When the Universitia of Virginia says "trust us"--it means "we haven't done our homework"

Retraction Watch reports:

A PhD student at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business who had a paper retracted for plagiarism in March has had a second paper retracted.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek was first to report the new retraction [name omitted--ES]. The study, “Understanding the Antecedents to an Entrepreneurial Firm’s Intent to Engage in International Strategic Alliances,” originally published in theJournal of Enterprising Culture, now simply reads:

The article has been retracted.

We have discussed an earlier instance instance of plagiarism by this graduate student in business ethics (in the business school). At the time UVA (and Springer's Journal of Business Ethics) seemed to downplay the affair "it is an isolated incident that was a mistake rather than a calculated effort to plagiarize.” (I had noted the cozy relationship between the journal and the student's supervisors.) I contacted Professor Wicks, and he wrote me that, “a thorough review of the case was conducted according to school policy. The review process included a panel committee and a forensic review of the student’s work. We cannot discuss individual student matters due to confidentiality and privacy policies.” Professor Wicks is the "Ruffin Professor of Business Administration; Director, Olsson Center for Applied Ethics; Director, Doctoral Program." (I thank Matt Charles, Director of Media Relations, Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, for this detailed information.) One wonders what "forensic review" entails at UvA. (The editor at Springer never responded to my request for information.)

Academics operate on a great deal of mutual trust and it is not easy (and time-consuming, etc.) to investigate one's own. Transparency is one way to gain credibility. Undoubtedly there are other means, too--but 'trust us' doesn't cut it. Either way, rather than spending more money on "media relations," there might be more fruitful academic ends.