AN academic at a top Scottish university has lost their job after being found guilty of “over 70 instances of plagiarism”.
St Andrews concluded an investigation into one of its academics on Tuesday, saying it had found “incontrovertible evidence that the individual had used the texts and conclusions of other scholars and journalists in their published works”.
It is understood that the plagiarist is Ros Holmes, who had held a lecturer position in the university’s School of Modern Languages and was considered an expert in contemporary Chinese art and online culture.
All of Holmes’s profiles and links to any publications have been scrubbed from the St Andrews website. She had joined the university in September 2020.
There is still one report from 2021 explaining that she had been “awarded a research grant from the Royal Society of Edinburgh”.
The St Andrews investigation focused on claims raised in May and June 2022.
It concluded: “Over 70 instances of plagiarism, from a wide range of sources, were established across seven pieces of work published between 2014 and 2022.
“The individual is no longer employed by the University of St Andrews.
“The university is informing all relevant publishers and previous employers of the findings of the research integrity investigation and is grateful for the cooperation and support on which it has been able to rely throughout the investigatory process.”
It is not the first investigation to find Holmes guilty of plagiarism. In 2022, the academic journal ARTMargins retracted an article it had published under her name entitled “Meanwhile in China … Miao Ying and the Rise of Chinternet Ugly”.
The journal said it had verified claims of plagiarism against Holmes, who then admitted to “all the instances identified”.
A spokesperson for the University of St Andrews said the report had not named the academic due to an agreement and “concern for an ongoing health issue”.
They added: “All relevant publishers and previous employers are being informed, in keeping with our unwavering commitment to research integrity. University colleagues have also been made aware.
"We do not intend to comment further on this matter at this time.”
Holmes was formerly a junior research fellow in art history at Christ Church, University of Oxford, and a research associate at the University of Oxford China Centre.
She ran the website “themediatedimage.com”, which has been recently made “private”. Her Twitter account is also locked.
Holmes got her doctorate in history of art from the University of Oxford, funded by a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
Due to the privacy settings on her website and social media, and the deletion of her pages from the St Andrews website, The National has been unable to contact Holmes for comment.
