Simona Cavalu, 3X plagiarizer, Daniela Ionescu rehired

A recent loss in court of a serious academic who may have produced some important, original research, contrasts dramatically with an astonishing win of a less important plagiarizer, whose scientific contributions are null / #zerobarat. Traducerea romaneasca pe FataCarte.

• Simona Cavalu lost 2 appeals against a plagiarism decision, the court finding for Martin Hollins, a UK education professional
• Daniela Ionescu got the court to reinstate her at the same university with retroactive pay, nullifying her plagiarism consequences
• Plagiarism continues to be a regular occurrence in Romanian education, with teachers and parents discounting its ethical implications

It's quite remarkable that Simona Cavalu, Prof Dr in Material Science, specialized in Biomaterials, fought a charge of plagiarism through the Romanian justice system and was found to have plagiarized not once, but 3 times (eb-3x)!!!

She has her own website, resume and blog online (sc-ro), a presence on ReasearchGate (rg-sc), numerous and important published articles such as 2017 on nano-Se (pm-sc) – why would she fight such a pointless fight against Martin Hollins (rg-mh, li-mh) and go as far as faking her own book without the offending parts or bribe/influence the Oradea University “Ethics” commission?!

This is such bewildering saga! Less intellectual, though similar in its futility is the fight between two TV personalities at “Antena Stars”: Simona Hapciuc, a reality TV star, attacked Nasrin Ameri, TV presenter, not in the court of law but in the bathroom (zdi-meci). While Ms Hapciuc produced zero research, her tactics brought her nonetheless closer to victory!

If you followed my blog, you might know by now that I have covered plagiarizers before, from Nicolae Rambu theft from Jean Grondin / Andruska to Victor Ponta and even Kovesi. I’ve written about Iosif Sever Georgescu, my high-school physics teacher who encouraged plagiarism in physics international contests, yet received a prize from the Bucharest Mayor and got to keep his hagiographic Wikipedia article. So I looked for similar plagiarism cases in Iasi – the cultural centre of Moldova, where Butoi has his HQs, and could not find much, at first: looking carefully through the resources below, one can find a few. What I did find in Iasi is news about this city being the most polluted in Romania and occasionally more so than even Indian and Chinese cities (zdi-pollux) and that thefts are committed through the justice system, in real estate, for large sums of money and with the help of specialists in corruption / incompetence such as notary public Răzvan Ionuţ Costin and lawyer Alexandru Tudor Bernic (zdi-imobi).

The puzzling fight of Simona Cavalu has a “winning” example much closer to home – which may have actually been her inspiration: Daniela Ionescu, another “academic” with serious yet long-ignored plagiarism. Whereas Simona Cavalu had gone through plagiarism early in her career, but then produced what is so far considered “real” research in a “real” field – Biomaterials, Daniela Ionescu was connected to a more mundane “faculty”: “textiles and leathering”. After getting fired in 2016 by the minister of education, she managed to overturn that decision in court (on a technicality), get re-hired and even get all her salary reimbursed! (eb-impos)

I do not have much sympathy for plagiarizers, but it seems wrong that a “textiles academic” wins massively while at the same time a serious specialist in biomaterials loses. Meanwhile, the real criminals / enablers - Oradea University Rector Constantin Bungău or Notary Costin / Lawyer Bernic go unscathed; see also the top 10 list below, with the Police Academy officials running criminal threats and an intimidation campaign against the journalist who dared to write about their plagiarism. What is relevant and very sad here is that in the absence of repercussions, the culture of plagiarism and evading responsibility continues on and is passed on to new generations.

Sources / More info: eb-3x, sc-ro, rg-sc, li-sc, pm-sc, rg-mh, li-mh, zdi-meci, zdi-pollux, zdi-imobi, eb-impos,

I found a number of new articles in the Romanian press allowing one to catch up on the current plagirism scandals in this country (click to expand!).

• 10 plagiarizers still in public functions (by Irina Breilean, euliro1-t10, 21.08.04): David Nicolae Ungureanu – police rector, Bogdan-Nicolae Tonea – police prorector, Marin Porojanu – decan jandarmi, Stefan Cristian-Eduard decan jandarmi, Bogdan Licu prim-adjunct procuror general, Ionut Andrei Barbu decan politie, Constantin-Florin Mituletu Buica presedinte aep, Bogdan Despescu secretar mai, Veronica Stoica rector police, Codrut Olaru csm procuror
• Why is there a plagiarism culture in Romanian schools? (by Andreea Ofiteru, euliro2-plagiexp, 21.03.04) Radu Gologan, president of SRSM, claims that kids in the online math contest cheated with parents’ help (classes V-VI). Prof Ovidiu Panisoara, director of teacher instruction at UniBuc claims that kids are required to reproduce information and are insufficiently challenged to be creative. Marian Preda, rector UniBuc, blames primary and high school for lacking any plagiarism norms.
• Famous Romanian Plagiarizers (History of.. by Alexandru Dobrescu book review, dv-histplag, 12.07.11)
• Plagiate.ro – by GRAUR: press, top instis: ISPAIM, INCDSB, INCDFM (IRNE), INCEMC, INNBN, ICTAR; top unis: Vasile Alecsandri Bacau 44, Babes-Bolyai Cluj 25, Tehnica Cluj + Nord Baia Mare 20, Aurel Vlaicu Arad 15, Buc 15, Oradea 12, Agricola Timisoara 12, Poli Timisoara 11, ASW Bucuresti 10, Brancusi Tg Jiu 10
• wiki-2016: Before 2016: Mircea Beuran 2003, Victor Ponta 2012, Ioan Mang 2012, Gigel Stirbu 2014, Ioanel Sinescu 2007, Constantin Popa 2013. 2016: Bogdan Licu, Gabriel Oprea, Petre Toba, Florentin Pandele, Robert Negoita, Radu Stroe, Mihai Stanisoara
• USR law to prevent plagiarizers from voluntarily renouncing their academic titles (by Alina Toma, zc-usrplag, 21.11.22)
• The education minister in the country of imposture (by Petre M Iancu, dw-educimp, 21.08.09)

zamo, plagiarism, plagiat, furt intelectual, ip, intellectual property, proprietate intelectuala, copyright, educatie, education, invatamant, cercetare, research, academia, academics (Tags)