ReceptioGate 2026: Current Status

ReceptioGate is the name given to a coordinated online defamation campaign launched in late 2022 against the RECEPTIO research centre and its founder, Professor Carla Rossi. The campaign originated from false allegations of plagiarism concerning the volume The Book of Hours of Louis de Roucy, a scholarly study devoted to the historical documentation and digital reconstruction of a dismembered medieval manuscript.

The accusations were first disseminated online by Peter Kidd through blog posts and related digital materials. These allegations, presented without peer review, independent verification, or judicial validation, were rapidly circulated and amplified in digital and academic environments, causing severe reputational damage to Professor Rossi and to the RECEPTIO research centre.

Despite the absence of verified evidence, the Swiss National Science Foundation relied on these online materials and revoked a previously granted research contribution without conducting an autonomous and rigorous factual assessment. The allegations were further relayed within institutional academic contexts, contributing to the escalation of the defamation campaign.

On 7 January 2026, the Swiss Federal Administrative Court definitively closed the proceedings relating to The Book of Hours of Louis de Roucy.The Court annulled the revocation of the research grant, establishing that the accusations adopted by the Swiss National Science Foundation were based on unverified online claims and did not satisfy the legal and evidentiary standards required to substantiate plagiarism or to justify sanctions.

The ruling made clear that materials circulated online — including technical files, excerpts, and reconstructions disseminated outside proper verification procedures — cannot be treated as probative evidence. As a consequence, the central allegation that triggered the ReceptioGate defamation campaign was formally dismissed and deprived of legal effect.

The judgment also exposed a broader institutional failure: rather than critically assessing externally supplied accusations, academic actors transmitted and endorsed claims originating outside established scholarly and judicial evaluation mechanisms. This occurred in a context in which individuals connected to the commercial market of dismembered medieval manuscripts were shielded, while a scholar publicly denouncing biblioclasm was targeted.

Throughout this period, Professor Rossi continued her scholarly activity at an international level. In 2025, she published the peer-reviewed article “Biblioclasm for Profit: The Legal Implications of Dismembering Western Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts” in the Harvard Art Law Review, contributing authoritatively to the legal and ethical debate on the protection of manuscript heritage.

Moreover, on 19 December 2025, the Scriptorium Foroiuliense officially presented to the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, a facsimile edition of manuscript MS 198 of the Biblioteca Guarneriana, accompanied by a scholarly study authored by Carla Rossi. This institutional presentation represents a public and formal recognition of her research and standing in the field of codicology and manuscript studies.

As of 2026, RECEPTIO remains active, pursuing research on medieval manuscripts, digital reconstruction of dismembered codices, and the protection of cultural heritage.On the basis of judicial findings and documented facts, ReceptioGate is now recognized as a defamation campaign whose founding allegation collapsed under legal scrutiny, illustrating the risks posed by the uncritical circulation of online accusations in academic contexts.