A professional journal has retracted a study headed by a George Mason University professor amid allegations of plagiarism and a flawed peer review process, USA Today reports.
But a review by three plagiarism experts for USA Today said that portions of the report contained text from Wikipedia and other textbooks. Wegman and his lawyer, meanwhile, maintain that neither he nor a student co-author engaged in plagiarism.
How does this relate to Virginia (beyond the GMU connection)? Well, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has cited the Wegman report, commissioned by Sen. Joe Barton, R-Texas, in his demand for records related to climatologist Michael Mann from the University of Virginia to see whether Mann defrauded taxpayers by obtaining state-funded research grants.
The American Tradition Institute has also cited it in its request for records related to Mann.
The Virginia Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from Cuccinelli after Judge Paul Peatross set aside his demands last year, on the grounds that Cuccinelli provided no “objective basis” that Mann, associated with the “hockey stick” graph charting a rise in global temperatures, defrauded taxpayers.
Cuccinelli has also filed a new demand in response to Peatross’s ruling.
