In March 2020, when the Covid pandemic began to hit the world, the physicist from the University of Murcia (UMU) Antonio Guirao decided to publish a scientific article of an “informative” and “didactic” nature to help the population understand what what was happening and why it was necessary to take measures to contain the infections. In ‘Understanding a pandemic. The coronavirus in Spain, situation and scenarios’, Guirao proposed a thesis favorable to movement restrictions and confinements, making use of predictive calculations that he would use throughout the health crisis to monitor the evolution of covid, a task that he developed under the umbrella of the Carlos III Health Institute.
In that article, Guirao explained: «The epidemic of the new SARS-CoV-2 virus, which produces the disease called Covid-19, has brought to our daily lives a new repertoire of scientific-technical concepts and terms: peak, ‘crush the curve’, reproductive number, exponential or logarithmic growth, cases, infected, immunity, vaccines, containment measures, critical mass of population, confinement. To the surprise of the Murcian physicist, this paragraph can be read, practically word for word, in ‘Pandenomics’, a book also written in 2020 by the ultraliberal economist Javier Milei, who as of this Sunday is the elected president of Argentina. It is not an isolated ‘copy and paste’. THE TRUTH has been able to verify that there are four pages full of identical paragraphs in some cases, and very similar in others.
For example: «An epidemic is an avalanche phenomenon, which is self-amplifying and can reach exaggerated dimensions. Understanding this will help to realistically understand the limits within which an epidemic, such as the coronavirus in Spain or in the world, can develop. There are many similar phenomena, for example: the spread of a raging fire through the forest, the exaggerated increase in a population of pigeons in a city, or the profits of a multinational company. Milei introduces this paragraph from Guirao’s article in her book, simply eliminating the reference to Spain.
Guirao published his article in the UMU digital repository with the idea that anyone could read it and make use of it. But references to other people’s work must be cited, reminds the physicist. The UMU professor learned about the ‘copy and paste’ last year, when an Argentine reporter from ‘Noticias Magazine’ contacted him, who revealed this case along with other alleged plagiarisms by Milei in the same book. The new Argentine president made use of another scientific publication, ‘The mathematics of epidemics: Mexico case 2009 and others’. Its three authors, Salvador Galindo Uribarri, Mario Rodríguez and Jorge Luis Cervantes, have filed a complaint.
When he received the call from the Argentine journalist, Guirao received the information with astonishment. «I bought Milei’s book and verified that he had indeed included, without citing, entire paragraphs. Not that she had paraphrased or taken inspiration from them. “It’s just that they are copied, even the graphics,” he laments. In order to make use of content from another scientific article, the author is obliged to put quotation marks or introduce footnotes or references in the bibliography.
Between 9 and 18.95 euros
While Guirao published a free open access article to raise awareness and disseminate information, Milei’s book costs 9.02 euros in the electronic book version, and 18.95 in paperback.
But beyond the discomfort over this ‘copy and paste’ exercise, Guirao is outraged by the use of his work for an objective opposite to that of his article. While the UMU physicist defended the need to apply restrictions to avoid a catastrophe, the ‘ultra’ politician “does not manifest himself as a denier, but he does take the edge off and considers the measures disproportionate. “He focuses on an economic impact that he considers excessive,” explains Guirao.
The Murcian researcher brought the case to the attention of the UMU, but did not want to give further consideration to a matter that he finds very unpleasant. So the case did not transcend in Spain. Everything changed last week, when the Peronist candidate Sergio Massa accused Milei of plagiarism in the middle of the electoral debate. The already elected president responded by calling him a “liar.”
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