Concussion kingpin resigns global post over plagiarism scandal

Australian academic Dr Paul McCrory, the influential neurologist who has helped shape concussion protocols in myriad international sports, including football, rugby union, NFL and Australian rules, has resigned over allegations of plagiarism.

McCrory was the chair of the Concussion in Sport Group (CISG) and lead author of four of the last five Consensus Statements on Concussion in Sport, from which the NFL, Football Association and AFL draw concussion guidelines and assessment protocols. A longtime honorary associate professor at Melbourne’s Florey Institute, McCrory is regarded as the pre-eminent brain researcher in the southern hemisphere, and has been the loudest leading voice on concussion in sport for the last decade.

However, he has tendered his resignation from CISG after being accused of plagiarising stories in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM). Already one 2005 article has been removed for “unlawful and indefensible breach of copyright” and more of his articles are now under the microscope. In resigning his post, McCrory told colleagues he had made a “terrible error” and had asked for the article to be retracted.

But the damage may have already been done. “Plagiarism is the number one sin in academia,” said Alan Pearce, a neuroscientist and concussion researcher. “And the BJSM is the leading publication for sport and exercise science, so if McCrory has lifted 50% of someone else’s article as alleged, without attribution or credit, the reputational damage of a retraction, both for he and the journal, could be massive.”

A former Collingwood club doctor, McCrory helped frame the AFL’s concussion policy but his bullish views and strident public proclamations have made him a divisive figure. In a 2016