A professor embroiled in an academic fraud scandal yesterday denied wrongdoing and said that the money he received from an alleged accomplice was to purchase a home and had nothing to do with graft.
National Taiwan University (NTU) professor Kuo Min-liang (郭明良), who has been fielding accusations related to forged research since last month, held a news conference in Taipei yesterday to speak publicly for the first time about the allegations.
Kuo has also been accused of accepting payments from NTU Hospital doctor Yen Men-luh (嚴孟祿) in exchange for letting other academics be listed as coauthors on papers written by his research team.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Kuo yesterday said that accusations against his old friend Yen caused Kuo “deeply felt pain,” and that Yen had lent him money to buy a home during an economic downturn.
Kuo said Yen had never used work coauthored with himself to forward his career, adding that he was unclear how the relationship could be seen as one of quid pro quo.
Kuo said he “has not forged research, has not been in hiding, has not sold papers and refused to be labeled guilty before an investigation,” adding that he is “very sorry for causing conflict in the academic community and wasting public resources.”
He has not been hiding, but preparing materials requested for the investigation into his case, he said, adding that he has worked at the university for 25 years and he has always been trusting of his students.
When suspicions were first raised on Oct. 20 about work published by NTU post-doctorate researcher Cha Shih-ting (查詩婷), who was part of his research team, he trusted her explanations, Kuo said, adding that he approached an academic journal on Oct. 26 about correcting the errors.
Kuo said he only began to question Cha’s honesty after PubPeer — an online academic forum that allows scientists to search for publications and engage in anonymous discussions — exposed the work as a forgery on Nov. 2.
“At the time I half-believed and half-doubted her,” Kuo said. “On Nov. 4, I made inquiries with the journal about corrections to the article. On Nov. 6, I reported the issue to the school.”
When he realized that the work was a forgery he requested it be withdrawn, Kuo said, adding that he subsequently resigned his post feeling that he had failed in his supervisory duties.
Kuo denied claims that more than 10 papers produced under his supervision were forged, saying that only the two papers Cha worked on in 2008 and this year were fraudulent.
“Our laboratory has published 117 papers and only two were found to be forged. Is that a ‘collection of forgeries?’” Kuo asked. “If the media wants to call the 100 or so doctorate and post-doctorate students I have supervised a ‘fraud ring’ then they are slandering the legitimate 99 percent of the students.”
Kuo said that he comes from a low-income background and put himself through school, adding that even after he became an NTU lecturer he did not have a home of his own to house his family.
Kuo said Yen lent him the money to buy a house and told him to take his time repaying it, adding that he was shocked that someone would misrepresent the loan as graft and send the paper trail to the media.
“The papers I coauthored with Yen were published in 2005 and 2011, six years apart. How could they possibly be used by Yen for advancement?” Kuo said. “Those two papers have no significance at all for Yen.”
Kuo said he hoped the media would not label him guilty before a proper investigation has been conducted, adding that he had already admitted his supervisory failure and handed in his resignation.
“This must be the first such request for a resignation from an academic position in the history of Taiwan,” Kuo said, adding that he would submit to an investigation by his peers and the judicial authorities.
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