter to be resolved in court to issue an order to withdraw the doctorate, if Justice does not ultimately rule in favor of the former deputy.
As a result of the revision of his thesis, Fernández has abandoned university teaching. He feels, as he explains to elDiario.es, “a pawn within a “very inbred” university system, where this decision will prevent its director from obtaining “a professorship in the department.”
Furthermore, he describes as a “strange” circumstance that for just under a year his thesis director and the complainant have shared a department at the Complutense Law School. They have done so since the complainant won a competition to apply for the position, as explained by sources from the Rectorate, who assure that the process to obtain that job position has been “clean.” These same sources point out that “there is absolutely nothing reprehensible” in the process of obtaining the position because the claimant has “more than enough merits to occupy it.”
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