Urbonaitė says Sinkevičius is downplaying plagiarism findings

Political scientist Rima Urbonaitė says plagiarism findings in Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius’s doctoral dissertation are a political blow, accusing him of minimising their significance. LRT reported that the ethics commission at ISM University of Management and Economics gave Sinkevičius six months to correct violations but did not recommend starting proceedings to revoke his doctoral degree.

Urbonaitė said Sinkevičius had not used the word “plagiarism” in either written or spoken communications, instead referring to comments and violations. “He is essentially trying to downplay the fact of theft, which has been established — and not just once in this work,” she said.

She said the response was consistent with Sinkevičius’s handling of other controversies. Urbonaitė cited the Raudondvaris appointments story, in which people close to the Social Democrats were appointed to various positions, saying the party leader had distanced himself rather than called for a full investigation. She also referred to the receipts case and questions about Sinkevičius’s purchase of a plot of land at auction in Jonava while he was mayor.

The ISM ethics commission began examining the first complaint in August. After receiving two more complaints, the university extended the review deadline to October 30. The commission confirmed five episodes raised by the complainant and then checked the entire dissertation, examining 55 more significant similarities or matches requiring further assessment. It also found that eight sources cited in the dissertation were missing from its bibliography.

Sinkevičius said he would follow the university’s findings and prepare a publicly available correction appendix. He said the doctoral committee considered the dissertation to retain its scientific value and the ethics commission viewed revoking the degree as disproportionate. He said he did not dispute the citation and source-marking violations.

Sinkevičius defended his dissertation at ISM in 2015. He earned a bachelor’s degree in management and business administration from Vilnius University in 2007, completed law studies at Mykolas Romeris University in 2008 and received a master’s degree in marketing and management from ISM in 2009.