Chonnam National University Reiterates "No Research Ethics Violations by Presidential Appointment Candidates"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Gwan-woo] The Jeonnam National University Presidential Appointment Candidate Recommendation Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Committee) reaffirmed on the 22nd that there is no violation of research ethics despite some media raising suspicions of research ethics violations by the appointment candidate, and announced that the candidate recommendation process for the presidential appointment will proceed normally.

In other words, Professor Jeong Seong-taek (Department of Orthopedic Surgery), ranked first, and Professor Heo Min (Department of Earth Environmental Sciences), ranked second, were selected as appointment candidates through a fair process, and it was confirmed that there were no issues in the verification of research ethics.

The university has stated that it conducted verification of all research results since February 2007 in accordance with government guidelines regarding these suspicions.

Accordingly, the candidate recommendation process for the 21st president appointment of Jeonnam National University is expected to proceed in earnest in the near future.

Jeonnam National University previously requested the media that raised the suspicions to correct the inaccurate reporting regarding the verification period, and presented official documents from the Committee’s verification request and the Research Ethics and Integrity Committee’s verification results as clear evidence related to the verification of papers since 2007.

The university’s position is that it has sufficiently explained in response to additional inquiries from the media.

The entry of another professor’s research achievements as the candidate’s paper unrelated to the relevant thesis was an administrative error, and the fact that a paper authored by another professor was not searchable on the academic society’s homepage has already been proven with the original paper and supporting materials.

Regarding questions about the similarity of the paper, the chairperson of the Research Ethics and Integrity Committee explained that during the committee’s verification process, based on the Medical Journal Publication Ethics Guidelines, the matter was thoroughly discussed and concluded that it could not be considered plagiarism because the drug, cell line numbers, and research results differed.

A Jeonnam National University official said, “Despite these explanations, it is very regrettable that some are causing confusion by mentioning candidate recommendation procedures and re-elections,” adding, “Even if there are attempts to distort facts and obstruct the presidential appointment process, we will do our best to ensure that a normal presidential appointment can be made.”

He added, “We hope that no further misunderstandings or baseless suspicions will damage the status of Jeonnam National University or interfere with the presidential appointment process.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.