The Hannover Medical School in Germany is examining allegations that German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen plagiarized in her 1990 medical dissertation in obstetrics.

The allegations were made on the 'VroniPlag Wiki' website, a platform that searches academic theses for plagiarism. Compared to some of the cases VroniPlag has examined before, the alleged plagiarism is only "moderate", Gerhard Dannemann, a law researcher at Humboldt University in Berlin, told the magazine Der Spiegel.

In the past four years, two other federal ministers have lost their PhD titles and their posts in government following evidence of plagiarism: Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg — also a defence minister — in 2011, and education and research minister Annette Schavan in 2013.

Speaking to German media, von der Leyen denied the scientific misdemeanour. The Hannover Medical School confirmed in a 28 September statement that it has launched a formal preliminary investigation, on the minister's request.