Ethics rules drafted after Hwang case taking effect

The Science Ministry yesterday announced research ethics guidelines that will require state-run research facilities and schools working on government-funded research to establish self-verification systems.
The guidelines now taking effect were drafted last year, following the Hwang Woo-suk scandal, in which a breakthrough paper on stem cells was revealed to be based on forged data. Universities and research centers involved in state-related research projects, as well as all government research facilities, are required to create and operate a self-inspection system to verify their results. The ministry named 57 “priority” organizations, which must set up this system in the next three months. Others must comply within six months.
Specifically, research facilities must look for corruption in the writing of papers such as fraud, false authorship and plagiarism. The ministry gave a list of “bad acts,” but noted that research institutes were free to toughen the standards.
The ministry said that if any corrupt acts are discovered, the organization itself must take responsibility for the fraud, as is the practice in scientific circles. Only if the organization has difficulty verifying the fraud, or if the issues involved carry special weight, could the government play a bigger role, it said.

By Wohn Dong-hee Staff Writer [wohn@joongang.co.kr]