National Taiwan University (NTU) should disclose the names of its ad hoc investigation committee’s members to prove that its probe into allegedly falsified journal papers cowritten by NTU president Yang Pan-chyr (楊泮池) and professor Kuo Min-liang (郭明良) was conducted in a fair and objective manner, Academia Sinica research fellow Juan Li-jung (阮麗蓉) said yesterday.
At a news conference in Taipei, Juan said that Yang could have acquiesced to Kuo’s academic misconduct over the past 10 years, citing a close working relationship between the two.
Yang, who in 2007 became dean of the university’s College of Medicine, hired Kuo as the college’s vice dean that year, Juan said.
In 2009, Kuo was appointed as director-general of the Department of Life Science of the then-National Science Council — now the Ministry of Science of Technology — on a referral by Yang.
Yang was the second author of a 2006 paper published by leading journal Cancer Cell, while Kuo was the supervisor for the paper’s research.
The paper underwent three “major” corrections in 2007 and 2008, but not only did Yang not take heed of the mistakes, he allowed Kuo to eventually become dean of the university’s College of Life Science in 2012 and supervise a string of allegedly falsified research, Juan said.
The paper has been under a spotlight after academic fraud scandals allegedly involving Kuo erupted late last year.
However, despite facing questions from academics over problematic data originally cited by the paper, all Yang has said is that it has been corrected.
To ensure that there is no undue influence on the investigations under way by the ministries of science and technology and education, Yang should recuse himself of his duties, Juan said, adding that former Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) last month made the same suggestion to Yang.
If Yang is reluctant about a suspension, the university should publish the list of ad hoc committee members to back its claim that there were no conflicts of interest in its investigation, she said.
Juan said the ministries’ investigations are based on conclusions by the school, which found that Yang is innocent and bears no responsibility for the problematic papers.
As Yang’s academic achievements far outweigh those of Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liang-gee (陳良基) — a former NTU vice president and Yang’s former colleague — and Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠), Juan said that the two ministries might collude to protect Yang.
The ministries should recall research grants issued to subsidize potentially falsified research by Kuo and Yang and form an intergovernmental supervisory mechanism to prevent academic fraud, Juan said.
Ministry of Education Department of Higher Education Director Nicole Lee (李彥儀) rejected Juan’s claim that its investigation would be based on the results of the NTU committee’s probe.
The investigation committees of both ministries are to review 17 potentially problematic papers by Kuo’s research team submitted by NTU and reach a unified conclusion after discussions, Lee said.
Academics linked to the problematic papers are to be summoned by the committees for questioning before any conclusions are made, Pan said.
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