Centre for Civic Education asks Ethics Committee to establish responsibility of University of Montenegro management

The Centre for Civic Education (CCE) has submitted a proposal to the Ethics Committee of the University of Montenegro to establish whether academic integrity was violated in the way officials publicly presented data concerning the university’s position in the Webometrics ranking, as well as in their refusal to correct inaccurate claims despite numerous warnings. The CCE considers that such conduct constitutes a violation of the principle of accountability and other academic integrity standards that the University of Montenegro is required to apply to its own management as well.

The CCE bases its initiative, among other things, on Article 8 of the Law on Academic Integrity, taking into account that the University of Montenegro presented its alleged progress in the Webometrics ranking to the public based on data that did not originate from the official Webometrics website, but rather from a website using its name and publishing fabricated data.

- The problem did not end with the publication of inaccurate data. Further damage to academic integrity resulted from the refusal of responsible university officials to correct the inaccurate data, despite numerous warnings about the possible consequences of such conduct. The case soon went beyond the boundaries of the domestic public sphere and took on an international dimension, with the University of Montenegro subsequently being featured in expert analyses addressing the increasingly widespread phenomenon of predatory rankings and the use of fabricated data - said Ivan Kašćelan, a project assistant at the CCE.

He noted that the consequences of such conduct became apparent with the publication of the July edition of the publicly available Webometrics ranking, from which the University of Montenegro was excluded.

- This was preceded by a series of warnings from Webometrics lead researcher Isidro Aguillo that institutions using and promoting fabricated data would be removed from the publicly available ranking results, which the CCE had also pointed out - he said.

However, he added, even the University’s exclusion from the publicly available ranking was not enough for the management to assume responsibility and correct the inaccurate claims. The disputed text, which refers to the University's „historic success“ based on fabricated data, remains available on the official website.

The CCE considers that this conduct violated several provisions of the Code of Ethics - Article 21, which prohibits the false representation of academic achievements; Article 9, which requires the objective and accurate presentation of facts; and Article 12, which establishes the principle of responsible conduct and the promotion of academic excellence. The CCE also points to Article 26, paragraph 1 of the Code of Ethics, given that the responsible officials failed to protect the University's reputation or act conscientiously and responsibly after being informed that the published data were not credible.

The CCE has therefore asked the Ethics Committee to initiate proceedings to establish whether academic integrity was violated, determine responsibility for the publication of the disputed data as well as for refusing to correct them after receiving warnings, and, should violations be established, take appropriate measures against those responsible.

- This case is also a test of the University of Montenegro’s willingness to consistently apply to its own management the academic integrity standards it requires from the entire academic community. The credibility of those standards depends precisely on whether they apply equally to everyone, regardless of the position they hold. If publicly presenting fabricated data as an „historic success“, refusing to correct inaccurate claims despite numerous warnings, and the resulting reputational damage are not sufficient even to warrant an examination of responsibility, then the legitimate question arises: what does constitute a violation of academic integrity when it comes to management - Kašćelan concluded.