German medical academics are accused of helping students obtain doctorates for cash

Medical academics are among about 100 professors in Germany who are being investigated for accepting cash bribes to help students obtain doctoral degrees.

Günther Feld, the senior prosecutor in Cologne who is leading the investigation, declined to reveal the number of medical school professors involved or to name their medical schools. But he confirmed that “several” medical school professors were being investigated and could face criminal prosecution. Medical doctors were also among those who may have illegally obtained doctoral degrees, he told the BMJ.

Supervision of dissertations for doctoral degrees in …