A professor at Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) has had three papers published in an international journal retracted due to data manipulation and duplication.
According to the scientific community on the 21st, DGIST is conducting an investigation committee regarding the research misconduct of the affiliated professor. A DGIST official noted, "The school is aware of the retraction of the papers and is currently in the process of investigating whose fault led to this situation," adding, "The conclusion of the investigation committee has been delayed due to multiple reports being received."
The problematic papers were two published in the international journal "Materials Today Chemistry" in 2021 and 2022, and one published in the "Journal of Colloid and Interface Science" in 2020. These papers were found to have reused data from other existing papers or to have manipulated data through artificial intelligence (AI) image analysis, resulting in their retraction. It is reported that a total of nine instances of manipulation or duplication were confirmed in the JCIS paper.
The retracted papers were confirmed to result from research supported by a national research and development (R&D) project managed by the National Research Foundation of Korea. It is specified at the end of each paper that it was supported by the Leading Research Center of the National Research Foundation of Korea and a mid-sized research grant.
This research misconduct incident was made known through reports. The academic community stated that starting in October 2023, the informant raised allegations of misconduct regarding eight papers by the professor. Among these, three papers have been retracted. The informant raised issues not only with the journal publisher that published the papers but also with DGIST and the National Research Foundation of Korea.
A DGIST official stated, "The Research Integrity Committee generally aims to reach a conclusion within six months, but the schedule has been continually delayed as the committee has been restructured four times due to repeated reports," adding, "Various possibilities such as disciplinary action and research funding recovery exist, but nothing has been finalized yet."
DGIST has reportedly held a total of nine related meetings over a year and a half, with the main investigation committee having convened four times. However, a final judgment, including any disciplinary action, has yet to be made, and the main investigation committee is expected to meet again within this month.
The National Research Foundation of Korea is also said to be waiting for the final results of the DGIST investigation. An official from the Ministry of Science and ICT stated, "Once the internal investigation at the university is completed, the research foundation will consider recovering research funding or further disciplinary actions."
The DGIST professor at the center of the controversy is pleading innocence. The papers in question were written by a postdoctoral researcher from India, who is indicated as the corresponding author. In a phone call with ChosunBiz, the professor explained, "Some of the images in the papers recycled images previously used by the author, who was a postdoctoral researcher from India, in their prior laboratory," and added, "It is realistically difficult for a professor to verify all the data individually."
He stated, "Most of the problematic images are appendix images that do not affect the conclusions of the papers," and mentioned, "The anonymous informant has repeatedly raised issues with various institutions, including the National Research Foundation of Korea, the journal, and the university over the past year, causing stress severe enough to require psychiatric treatment."
While the academic community empathizes with the professor's situation, it is clear that they did not fulfill their obligations as a corresponding author. A chemistry professor from a university in the metropolitan area commented, "It is true that a professor named as a corresponding author may find it difficult to meticulously examine all appendix images in a paper written by a postdoctoral researcher," and added, "Most professors do not pay much attention to the level of journals in which the problematic papers are published." However, they also remarked, "It is the duty and role of a professor to check that there are no issues with the papers used in their lab, and saying they did not know because they were a corresponding author can only be considered an excuse."
A professor from another research-focused university said, "Reusing images is a serious research misconduct, and explaining it as feeling wronged is hard to understand," adding, "Many professors publish papers written by students in academic journals without properly reviewing them while simply getting their names listed as corresponding authors. I hope this incident will prompt professors to reconsider the role of the corresponding author."
References
Journal of Colloid and Interface Science (2020), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2019.09.086
Materials Today Chemistry (2024), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtchem.2024.101955
Materials Today Chemistry (2024), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtchem.2024.101954