Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) has ordered the Ministry of Science and Technology to look into an academic publishing scandal involving Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧), Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) said yesterday.
The directive came in the wake of accusations that National Pingtung University associate professor Chen Chen-yuan (陳震遠) committed academic fraud after 60 articles submitted by Chen were withdrawn from the Journal of Vibration and Control over allegations of falsified peer reviews.
Five of the retracted papers have Chiang listed as a coauthor.
Chiang on Friday convened a press briefing in which he denied any involvement in the alleged fraud.
Sun yesterday quoted Jiang as saying he felt “sorrow” over the scandal, adding that Chiang sought the premier out to clarify his role in the incident as soon as he found out that five of the publications in question cited him as a coauthor.
Sun said he did not know the details of the conversation between Jiang and Chiang, adding that the premier had asked the minister to clear the matter up with the public, which Chiang sought to do at the press conference on Friday.
The scandal has prompted calls for Chiang to be suspended until the incident is resolved, but Sun said the premier has not yet made a decision on that yet.
“Right now, we are waiting for the results of the investigation,” the Executive Yuan spokesman said.
Separately yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesperson Huang Di-ying (黃帝潁) called on Chiang to assume responsibility in the matter.
The scandal has gained worldwide coverage from news outlets such as the New York Times and the Guardian, Huang said, adding that a report in the Los Angeles Times said there could be other suspects involved.
Huang said that the Ministry of Education as well as the Ministry of Science and Technology should shoulder their responsibilities and launch probe to determine the existence of academic fraud, how long it has existed and how many people are involved.
It is important that any person found guilty of such fraud be punished according to the law to preserved the nation’s academic reputation, the DPP spokesman said, adding that these people’s promotions and grants should be revoked.
Huang also called into question Chiang’s claim that he did not know beforehand that he was listed as a coauthor in the five withdrawn papers, with the spokesman saying that the articles were all listed under the section detailing on the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Web site detailing Chiang’s publications.
“How could he not know about their existence?” Huang said, adding that the Ministry of Education should also investigate Chiang.
According to DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲), the practice of equating the number of times a paper is cited to its academic achievement has cuased many problems in the nation’s academic circles.
The retracted articles serve as a rude awakening for Taiwanese academics that it is time to curb the “ridiculous” trend of name-dropping, Kuan said.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS