{"id":5440,"date":"2016-01-14T10:40:27","date_gmt":"2016-01-14T09:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2016\/01\/14\/vu-hoogleraar-nijkamp-vrijgepleit-van-datafraude\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:19","slug":"vu-hoogleraar-nijkamp-vrijgepleit-van-datafraude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2016\/01\/14\/vu-hoogleraar-nijkamp-vrijgepleit-van-datafraude\/","title":{"rendered":"VU University professor Nijkamp cleared of data fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Economist Peter Nijkamp did not use false research data. This is the conclusion drawn by a committee made up of Amsterdam VU University and VU Academic Medical Centre specialists. The verdict is the conclusion, for now, to a case which has been ongoing for over two years.<\/p>\n

Three scientists who used to be affiliated with Amsterdam VU University had committed data fraud, an anonymous source alleged in June 2014 in a letter to VU University\u2019s ombudsman. Eight of the allegedly fraudulent articles had been authored by Peter Nijkamp and his colleague Karima Kourtit, while seven had been written by T\u00fczin Baycan, Nijkamp and several other co-authors.<\/p>\n

All these accusations were unfounded, a special fact-finding committee, the Struiksma Committee, found in a report which was released<\/a> Wednesday. The Committee stated that it had no grounds whatsoever to assume that Nijkamp\u2019s data had been made up or used in an unacceptable manner.<\/p>\n

Protracted scandal<\/h3>

The report released on Thursday is the latest in a chain of events, which started in May 2013 with an anonymous allegation about Karima Kourtit\u2019s PhD dissertation. An anonymous party identifying only as \u2018NN\u2019 accused Kourtit of plagiarism, science journalist Frank van Kolfschooten wrote in an \u2018introduction\u2019<\/a> to the rather complex case.<\/p>\n

A committee led by Pieter Drenth established<\/a> that the dissertation did indeed contain instances of plagiarism. Kourtit was granted the opportunity to rewrite her thesis and was awarded a doctorate, after all. The case also had consequences for her PhD supervisor, Peter Nijkamp, who resigned from his position.<\/p>\n

In a throw-away line, the fact-finding committee reported that several chapters co-authored by Nijkamp contained instances of \u2018self-plagiarism\u2019, i.e., previously published work which had been re-used without a proper citation.<\/p>\n

lees ook<\/h2>