Verification Team Reveals Kim Geon-hee's Thesis Plagiarism... "Lee Jin-sook's Thesis Violates 16 Research Ethics"

[Financial News]   The 'National Verification Team for the Verification of Thesis Plagiarism Allegations of Lee Jin-sook, Minister of Education Candidate' (Verification Team) announced that after investigating 150 theses of Lee Jin-sook, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education candidate, research ethics issues were found in 16 theses, demanding her voluntary resignation.

The Verification Team is a voluntary group of professors from 11 professor organizations, including the Korean Professors Association, which previously revealed the plagiarism of Kim Geon-hee's thesis.

On the other hand, the Korea Color Society and the Korea Architectural Society, which published Lee's thesis in academic journals, stated that there is no problem with Lee's thesis.

The Verification Team held a public report meeting at the B&D Partners auditorium in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 14th, making this claim. The team explained the 16 theses with strong allegations of research ethics violations by dividing them into five types.

First, there were 8 cases (including duplicates) and 2 cases where the candidate was listed as the first author or corresponding author in academic journals without disclosing that it was a student's thesis.

Additionally, there were cases where academic journal theses in which the candidate participated as the first author were published before the student's thesis (4 cases), and cases where the candidate participated as the first author and received research funding but did not indicate whether the Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval was obtained (5 cases).

There were also 2 cases of duplicate publication where the candidate participated as the first author. The Verification Team viewed this as a violation of the Ministry of Education's regulations on research ethics.

In particular, the Verification Team focused on cases where the candidate published a student's thesis in an academic journal and listed herself as the first author.
Kim Seung-hee, a professor at Gwangju University (Early Childhood Education), who participated in the verification, emphasized, "Even if a professor's contribution is significant, a thesis is strictly the student's work. Listing the professor as the first author on a thesis of the same topic means stealing the student's idea."

Previously, the candidate explained in the personnel hearing request materials sent to the National Assembly regarding the 'first author listing' controversy, "The decision (of first author listing, etc.) is made based on the contribution to the thesis and the agreement between co-authors," and "According to this principle, if the student's contribution is higher, the student is listed as the first author, and if the advisor's (candidate's) contribution is higher, the advisor is listed as the first author."

The Verification Team argued, "If the candidate claims that there is no problem with listing herself as the first author, she is giving up being an educator," and "The candidate should voluntarily resign, and President Lee Jae-myung should also make a decision."

On the other hand, the Korea Color Society and the Korea Architectural Society, which published the candidate's thesis, stated in a statement that the candidate's thesis does not constitute a violation of research ethics.
Meanwhile, the Color Society commented on the candidate's thesis, which was suspected of being a 'salami publication,' saying, "Even if it's the same experiment, if the meaning of the results differs, it can be considered as separate theses."


y27k@fnnews.com Seo Yoon-kyung Reporter