Gaps in the Legal Regulation of the Academic Degree Deprivation Process

Introduction: The growing number of applications for the deprivation of academic degrees, mainly due to the discovery of illegal borrowings in dissertations, highlights the need to study the legal regulation of the procedure for the deprivation of academic degrees in our country. At the same time as the number of applications for the deprivation of academic degrees increased, and the number of complaints from interested parties also increased. Based on the materials of judicial practice, the author analyzes the grounds for satisfying such complaints, identifies gaps and conflicts of legislation in the field of illustrated legal relations.

Methodology and materials: In preparing this article, various general logical methods of cognition were used: analysis, synthesis, abstraction, generalization, as well as general scientific, private scientific and special methods. The application of universal principles of scientific knowledge made it possible to identify defects in the legislation governing the process of deprivation of academic degrees, as well as to analyze the evidence used by the parties in such trials. The empirical basis of the study was the norms of legislation and materials of judicial practice concerning lawsuits challenging the deprivation of academic degrees.

Results of the study and their discussion: The author refutes the approach of attributing the procedure of an academic degree to the sphere of legislation on the provision of public services, reveals the date of the beginning of the deadline for submitting an application for revocation of an academic degree. According to the assumption of good faith among participants in legal relations and the principle of legal certainty, a specific set of powers is established concerning the protection of the individual against whom an application for the revocation of an academic degree has been filed, allowing them to defend and personally articulate their stance on this matter. The value of the actual scientific component of the dissertation research is not the subject of judicial control.

Conclusions: A significant defect in the legislation on the deprivation of academic degrees is the lack of authority of the involved structures of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation to search for interested parties. Furthermore, the subsequent oversight regarding the legality and validity of conferring an academic degree relies on the examination of procedural elements, without assessing the scientific aspects of the dissertations reviewed for verification, nor the ensuing scholarly activities of the individual following the defense of the dissertation. In conclusion, the author’s position on improving the legal regulation of the procedure for the deprivation of academic degrees is argued. 

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