TRUTH | The book by Rassul Zhumaly published by KAZISS contains copyright infringement

In April 2017, a network resource called “Plagiarism in Kazakhstan” appeared with just one article about “Arab Solitaire”, the book of political scientist Rassul Zhumaly (Zhumaly R. Arab Solitaire: The Chronicles of the Century – Astana: KAZISS under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 2016. – 508 pp. ISBN 978-601-7476-23-6).

The anonymous author of the resource asserts that the book of Zhumaly, published by KAZISS, violates copyright and “contains plagiarism”. The author gives a number of examples, which in his opinion, are those of violations.

On May 26, the journalist Daniyar Sabitov on his Facebook page addressed to our editorial office with the request to check this information on the correspondence of reality. We try to respond to the requests of readers, and we decided to check the information.

Verdict: Truth

The book does have the content occasionally matching texts previously published by other authors. However, not all authors are listed in the bibliography, and the quoted parts of the text are not identified as quotations, neither according to academic standards of design, nor according to the rules for the formulation of non-authorial speech.

Let’s talk about our investigation step by step.

Input data and check principles

In general, the book comprises a large amount of text material, matching other books in the meaning and vocabulary, and occasionally completely identical to other books on the topic, which are not identified as quotations (which is indirectly confirmed by Zhumaly himself: see the screenshot in the last paragraph of the article). The book completely lacks the correct design of quotation necessary for a publication with abundant sources. That is, there is no a single reference to the source at all, even in the cases where the text, claimed as author’s, is identical to the source text.

Nevertheless, there is a bibliography in the end of the book with a number of sources. Since in the Kazakh legislation there is no special indication of whether the so-called “free quotation” without specifying the source in the cited text is a violation of copyright, we refused to consider a number of quotations given by the anonymous author of the “Plagiarism in Kazakhstan” site as evidence.

As for quotation standards, they are described in the legislation. Article 19 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Copyright and Related Rights tells us the following: Use of the work without the consent of the author or another right holder, without payment of copyright royalties: Is allowed without the consent of the author or another right holder, without payment of the of copyright royalties, but with the obligatory indication of the author’s name, the work of which is used, and the source of quotation.

Before checking the accusations against Rassul Zhumaly brought by the “Plagiarism in Kazakhstan” website, we asked Temirlan Tulegenov, a copyright specialist, to indicate the legal status of the “plagiarism” concept in Kazakhstan and to give a legal assessment of the use of quotations from the text of another author without affiliation.
According to Temirlan Tulegenov, there is no specific definition of “plagiarism” in Kazakh legislation. However, there is a concept of violation of property or non-property rights, in accordance with the copyright law:

  • In case of quotation of a text, without the consent of the author and right holder in the first place, in a number of cases it is the violation of copyright.
  • There are a few cases when the quotation may be used without payment of the of copyright royalties and special consent of the author, but with obligatory indication of authorship.
  • Quoting without the permission is possible in new reports with reference to the source.
  • Quoting without the permission is also possible in scientific works, but again, the quoting
    should be justified by a specific scientific purpose.
  • In any case a source reference is obligatory.

The data check is based on these principles.

Later on, we give a few examples that are not listed in the bibliography of Rassul Zhumaly’s book, and presented as an author’s text in the “Arab Solitaire” without indicating of the source, which can be considered a violation of copyright.

Investigation results

“Arab Solitaire” and Bassam al-Moorhij

On the pages 352-357 of Rassul Zhumaly’s book, a rather large part (pp. 268-278) of the article by Bassam al-Moorhij published in 1997 (ISBN 5-89394-008-3) in the “Arab countries of West Asia and North Africa (recent history, economics and politics)” collection is cited with minor corrections and reductions.

Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Institute for the Study of Israel and the Middle East). Along with data, there are evaluation markers, given by al-Moorhijem, cited in the book. The bibliography of the book by Rassul Zhumaly does not gave any reference to the article of al-Moorhij

For example, in the Bassam al-Moorhij’s article, we read the following: “The camp of Arab states, that hesitated enough to condemn the policy of Saddam Hussein, expanded at the expense of the Sudan, which also pursued a dual policy regarding Iraq’s actions in Kuwait … probably, the policy of the Arabs regarding an aggressive war would be more sympathetic, if not for the conditions of their economic, social and political existence, which force them to maneuver in search of means to finance the development processes and the desire to achieve stability in domestic policy… “

In the book by Rassul Zhumaly: “The camp of Arab states, that hesitated enough to condemn the policy of Saddam Hussein, expanded at the expense of the Sudan, which also took a dual position… probably, the policy of the Arabs could be more consolidated, if the conditions of their existence would not force them to torn apart in the search of means to social and economic needs of their people, accordingly providing stability of their own regimes…”

One more part:

  • al-Moorhij’s: “Yemen was not the only country in the Arab world that had its own motives for working out a position towards Iraq. It was joined by Jordan, which itself experienced something like a collapse because of the differently oriented approaches to the Gulf War. // During the crisis in the Persian Gulf, Jordan had two views on this conflict. There was a position of official circles and a position expressed by the media.”
  • Zhumaly’s: “However, Yemen was not the only country in the Arab world that had its own motives for working out a position towards Iraq. It was joined by Jordan, which itself experienced something like a collapse because of the differently oriented approaches to the Gulf War. // During the crisis in the Persian Gulf, Jordan had two views on this conflict. There was a position of official circles and a position expressed by the powerful media”.

Note the match in formulations and the phrase “something like a collapse”, stylistically marked and duplicated in the both texts.

It should be also noted that a number of texts, that have been listed in the bibliography, are cited this way as well. However, there are no reference to the text.

Arab Solitaire and biography of Gaddafi

The following passage from the book of the orientalist, A. Yegorin (“Muamar Gaddafi”. The East: historical portraits, Moscow: IAS RAS, 2009, 464 pp. ISBN 978-5-89282-393-7) is also copied practically without any changes:

«The full name of the Libyan ilder is Muammar Bin Mohammed Abu Menjar Abdel Salam Ben Hamid Al-Gaddafi. As a Bedouin and the son of a Bedouin, he absorbed what was brought in the desert by storms of civilization and simultaneously observed all the customs and traditions of his fellow tribesmen. After becoming the disciplined cadet of the military college in Benghazi, where the educators were delighted with him, the future communications officer, to whom the authorities had seen a great career, became a favorite of professional colleagues, they liked his asceticism and friendliness. No one in the Gaddafi’s environment, except for a small circle of people, did not see him as an enemy of the regime. He never betrayed himself with emotions, or a phrase, or a gesture. There was nothing to add to the case against him, opened by the police in Sebha, where he had organized an anti-governmental demonstration and, as a result, was expelled from school. And his evening attendances of history lectures at the University of Benghazi, were taken as quirks of a young cadet – they always forgive “dreamers”… “

On page 368 of the book by Rassul Zhumaly we can read the following:

“His full name is Muammar Bin Mohammed Abu Menjar Abdel Salam Ben Hamid Al-Gaddafi. He was a Bedouin and the son of a Bedouin. At the young age he started to show his unordinary organizational talents, his will, and his frantic striving for leadership. Being a schoolboy, he organized the underground youth organization. Later, in 1963–1965,he became a cadet of the military college in Benghazi, where he had great expectations. The young officer was the life and soul of the party; he reached everybody with his asceticism and friendliness. No one in the Gaddafi’s environment, except for a small circle of people, did not see him as an enemy of the regime There was nothing to add to the case against him, opened by the police in Sebha, where he had organized an anti-governmental demonstration and, as a result, was expelled from school. And his evening attendances of history lectures at the University of Benghazi, were taken as innocent quirks…”

There is no reference to the book by Yegorin in the bibliography. The source is not mentioned in the text as well.

Arab Solitaire and “Izvestiya”(“News”) newspaper

Three passages of the book by Zhumaly on the pages 383-384 are 100% identical to the article in the “Izvestiya” newspaper from December 21, 2003 (authors: Yevgeniy Bay, Vladimir Konev, Washington-Moscow). Starting with the words “After Tripoli unveiled this decision …” on page 383, till with the words “… how much we already knew about his projects on the development of weapons of mass destruction” on page 384.
There is no reference to the “Izvestiya” newspaper in the book. The publishing house and the authors of the article are not mentioned.

The reaction of Rassul Zhumaly

Mr. Zhumaly commented on the publication of the “Plagiarism in Kazakhstan” website in the discussion of this topic on the journalist Daniyar Sabitov Facebook page. Here is a screenshot of the comment as of 12:00, May 30, 2017.

TRUTH | The book by Rassul Zhumaly published by KAZISS contains copyright infringement

Translation of the screenshot:

«I came across the material under the title “Rassul Zhumaly. The Plagiarist. Arab Solitaire”. Link below. It this article, the author, who didn’t want to reveal his name, accused me … “in plagiarism”. In support of the pretentious thesis, he compares some parts from the book with other works. What can I say about this? First of all, the book contains a list of used literature. Including the works of S. Lavrenov and I. Popov, referred to in the article. Hence, there is no fact of plagiarism, because in this case the source should not be mentioned at all. Secondly, this work is not a scientific research for a scientific degree. This is a political journalism. And according to the laws of the genre, it is not required to list all the references to the sources under each page. It would be strange, for example, if every article in a newspaper or a magazine was accompanied by a long list of the used sources. After all, this is not a fiction book, where the author draws inspiration from his imagination. This is an analysis of certain life events, which the scientist compares, explains, and draws conclusions.
However, according to the author of the pasquil, it turns out that each journalist should be accused in plagiarism. Sounds like an absurd? No, it is quite a serious claim.
Thirdly, in the list of supposedly “stolen” passages (for example, mirznanii.com/a/333070/irak), the anonym shows texts not from those passages (it is a completely different text), but … from my work. Is it a sophisticated kind of plagiarism to attribute to another person something that he did not write?
Some links in the article do not exist at all (for example, middleeast.org.ua/research/kuveyt2.htm). There is an obvious juggling of facts and attempts to indulge in wishful thinking. What aroused such a sick interest of the anonym to my personality remains the question. Perhaps this is a kind of “eck” reaction to the parts in the book, exposing the flawed policy of the USSR, and now Russia in the Arab world. It often happens when, in the absence of weighty counterarguments, someone “blows below the belt”. Maybe, it is the envy of a pettifogger, who prefers to hide in the shadow and slander others, rather than create something worthwhile, and most importantly something of his own. It is mean. But, they say, “black PR” is also a PR. And I want to thank him for that.
P.S. It is funny, because the website that published this opus is also anonymous! That is, it cannot even be called to account. Cunning. https://plagiarismqazaqstan.wordpress.com/»

Editorial comment

We agree with Mr. Zhumaly that anonymous website cannot be an evidentiary source. Therefore, we conducted our own investigation of facts at the request of the reader.

We would also like to mention here, that when Mr. Zhumaly in his comment talks about the “completely different text”, he mentions the book, which he refers to in the bibliography.
We cite pages from the book by Rassul Zhumaly and the textbook compiled by the orientalist, Alexander Rodriguez, a reference to which Rassul Zhumaly gives at the end of the book.

Information for those who is willing to verify the results we have obtained and/or conduct own investigation:

The pdf-file of the book is not available on the KAZISS website at the moment. However it is listed in the KAZISS database. In order to avoid manipulation, we also saved this file in our database on May 30, 2017.

References to all files used in the analysis, the reliability of which is beyond doubt, are given in the text of the article.

UPDATE from Rassul Zhumaly:

Political scientist, Rassul Zhumaly, responded to our material in the discussion on Facebook, and, as we promised, we publish his comment here without any changes or reductions:

«I came across the material under the title “Rassul Zhumaly. The Plagiarist. Arab Solitaire”. Link below. It this article, the author, who didn’t want to reveal his name, accused me … “in plagiarism”. In support of the pretentious thesis, he compares some parts from the book with other works. What can I say about this? First of all, the book contains a list of used literature. Including the works of S. Lavrenov and I. Popov, referred to in the article. Hence, there is no fact of plagiarism, because in this case the source should not be mentioned at all. Secondly, this work is not a scientific research for a scientific degree. This is a political journalism. And according to the laws of the genre, it is not required to list all the references to the sources under each page. It would be strange, for example, if every article in a newspaper or a magazine was accompanied by a long list of the used sources. After all, this is not a fiction book, where the author draws inspiration from his imagination. This is an analysis of certain life events, which the scientist compares, explains, and draws conclusions.
However, according to the author of the pasquil, it turns out that each journalist should be accused in plagiarism. Sounds like an absurd? No, it is quite a serious claim.
Thirdly, in the list of supposedly “stolen” passages (for example, mirznanii.com/a/333070/irak), the anonym shows texts not from those passages (it is a completely different text), but … from my work. Is it a sophisticated kind of plagiarism to attribute to another person something that he did not write?
Some links in the article do not exist at all (for example, middleeast.org.ua/research/kuveyt2.htm). There is an obvious juggling of facts and attempts to indulge in wishful thinking. What aroused such a sick interest of the anonym to my personality remains the question. Perhaps this is a kind of “eck” reaction to the parts in the book, exposing the flawed policy of the USSR, and now Russia in the Arab world. It often happens when, in the absence of weighty counterarguments, someone “blows below the belt”. Maybe, it is the envy of a pettifogger, who prefers to hide in the shadow and slander others, rather than create something worthwhile, and most importantly something of his own. It is mean. But, they say, “black PR” is also a PR. And I want to thank him for that. Finally, it is funny, but the website that published this opus is also anonymous! Moreover, the website is a day-fly, that contains no articles or materials, but filth about me! P.S. I’d like emphasize once again, that my work is not a scientific work. This is a political journalism and I got neither a scientific degree, nor payment. It means that requirements on academic standards (page references, specific pages) cannot be applied to it. This is like judging a football match by the rules of hockey, and to expect football players to the puck instead of a ball. According to this approach, one could question the books of a journalism by native authors and foreign authors as well. Soloviyev, Primakov, SeifullMulyuk, Medvedev and many other authors arranged their works in exactly the same way that I used: the list of used literature is at the end of the publication. It is noteworthy that a number of respectable Internet resources, like Zonakz and Factcheck, almost simultaneously released the anonymous publication. As if on command. At the same time, the mentioned resources did not even doubt that the material was published by the day-fly website site, and the author is the anonymous. Moreover, there is a violation of the journalistic ethics, because none of them approached to me to ask the opinion of the opposite party. All of this makes me think bad. This is the objectivity that we have. It turns out, it is quite easy to blacken a person!»

UPDATE from the editors office

We think it is necessary to note that we did not approach to Rassul Zhumaly to ask his opinion, since we are engaged in verifying statements and facts. If the purpose of this material was to clarify the reasons for the usage of the quotations, that were not indicated or listed in the book by Rassul Zhumaly, then surely, we would ask him this question. However, our task was to check the statements on that the “Arabian Solitaire” contained inappropriately designed quotes (or rather, not indicated at all). And here is only the facts in our article. We do not presume to judge the reasons for their appearance, since this is not included into the Factcheck.kz objectives at the moment.

Журналист, редактор. Филолог-славист. Соавтор и составитель ряда работ по журналистике и языку вражды. Работал журналистом и редактором в различных научно-популярных, развлекательных и общественно-политических изданиях Казахстана. Главный редактор проекта «Фактчек в Казахстане» с 2017 по 2022 год. Медиатренер, создатель образовательного проекта Factcheck.Academy

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