Taiwanese Researchers’ Perceptions of Questionable Authorship Practices: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

In 2014, SAGE Publications retracted 60 articles authored by Taiwanese researchers due to suspected peer-review fraud. This scandal led to the resignation of the Minister of Education at the time since he coauthored several retracted works. Issues regarding the lack of transparent decision-making processes regarding authorship were further disclosed. Motivated by the scandal, we believe that this is one of the first empirical studies of questionable authorship practices (QAPs) in East Asian academia; we investigate Taiwanese researchers’ perceptions of QAPs. To meet this purpose, a self-reported survey was developed. Four hundred and three local researchers, including research faculty (e.g., professors), postdoctoral researchers, and Ph.D. students, participated in the survey. Four major findings resulted. First, the underlying causes of Taiwanese doctoral students’ engagement in QAPs were attributable to their desire to achieve particular academic-related successes and their feeling of reciprocal obligation to support other researchers. Second, the underlying motives for Taiwanese research associates’ (i.e., research faculty and postdoctoral fellows) engagement in QAPs were attributable to their attempts to achieve particular career successes and of the desire to consolidate their professional networks. Third, the participants generally agreed that QAPs had a long history among local academics but were rarely reported. Fourth, participants’ backgrounds (i.e., research discipline, academic rank, and type of affiliations) had significant effects on their responses regarding particular authorship issues; however, their gender did not have a significant effect. QAPs are a critical issue in Taiwanese academia; therefore, we discussed the implications of the current findings including subsequent instruction and future research.

Appendix: Section One: A Review of a Questionable Authorship Case

Taiwanese Researchers Involved in a Questionable Authorship Controversy Regarding the SAGE Publishing Scandal

SAGE is a well-known scholarly publisher. On July 8, 2014, the Journal of Vibration and Control of SAGE issued a statement announcing the retraction of 60 articles centering around a Taiwanese researcher, Peter Chen; he was a former associate professor at the National Pingtung University of Education in Taiwan. SAGE believed that Chen sabotaged their peer-review mechanism. Specifically, Chen allowed his own manuscripts to be reviewed and published through processes that severely lacked independence, anonymity, and impartiality (Bohannon 2014; JVC 2014).

In this scandal, the Minister of Education coauthored several retracted articles, hence sparking a wave of debate regarding the responsibilities of the coauthors of those retraced works.

The concerns that the local public and academic community focused on included the following: “did the minister know he was listed as one of the coauthors on these papers?”, “to what extent did the minister contribute to the retracted papers?” and “did the minister know about the falsification of the peer-review processes?”

In addition, the brother of Peter Chen, CW Chen, a current professor at the National Kaohsiung Marine University, was a doctoral student who the minister had supervised. CW Chen also coauthored many articles that were retracted. Therefore, “what role(s) did CW Chen play in this incident?”, and “did the minister know Peter Chen, and what was the cooperative relationship among these parties?”

For your references,

• Bohannon, J. (2014, July 14). Updated: Lax reviewing practice prompts 60 retractions at SAGE journal. Science.

• Journal of Vibration and Control (JVC). (2014, July 8). Retraction notice. SAGE Journals.