Rules for Ethical Research Introduced for Korea University Faculty

Korea University revealed its guidelines for research ethics aimed at “ensuring authenticity of research” yesterday, which include definitions of plagiarism and other irregularities in research activities. The guidelines have already been in effect since the beginning of the fall semester, the university said.

It is the first time for a Korean university to set up any such guidelines for their research. Seoul National University recently drew up similar standards, but is yet to decide their effective date.

A task force team comprising of six professors from various departments, including political science, medicine, and biotechnology, worded the seven-chapter-long 62 articles for a year from last July, the university explained.

Research irregularities are clearly defined, taking lessons from disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk, former Minister of Education Kim Byung-jun, and former president of Korea University Lee Pil-sang. Kim and Lee both have been deprived of their titles for plagiarizing papers of his own students (Kim) and swelling his research record by publishing the same papers under different titles (Lee).

The guidelines divide research irregularities into four categories: data fabrication or falsification; plagiarism; intentional misstatement of authors’ names; and duplicate publication.

The duplicate publication part says, “If a paper has a majority of similar content with an earlier paper by the same researcher, the newer paper shall be regarded as a duplicate publication even if it uses text that shows a slightly different point of view, or gives a different analysis for the same data.” The guideline is designed to eliminate the practice of some researchers who “inflate” their research achievements through “revivals” of their earlier research.

From now on, Korea University professors cannot submit a paper for publication if it has already been published in another journal without prior consent of the editors of both journals. He or she also must ensure that the new publisher understands the paper has a record of publication.

“Any violation of the guidelines shall be investigated by Faculty Ethics Committee and the violator shall be subject to due punishment,” said the university. “Even after the statute of limitations (two years) has passed, we will still impose as heavy a penalty as we can, including cancellation of a promotion earned through the revealed irregularities.”

hyejin@donga.com