A Taiwan-based researcher allegedly made fake online accounts to review his papers, 60 of which have since been retracted by a scientific journal.
Chen-Yuan Chen built a "peer-review and citation ring" to give favorable reviews to his research papers, using a combination of fraudulent accounts and identify theft, the New York Times reported.
In at least one case, the researcher gave his own paper a positive review under one of the aliases, according to Sage Publications, publisher of The Journal of Vibration and Control, which is where Chen's papers have appeared in the last four years.
The retracted research studies were first reported by the blog Retraction Watch.
Chen was an associate professor of computer science at National Pingtung University of Education, which is still investigating the case. He resigned from the school in February and is believed to have created 130 fake email accounts to review the papers.
"We are continuing to investigate according to the materials just publicized by JVC," Chen Chien-huang, the university's chief secretary, wrote in an email to the Times. "Whether there are other professors involved is still under investigation."
Peer review, where the judgment of independent researchers helps decide if a paper will be published, is common among scientific and academic journals, and many publishers have online systems for the peer review process.
The Chen case is not the first time fraud has been reported in connection with peer review systems. A South Korean plant researcher reviewed his own studies through fraudulent email accounts, Retraction Watch reported in 2012. More than 30 papers were retracted after his fraud was discovered.
Academic institutions in Taiwan and other countries use a formula that relies on quantity over quality when it comes to published papers, according to Michael B. Eisen, a biologist at the University of California, Berkeley.
"That creates room for various forms of shenanigans," Eisen, a critic of the peer review format, told the Times. "It doesn't surprise me that much that something like this happens."
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