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Else Kay Hoffmann, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen's August Kroh Institute, was stripped of her doctorate last week because she copied other researchers' written works.

An international committee investigating complaints that Ms Hoffmann plagiarised the works of others found that she had broken the rules and norms governing copying by not giving due credit to the original authors.

Between 30 per cent and 40 per cent of the survey part of Ms Hoffmann's doctoral thesis from 1987 was copied from the works of Philip A. Knauf and Arthur W. Siebens.

The copying, the committee believes, was due to "rashness, laziness or the pressure of time".

The international committee calls the experimental content of Ms Hoffmann's thesis "innovative and systematic". It "makes important contributions to research" in cancer cells and ion transport routes.

Vice chancellor Kjeld Mollgard has asked Ms Hoffmann not to apply for leading posts at the University of Copenhagen for the next five years. The 52-year-old biochemist will continue lecturing at the Institute for Biological Chemistry.