A professor has been accused of academic fraud after 60 articles were withdrawn from a scientific journal.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.”
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
DETERMINATION: Beijing’s actions toward Tokyo have drawn international attention, but would likely bolster regional coordination and defense networks, the report said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is likely to prioritize security reforms and deterrence in the face of recent “hybrid” threats from China, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said. The bureau made the assessment in a written report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of an oral report and questions-and-answers session at the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The key points of Japan’s security reforms would be to reinforce security cooperation with the US, including enhancing defense deployment in the first island chain, pushing forward the integrated command and operations of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and US Forces Japan, as
IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST: Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu said the strengthening of military facilities would help to maintain security in the Taiwan Strait Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi, visiting a military base close to Taiwan, said plans to deploy missiles to the post would move forward as tensions smolder between Tokyo and Beijing. “The deployment can help lower the chance of an armed attack on our country,” Koizumi told reporters on Sunday as he wrapped up his first trip to the base on the southern Japanese island of Yonaguni. “The view that it will heighten regional tensions is not accurate.” Former Japanese minister of defense Gen Nakatani in January said that Tokyo wanted to base Type 03 Chu-SAM missiles on Yonaguni, but little progress
NO CHANGES: A Japanese spokesperson said that Tokyo remains consistent and open for dialogue, while Beijing has canceled diplomatic engagements A Japanese official blasted China’s claims that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has altered Japan’s position on a Taiwan crisis as “entirely baseless,” calling for more dialogue to stop ties between Asia’s top economies from spiraling. China vowed to take resolute self-defense against Japan if it “dared to intervene militarily in the Taiwan Strait” in a letter delivered Friday to the UN. “I’m aware of this letter,” said Maki Kobayashi, a senior Japanese government spokeswoman. “The claim our country has altered its position is entirely baseless,” she said on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Johannesburg on Saturday. The Chinese Ministry
RSS