They denounce the PSOE for plagiarizing paragraphs of a study by the University of Córdoba in its Proposition No. of Law on LGTBI sport

Two researchers from the universities of Córdoba and Seville denounce that the PSOE “has plagiarized” entire paragraphs of one of its scientific publications in the parliamentary initiative against ‘LGTBIphobia in sport in general and in football in particular’, which was debated this Tuesday in the Culture and Sports Commission of Congress as a non-law proposition. One of the promoters of this initiative is the Murcian deputy of the PSOE for the Region Juan Luis Soto Murillo, who signs the proposal with his fellow socialists Antonio Hurtado, Arnau Ramírez Carner and Lázaro Azorín Salar. Hurtado apologized this morning for plagiarism in parliament, the study cited, and requested that “the corresponding quotation be included as a self-amendment”. The deputy acknowledged that it is an error, and explained that in the statement of reasons for the proposal, the origin of the citations will be clarified and the original study will be referred to.

The four deputies registered their initiative on February 18, 2021, which extracts almost literally, and without citing the source, several paragraphs of the scientific article ‘The LGTBI collective in sport as an object of sociological research. State of the question ‘, which was published by the professors of the University of Córdoba, David Moscoso, and of the University of Seville, Joaquín Piedra de la Cuadra, in the Spanish Journal of Sociology (RES) in 2019.

Professor Moscoso, a former parliamentarian for Podemos for Córdoba, addressed a letter to the members of the Board and Spokespersons of the Culture and Sports Commission of the Congress of Deputies in which he denounced the alleged plagiarism. In your letter, Moscoso states that «a good part of it has been plagiarized from a scientific article published in the Revista Española de Sociología (RES), official publication of the Spanish Scientific Society of Sociology (FES), on December 5, 2019, whose authorship and intellectual property rights correspond to the one who subscribes this writing, professor holder of the University of Córdoba, as well as the professor of the University of Seville Joaquín Piedra de la Cuadra, in addition to the aforementioned scientific society. The researcher, who intends to dignify the academic work with his complaint, states in the letter that, «by contrasting the text of said initiative with the text of the aforementioned article, we have verified that almost half of the explanatory statement is a literal reproduction of the same ; a cut and paste, without source quotes or quotation marks». Moscoso also regrets that the deputies who sign the non-law proposal have addressed public opinion to communicate the results of said study “stating that the PSOE is the author of the same, knowing that they come from a scientific article and not from an own study ».

The sociologist asks in his letter to the Board of Congress that, “once he has knowledge of the facts, said initiative be withdrawn, in order not to contribute with it in its processing to attack the moral and intellectual integrity of the authors of the plagiarized text which includes the same in its explanatory memorandum. That in case of keeping it, it be modified, indicating in quotation marks all those paragraphs that have been included in the text of the parliamentary initiative from the scientific article in question, duly indicating the intellectual authorship of the same “.

Moscoso, who does not rule out other moral actions, also says in his letter that “these facts are not typical of public representatives in an institution such as the Congress of Deputies, among whom exemplary and honorableness must prevail, and of a group politician who has all the means at his disposal to equip himself with the technical reports with which to act with solvency and rigor. Those who lack ideas may need to usurp the contributions of those who enjoy them. We would like to add that at this time we are evaluating possible legal actions for damages to intellectual property and plagiarism».