Federal agency sanctions former professor for plagiarism, fabrication

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Research Integrity sanctioned a… The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Research Integrity sanctioned a former University of Pittsburgh assistant professor of nursing on Tuesday for plagiarism and falsification of data.

The Office of Research Integrity said Scott J.M. Weber engaged in research misconduct by plagiarizing text and falsifying data from two publications supported by U.S. Public Health Service funding in his two unpublished manuscripts. The release also said he plagiarized text in two grant applications to the National Institutes of Health.

Pitt spokesman John Fedele declined to comment on the situation, and would not say when Weber was employed at Pitt.

Weber could not be reached for comment. His phone number is unlisted, and his faculty information has been removed from Pitt’s website.

The Office of Research Integrity announced Wednesday that Weber agreed to exclude himself from work with federal agencies and any advisory work with the U.S. Public Health Service for three years, effective Sept. 7.

Weber fabricated and falsified tables and figures from the plagiarized articles, altering numbers and changing text to represent the data as if it was from another subject population, the Office of Research Integrity said.