National Taiwan University (NTU) yesterday released stage-two investigation results on an academic fraud scandal involving professor Kuo Min-liang (郭明良), which saw the university move to fire Kuo and professor Chang Cheng-chi (張正琪), while clearing NTU president Yang Pan-chyr (楊泮池), who cowrote four problematic papers published by Kuo’s team.
Two internal investigation teams and an investigation committee comprising members from outside the institution found that Kuo’s research team presented a host of misleading images in six papers, of which two have been retracted by science journals Nature Cell Biology and the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
The sheer number of problematic images was proof that Kuo “purposefully” added them to the papers, the report said.
Photo: Hsiao Yu-hsin, Taipei Times
The problems manifested in 2006, when Kuo — as the papers’ corresponding author — was responsible for supervising research work, but he chose to neglect the issue and involved a number of his graduate, doctoral and postdoctoral researchers in the presentation of more errors, it said.
The university decided to dismiss Kuo, who should assume “the greatest and ultimate responsibility,” it said.
Chang, whose name was absent from the first-stage investigation results, duplicated and improperly edited several images in four papers, including the 2008 article, of which she was the lead author, the investigation found.
She has been disqualified as a professor, dismissed, barred from re-applying for a teaching position at the university for five years and prohibited from requesting research grants from the school for five years.
Yang, who coauthored four problematic papers, “bears no responsibility” for the falsified data presented in the papers and therefore “has no reason to resign,” the university said.
In a 19-page report, the committee said Yang only provided some general advice on the direction of the research and his clinical insights on the four papers.
Yang’s involvement was limited to the parts he contributed and coauthors were responsible for checking their contributions to the paper, the committee said.
“By a vote of six to zero, our committee concluded that, based on Ministry of Science and Technology regulations, Dr Yang bears no responsibility for the manipulated figures that mainly involve immunoblots,” the committee said.
One of the questions the committee said it assessed was whether Yang should resign in the way former Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧) did over an academic misconduct scandal 2014.
The question has been raised by educators who called for Yang to step down.
Chiang was unknowingly listed by his former student Chen Cheng-wu (陳震武) as a coauthor in a fake online peer review ring Chen helped create in an attempt to have work published by international journals.
Yang’s case fundamentally differs from the earlier case in the nature and the magnitude of the offense, the committee said.
“Therefore, we feel that it is inappropriate to suggest that, based on this earlier case, President Yang should resign,” it said.
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
UNDER ATTACK: Raymond Greene said there were 412 billion malicious threats in the Asia-Pacific region in the first half of 2023, with 55 percent targeting Taiwan Taiwan not only faces military intimidation from China, but is also on the front line of global cybersecurity threats, and it is taking action to counter those attacks, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Speaking at the opening of this year’s Cybersec Expo in Taipei, the president assured foreign diplomats and exhibitors that Taiwan remained committed to strengthening its defense against cyberattacks and enhancing the resilience of its digital infrastructure. Lai referenced a report from the National Security Bureau (NSB) indicating that the Government Service Network faced an average of 2.4 million intrusion attempts daily last year, more than double the figure
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
RSS