[Research Misconduct Rampant] "Students' Tears"… Increasingly Serious Due to Lenient Punishments

Paper Hijacking, Forced Babysitting, and Verbal Abuse... School Authorities and Government 'Turn a Blind Eye'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] "It is devastating. The tears of blood shed by the victimized students, who endured injustice for a long time and could only now reveal their suffering, are deeply ingrained."

This was stated in a joint statement recently issued by professors from the Department of Computer Engineering at Jeonbuk National University, demanding severe punishment for a colleague professor involved in corruption. Despite 'fairness' being a major social issue, research misconduct is increasingly rampant within university laboratories, while university authorities and the government remain negligent in implementing measures such as disciplinary actions and stricter research fund management, resulting in serious harm to young researchers, namely students.

◇ Widespread Corruption Including Verbal Abuse and Embezzlement of Labor Costs

The case of Professor Lee from the Department of Computer Engineering at Jeonbuk National University, indicted in April on charges of research misconduct, is considered a 'comprehensive set' of corrupt practices prevalent within universities. Professor Lee, along with his older and younger brothers, added their names to students' papers and committed various human rights violations and embezzlement of research funds. He subjected a Mongolian doctoral student, Mr. A, to verbal abuse, including throwing socks at him for "not listening," while requiring him to take his child to outpatient treatment three times a week for one year and six months. He is also accused of opening a bank account in Mr. A's name to embezzle approximately 24 million KRW in labor costs and collecting about 2.8 million KRW in meal expenses from master's thesis review students.

However, the university was passive, citing the expiration of the statute of limitations for civil servant disciplinary actions. Ultimately, fellow professors issued a statement saying, "Even though more than a year has passed since the allegations surfaced, the victimized students remain anxious while these professors continue to enjoy their positions openly. We had no choice but to raise our voices externally," and appealed, "The case must be resolved justly as soon as possible so that the victimized students can regain their rightful place."

The comprehensive audit results released by the Ministry of Education in July last year on Yonsei University and Korea University also revealed the seriousness of research misconduct, particularly the joint management of student labor costs. For example, Professor B at Yonsei University conducted 16 research projects from 2014 to 2018, paying master's students only 600,000 KRW and doctoral students 800,000 KRW per month as research funds, misappropriating 118,754,000 KRW of labor costs as joint expenses.

◇ Research Misconduct Increasing

Corruption by professors dominating research labs is becoming more rampant. According to the National Research Foundation of Korea, as of October last year, a total of 85 cases of research fund misuse were detected over five years, amounting to 28.4 billion KRW. The number of cases has been increasing, with 15 cases each in 2017 and 2018, 22 cases in 2019, and 16 cases as of September last year. The total amount of misused research funds also rose from 5.563 billion KRW in 2017 to 9.454 billion KRW in 2019, and 4.956 billion KRW as of September last year. However, the amount recovered during this period was only 17.2% (4.916 billion KRW). By type, joint management of student labor costs was the most frequent with 63 cases, followed by improper execution of direct costs such as meeting expenses (8 cases), improper execution of research equipment and material costs (5 cases), embezzlement of research funds (5 cases), misappropriation (2 cases), and embezzlement (1 case).

In particular, the joint management of student labor costs, a chronic problem in research sites, is severe. According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, among 59 institutions inspected from 2015 to 2019, 19 institutions were found to have professors recovering and jointly managing and using student labor costs, amounting to 2.3 billion KRW. The institutions with the highest amounts were Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) with 737 million KRW, Jeonbuk National University with 419 million KRW, and Yonsei University with 400 million KRW.

Such behavior by professors exploiting students as 'servants' is attributed to the reality that student researchers are the most vulnerable in research labs. Kang Tae-kyung, Policy Committee Member of the National Graduate Student Union, said, "Although the system was changed so that the Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation directly manages labor costs, many problematic places still exist," and added, "Student researchers are entangled with professors over theses, graduation, and employment, so most cases of misconduct are overlooked."

Laboratory. Stock photo. Not related to the article.

◇ Up to Triple Recovery of Project Funds in the U.S.

There are continuous criticisms that penalties for research misconduct are weak and management is inadequate. Although restrictions on research participation for up to five years and recovery of research funds are imposed upon detection of misconduct, these measures are considered mere slaps on the wrist compared to the strong penalties in advanced countries. In the United States, if a researcher commits misconduct, they may face permanent participation bans, and if misuse of research funds is detected, not only are the funds recovered, but civil liability may be imposed up to three times the amount falsely claimed.

Accordingly, voices calling for stronger penalties and management were raised repeatedly during last year's national audit. However, the government is reportedly using decisions by the Researcher Rights Protection Committee as an excuse to reduce disciplinary actions and is even moving to relax regulations.

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