Academia Sinica will examine research papers published in Taiwan by Chen Ching-shih (陳慶士) following Ohio State University’s (OSU) report that Chen had falsified research data while working at the school, Academia Sinica President James Liao (廖俊智) said yesterday.
A cancer researcher, Chen was director of Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biological Chemistry from 2014 until he resigned on Saturday.
The university on Friday issued a report on its investigation into allegations that led to Chen’s resignation from the school in September last year, saying that he had deviated “from the accepted practices of image handling and figure generation and intentionally falsifying data” in 14 instances in eight papers between 2006 and 2014.
The school said that Chen had admitted to the charges when he resigned.
The journal Science on Friday announced similar findings about the papers on its Web site.
The OSU report recommended that Chen work with his coauthors and journals to produce an “immediate retraction” of those eight papers.
Academia Sinica highly values academic ethics and integrity and its Research Ethics Committee would investigate papers published by Chen in Taiwan in accordance with established regulations, Liao said.
Chen’s misconduct occurred before he became head of the Institute of Biological Chemistry in August 2014, Liao said.
Asked if Academia Sinica would seek repayment of Chen’s salary and grants, Liao said further action would be determined by the Research Ethics Committee.
Chen is currently a visiting professor at China Medical University in Taichung.
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