National Taiwan University (NTU) president Yang Pan-chyr (楊泮池) has become embroiled in a case of allegedly forged research after reports emerged that he coauthored a paper with NTU professor Kuo Min-liang (郭明良).
Users of PubPeer — an online academic forum that allows scientists to search for publications and engage in anonymous discussions — this month raised doubts over the credibility of an article written this year by Kuo’s research team, which claimed to show that protease G9a might be able to regulate the proliferation of colorectal cancer cells and help scientists create new treatments.
PubPeer users over the past several days have reported at least four more problematic articles by Kuo’s team, including the 2006 article “Knockdown of Contactin-1 Expression Suppresses Invasion and Metastasis of Lung Adenocarcinoma,” which lists Yang as a coauthor.
Photo: CNA
Users said that several images from the article were apparently duplicated or edited to give the appearance that multiple tests had been performed, an issue that led to the retraction this month of a Kuo article from the Nature Cell Biology journal.
The 2006 paper was published by the Cancer Research journal.
Forum users said that the research team — of which Yang was a member — had used similar methods to fake work in both papers.
Yang on Tuesday said at the university’s 88th anniversary ceremony that he was “saddened and heartbroken” by the events.
Yang said he was not a party to forged research.
He said that problems with the images had been exposed thanks to today’s more advanced technology and he could not tell they were problematic when the paper was being prepared.
He said breaches of academic ethics would be dealt with seriously and necessary punishments would be handed down.
NTU secretary-general Lin Ta-te (林達德) said that five articles overseen by Kuo would be investigated by a team comprised of faculty members at the College of Life Sciences and the College of Medicine.
Because the university’s president is involved, an ad hoc committee of five to nine members, including Academia Sinica fellows and third-party academics, would be formed to investigate the papers, Lin said, adding that the move would be unprecedented in NTU history.
Investigation results would be forwarded to the evaluation committee, which would decide on punishments, he said.
Lin said that although Yang was listed as a coauthor, it does not necessarily mean he committed academic fraud, adding that the committee would determine Yang’s involvement with the problematic portions of the articles and ensure that accountability is distributed proportionately.
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