A professor has been accused of academic fraud after 60 articles were withdrawn from a scientific journal.
The accusations are centered on Chen Chen-yuan (陳震遠), also known as Peter Chen, who has since resigned from his position as associate professor of computer science at the National Pingtung University of Education in southern Taiwan.
The Journal of Vibration and Control, a leading publication in the field of acoustics, retracted 60 papers linked to Chen, accusing him of “perverting the peer-review process” by creating fraudulent online accounts representing 130 academics to give favorable judgements on papers to help get them published, the Guardian reported on Thursday.
Photo: Liberty Times
The New York Times reported that Chen had set up a “peer-review and citation ring” consisting of fake scientists, as well as real ones whose identities he had assumed.
Sage Publications, which produces the magazine, said the retracted papers all had at least one author or reviewer implicated in the ring and that other scientists were involved in the activity.
The Washington Post reported that the ring was rigging the review process to get articles published and the mass retraction was “mind-blowing.”
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
“A fraud accusation like nothing you’ve seen before,” wrote Pulitzer Award-winning reporter and business author Michael Hiltzik in the Los Angeles Times, adding “this one takes the cake” for academic fraud.
Taiwanese Nobel laureate and former head of Academia Sinica Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) said yesterday that “this is disgraceful, a very terrible thing.”
“Taiwan’s academic community must take stock of this, the old way of ‘quantity over quality’ must change. In competing for funding and promotion, many Taiwanese professors aim for a high number of published papers,” he said.
Among the retracted papers, five have Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧) listed as a coauthor.
Chiang convened a press briefing yesterday and denied involvement.
“The five papers are not fraudulent, they are solid works of research done by my doctorate and master’s students. I will ask them to find out why the retractions were made. We shall defend our rights as necessary,” Chiang said.
Chiang said that some problems might have occurred during the review and publication process.
“I was only responsible for supervising the papers,” he said, adding that the individuals responsible for the alleged fraud should clarify the situation.
Chiang said he was only involved because one of his doctorate students was Chen’s brother.
He said that the brothers had assisted each other to organize the papers to be published and were responsible for listing the coauthors, “but because I was busy with official functions, I had no knowledge of these things until recently.”
Associate professor of law at National Chengchi University Liu Hung-en (劉宏恩) said: “The widespread scale of the scandal and the audacity of the perpetrated fraud are unheard of.”
He said Chiang was being irresponsible.
“So he was the supervisor for student’s research and listed as a coauthor, but when things go wrong, he pins everything on the student,” Liu said. “The matter needs to be investigated.”
‘DEMOCRATIC FISH’: Soichiro Hayashi said he wants to return Taiwan’s kindness after it helped with relief efforts after the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami Japanese fish farmers are ready to help Taiwan after China banned Taiwanese grouper imports, the Sankei Shimbun reported yesterday. The Chinese General Administration of Customs suspended imports of the fish on Monday last week, citing prohibited chemicals and excessive levels of oxytetracycline allegedly found in grouper imports since December last year. Soichiro Hayashi, president of the Hayashi Trout Farm in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture, is leading the push for Taiwanese grouper imports, the newspaper said. His call has caught the attention of several large sushi chains, the report said. Hayashi, who is the Fukushima branch head of the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association in Japan,
‘TROJAN HORSE’ SCHEME: The comment that a bridge would allow China’s PLA to easily launch an attack shows ‘a lack of backbone,’ Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je said Critics accused Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of being oblivious to national security concerns after he proposed constructing a bridge to link Kinmen and China’s Xiamen (廈門). Ko, who is also the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman, made the proposal when presiding over the opening ceremony of the party’s office in Kinmen on Saturday. He said the bridge could solve Kinmen’s population, electricity and garbage problems, as well as serve as a shortcut for leaving or entering Taiwan without traveling via Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport). He also proposed building a hospital in Kinmen to attract people who are seeking medical treatment in
OVER THE HUMP: In a seven-day period ending on Wednesday, the nation reported 366,628 new cases, down 19 percent from the 451,358 reported in the previous week The nation might further open up to more arrivals in the next two months, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported 48,283 new local COVID-19 cases, down from more than 50,000 in the previous few days. Taiwan on Wednesday last week introduced a plan to allow up to 25,000 arrivals per week as part of efforts to gradually reopen borders, which includes reducing mandatory quarantines for inbound travelers from seven to three days, followed by four days in “self-initiated epidemic prevention.” The quota covers inbound Taiwanese arrivals, businesspeople and migrant workers. Former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) yesterday said
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said it is monitoring Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy ship movements near Taiwan, after the Japanese Ministry of Defense disclosed that Chinese vessels made a rare voyage between Yilan County and Japan’s Yonaguni. The Japanese ministry on Wednesday said that two Chinese navy ships on Tuesday diverted from their usual route of entering the Pacific Ocean via the Miyako Strait and for the first time traveled there between Yilan and Yonaguni. The Japan Self-Defense Forces said that it picked up the presence of China’s Type-056A Jiangdao-class corvette 220km north of Yonaguni at 9am on Tuesday. The
RSS