"Candidate Lee Ju-ho, Three Co-authored Papers with Daughter... Allegations of Duplicate Publication and Self-Plagiarism"

Co-authored Paper Similar to 2020 KDI Graduate School Thesis
Published in International Journals in 2018 and 2022... Similar Introduction, Empirical Analysis, and Conclusion
Evidence of Concealment of 2018 Paper... Removed from Site After October 14

Candidate for Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education Lee Ju-ho's 2018 paper, 2020 paper, and 2022 paper co-authored with his daughter. The names of the daughter, candidate Lee, and one other person are all identical, and the titles are the same except for two words. (Data provided by Assemblymen Do Jong-hwan and Seo Dong-yong)

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] It has been revealed that candidate Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, co-authored a total of three papers with his daughter. The titles of the three papers are almost identical, and one of the papers was even deleted.

According to the offices of National Assembly Education Committee members Do Jong-hwan and Seo Dong-yong on the 26th, candidate Lee listed his daughter as a co-author and published a research report titled "The Effects of Digital Textbooks on Students’ Academic Achievement, Academic Interest, and Learning Ability" on the Korea Development Institute (KDI) Graduate School of International Policy website in 2020. Papers with the same title were also published in overseas academic journals in 2018 and 2022, and all three papers share the same three authors, including the candidate and his daughter.

The 2018 paper, titled "The Effects of Digital Textbooks on Students’ Academic Performance, Learning Skills, and Digital Addiction," was published in the SSRN Electronic Journal. In September of this year, a paper with the same title as the 2020 paper was published in the Journal of Marketing Research.

All three papers have similar titles, and many identical sentences were found in the introduction, theoretical background, empirical methods, and conclusion sections. This constitutes clear duplicate publication, which is defined as misconduct under Article 12 of the KDI Graduate School's "Research Ethics Guidelines." The 2022 paper was also found to be identical to the 2020 paper in the main body, including research data, methods, results, and conclusions, except for some parts at the beginning of the introduction.

Candidate Lee also attempted to conceal the fraudulent papers. The list of research achievements submitted by the candidate to the KDI Graduate School did not include the 2018 and 2022 papers. The 2018 paper was available for download on the official journal website until October 14 of this year, but after that date, it disappeared from the site with only a message stating, "Deleted due to author, site, or copyright request." Candidate Lee reported to the KDI Graduate School in his research paper application that there was no duplicate publication.

Members Do Jong-hwan and Seo Dong-yong stated, "Candidate Lee partially admitted and apologized for self-plagiarism and duplicate publication suspicions during the Ministry of Education ministerial confirmation hearing 12 years ago. However, even after stepping down from the ministerial position, he committed the same self-plagiarism and duplicate publication research misconduct together with his daughter this time," and emphasized, "Not only did he submit a false research list, but it is also essential to uncover who ordered and carried out the deletion of the paper to hide the research misconduct."

The candidate’s side denied the allegations of self-plagiarism or duplicate publication. They stated that while the three research outputs originated from the same study, they are various forms of research reports produced at the stage of enhancing completeness and final publication in journals.

The confirmation hearing preparation team explained, "The 2018 research output (Pre-print) and the 2020 working paper were preliminary reports written to share opinions within academia or receive feedback from peer scholars before formal paper publication," and added, "Considering the long time required for paper publication, the KDI Graduate School’s research ethics guidelines and faculty performance evaluation regulations allow duplicate publication of research outputs."

They also stated that the deletion of the 2018 SSRN paper was done after the publication of the September 2023 paper was confirmed, in accordance with publication guidelines. The preparation team said, "The claim that this was an attempt to conceal fraudulent papers is not true," and added, "Even according to the editorial standards of the journal where the 2018 paper was finally published, working papers, theses, and conference presentations are not considered duplicate publications."

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