Elias Alsabti
Encyclopedia
Elias Alsabti was an Iraq
i medical researcher who was exposed for scientific fraud
.
Alsabti built a career as an impostor
. In Iraq, the medical student managed to get a reputation as a cancer research
er. He reworked articles from lesser known scientific journal
s into entries that he submitted for publication elsewhere. By pretending to be a member of the Jordan
ian royal family, he obtained a generous scholarship by the Jordanian government and in 1977 moved to the United States
. In the late 1970s, he worked as a cancer specialist for various American research institutions, moving on when his utter lack of knowledge and understanding was noticed. He is estimated to have published 50 to 60 plagiarized articles in a few years, many of them in reputable journals, often with co-authors who have never published with anyone but him, which led to the suspicion that they may not exist.
Several journals retracted publications after the fraud was exposed. Alsabti's license to practice medicine in Massachusetts
was revoked in 1988.
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
i medical researcher who was exposed for scientific fraud
Scientific misconduct
Scientific misconduct is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in professional scientific research. A Lancet review on Handling of Scientific Misconduct in Scandinavian countries provides the following sample definitions: *Danish definition: "Intention or...
.
Alsabti built a career as an impostor
Impostor
An impostor or imposter is a person who pretends to be somebody else, often to try to gain financial or social advantages through social engineering, but just as often for purposes of espionage or law enforcement....
. In Iraq, the medical student managed to get a reputation as a cancer research
Cancer research
Cancer research is basic research into cancer in order to identify causes and develop strategies for prevention, diagnosis, treatments and cure....
er. He reworked articles from lesser known scientific journal
Scientific journal
In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...
s into entries that he submitted for publication elsewhere. By pretending to be a member of the Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
ian royal family, he obtained a generous scholarship by the Jordanian government and in 1977 moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. In the late 1970s, he worked as a cancer specialist for various American research institutions, moving on when his utter lack of knowledge and understanding was noticed. He is estimated to have published 50 to 60 plagiarized articles in a few years, many of them in reputable journals, often with co-authors who have never published with anyone but him, which led to the suspicion that they may not exist.
Several journals retracted publications after the fraud was exposed. Alsabti's license to practice medicine in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
was revoked in 1988.
External resource
- Nicholas WadeNicholas WadeNicholas Wade is a British-born scientific reporter, editor and author who currently writes for the Science Times section of The New York Times.-Biography:Wade was born in Aylesbury, England and educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge...
and William BroadWilliam BroadWilliam J. Broad is an author and a Senior Writer at The New York Times.-Awards:Broad has won two Pulitzer Prizes with Times colleagues, as well as an Emmy and a DuPont. He won the Pulitzers for coverage of the space shuttle Challenger disaster and the feasibility of antimissile arms...
. Betrayers of the Truth: Fraud and Deceit in the Halls of ScienceBetrayers of the Truth: Fraud and Deceit in the Halls of ScienceBetrayers of the Truth: Fraud and Deceit in the Halls of Science is a book by William Broad and Nicholas Wade, published in 1982 by Simon & Schuster in New York, and subsequently also by Century Publishing in London, and by Oxford University Press in 1985...
. New York: Simon & SchusterSimon & SchusterSimon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
, 1983, pp. 38–59.