University probe finds 'elements of plagiarism' in Roberta Metsola's 2003 thesis

A probe by the University of Malta has found "elements of plagiarism" or uncredited work in Roberta Metsola's law degree thesis. 

The probe, however, concluded that Metsola's degree, which she wrote 22 years ago in 2003, still stands as the failings were a matter of "procedure."

The European Parliament president faced claims of plagiarism in February following the publication of an online report claiming "astonishing" acts of plagiarism could be found on “nearly every page” of her thesis. 

In a statement on Friday following an investigation into the claims, the university said the findings constitute "serious imperfections of the work".

These "imperfections" included failure to cite original/primary sources, citing incorrect sources, information copied from other writers and rearranged without proper citation and "cut and paste" passages. 

The university said these failures appear to result from "mistaken procedure. 

"While the said imperfections clearly reduce the worth of the dissertation as a scholarly piece of work, they do not invalidate it entirely," the university said. 

As a result, the university said the law degree awarded to Metsola still stands. 

In a statement, a spokesperson for Metsola welcomed the news that her 2003 thesis still stands. 

"She is pleased that this process is over and that the University has clarified that her LLD degree awarded in 2003 stands.

"There is to be no change to the grade awarded to her dissertation written and defended before an Academic panel 22 years ago. There was no misuse of the title of “Doctor”.

"The imperfections in her dissertation stemmed primarily from a mistaken procedure," the spokesperson said. 

The spokesperson said that while re-reading her dissertation with the benefit of 22 years of experience, there are naturally a number of "improvements" that Metsola would suggest to her younger self to avoid some unintentional citation errors, particularly with regard to the method of referencing used and the use of secondary sources. 

"The standards, teaching, requirements and tools made available to students 22 years ago are very different to today, and any errors in the referencing in the dissertation were unintentional. 

"The President reiterates her rejection of the unfounded and ill-motivated allegations of any intentional wrongdoing or misconduct. 

 "These allegations were never about the defence of academic integrity but an attempt by the President’s political opponents to damage her reputation and that of the Institution she was elected to lead," the spokesperson said.

The plagiarism claims first surfaced in February in a report authored by Austrian media researcher Stefan Weber, who has earned himself the moniker of "the plagiarism hunter". 

Weber’s report contains two columns of text; the left passages taken from Metsola’s Electoral Systems and Electoral Outcomes: A Comparative Study, and the right those from the “uncited original source” the EP president is alleged to have copied.

A Times of Malta exercise found that while several sections of text in Metsola’s thesis appeared to closely or identically match those by other authors documented in Weber’s report, other referenced passages provide clear citations to the referenced authors.