Top university presidents forced to resign! 12 papers are suspected of self plagiarism, duplicate submission, and plagiarism of student papers. This letter | Miyazaki Minami | forced to resign

On July 31st, Minami Miyazaki, the president of Aizu University in Japan, resigned due to the pressure. The reason is that his 12 papers are suspected of self plagiarism, duplicate submission, plagiarism of student papers, and other misconduct.

Miyazaki, the principal, has been working very reluctantly. Since taking office in 2020, he has been reported for academic misconduct and has been in constant trouble for the past three years. Finally, he was forced to resign before his term in March 2024. Fukushima Prefecture stated that the resignation of the university president midway through their term was the first time since the local universities of Aizu University and Fukushima Medical University became public universities in 2006.

On July 31st, Minami Miyazaki resigned from his position as Chairman and President of Aizu University

Let's start from three years ago.

A mysterious email three years ago triggered two investigations

In April 2020, shortly after Miyazaki Minami took office as the new president, the faculty and students of Keizu University received a mysterious email.

This anonymous email claimed that multiple of Miyazaki's papers engaged in academic misconduct such as self plagiarism and duplicate submissions, and even plagiarized student papers.

After receiving the accusation, Huijin University established an investigation committee to investigate. This investigation lasted for nearly two years. On February 3, 2022, Huijin University held a press conference and announced the investigation results.

The committee found that four papers by Miyazaki used the research results of his past papers without explicitly citing them, which constitutes "self plagiarism".

At that time, Miyazaki expressed his deep apologies for the inconvenience caused to the school and relevant parties, and voluntarily paid 20% of his monthly salary as a fine. According to data from the Economic Research Institute, the average monthly salary of Japanese university presidents is about 60000 yuan, with 20% being about 12000 yuan. The investigation committee agreed to Miyazaki's request.

University of Aizu

One wave has not been resolved, and another wave has arisen. Just a month after the first investigation ended, Miyazaki, for some unknown reason, revealed that he had 12 papers suspected of self plagiarism.

Report on the Second Survey of Miyazaki by Aizu University. In the investigation background, it can be seen that Miyazaki "self exposed" 12 papers suspected of self plagiarism

Subsequently, the second investigation into Miyazaki began and continued until February 2023. The committee investigated 54 papers published by Miyazaki since he became a professor at Aizu University in 2005. In the end, it was found that in addition to the four papers previously exposed with issues, Miyazaki also had three papers with self plagiarism and five papers with duplicate submissions.

According to the committee's definition, self plagiarism is the use of research findings from one's previous paper without citing them; Repeated submission refers to directly submitting the research results of one's previous paper without making any innovations.

The relevant papers were published between 2008 and 2016, both of which were research on sensor networks. The committee believes that the co authors of these papers were not at fault.

Miyazaki was dissatisfied and filed an appeal in February 2023. The operation of Miyazaki's first self disclosure and then appeal is truly confusing. It is reasonable to speculate that the investigation results may be more serious than Miyazaki's self disclosure - Miyazaki's self disclosure of 12 papers was self plagiarism, while the investigation results showed that 7 papers had self plagiarism and 5 papers had duplicate submissions. There may be other reasons, but based on current sources of information, the truth behind it remains unknown.

The committee conducted a new investigation and changed one of the papers suspected of being resubmitted to self plagiarism, but the other investigation results remained unchanged. The committee recommends that Miyazaki withdraw the duplicate submitted papers and correct the situation of self plagiarism.

Miyazaki explained that he was not clear about the submission rules for papers and did not pay attention to changes in the concept of academic misconduct, such as the "Guidelines for Preventing Research Misconduct" formulated by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2006 and the revision of this guideline in 2014. Therefore, Miyazaki does not believe that his actions constitute self plagiarism and resubmission.

The committee also believes that Miyazaki "seriously neglected the basic responsibilities that researchers should fulfill" and attributed the research data and results of the students to himself.

But Miyazaki believes that students are under his supervision and cannot have equal discussions with him, so their achievements also belong to him. Miyazaki included a student who participated in the research in his paper acknowledgments, rather than the author, because "it is difficult for students to get in touch after graduation.".

In addition, Miyazaki was also exposed for applying for government assistance without following the internal procedures of the university. At that time, Miyazaki was applying for a subsidy program from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to change the organization and capacity of the graduate school and increase the number of colleges. After being pointed out by the county government, Miyazaki immediately withdrew his application, but it still caused some confusion. Miyazaki said he deeply apologizes for any inconvenience caused to students, graduates, supporters, and county residents.

The principal selection meeting held in July decided to recommend that Minami Miyazaki resign, which essentially amounts to dismissal. So, on the suggestion of the school, Minami Miyazaki resigned from his position as Chairman and President of Aizu University.

Faculty and Students of Keizu University: Unbelievable for President's Resignation

According to Fukushima Prefecture, the resignation of Principal Miyazaki has caused a great uproar in the local area. Several faculty members at Aizu University expressed disbelief upon learning of Miyazaki's resignation.

Miyazaki Minami

"He is a respected teacher, and I don't understand why such a thing happened," said some organizers who have supported the university for many years.

According to school officials, President Miyazaki is paying attention to issues such as university curriculum reform. In April of this year, at a speech held in the city of Kazu Wakamatsu in Fukushima Prefecture, Miyazaki considered the decrease in the population under 18 years old and called for social figures to re-enter schools for learning. He also expressed his intention to reform the entrance examination to attract more outstanding students.

A teacher commented, "He has leadership talent and is the spokesperson for the university's image. He has just begun to emerge."

The impression of a male student from the School of Computer Science and Engineering is that President Miyazaki is enthusiastic about supporting students who are unable to attend school due to unforeseen circumstances and promoting university entrepreneurship. The boy claimed that it was Principal Miyazaki who accepted him for admission, but "unfortunately, we cannot see him again at the degree award ceremony.".

As the first and only research-oriented university in Japan that focuses on computer science and technology, Aizu University has entered the world university rankings for six consecutive years and has received high praise in education and research both domestically and internationally. Many people are concerned that the Miyazaki incident will damage the reputation and image of the school.

A faculty member said, "After this matter, not only will Miyazaki's own paper not be cited, but the papers of other faculty members at Aizu University may also not be cited." Worried about the impact on the school's ranking, he said, "I hope the changes in the school's ranking will not affect the recruitment and number of applicants for faculty members."

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the school's establishment. Huijin University stated that it will restore trust as soon as possible and make changes in response to this incident, including: re examining relevant regulations on anti misconduct, classifying inappropriate behaviors such as self plagiarism and repeated submissions in a "gray area", adding provisions to ensure the effectiveness of research, and strengthening research ethics education to prevent such incidents from happening again.

Huijin University strengthens relevant systems to prevent such incidents from happening again

It is understood that from August 1st, Vice Chairman and Vice President Zhao Qiangfu will serve as Acting President. The selection of the next principal will be decided by the end of this year.

It is worth noting that Zhao Qiangfu is a Chinese, and his resume spans across institutions in both China and Japan. His experience is as follows:

In 1982, graduated with a bachelor's degree from Shandong University

In 1985, graduated with a master's degree from Toyohashi University of Technology and Science in Japan

In 1988, graduated with a PhD from Tohoku University in Japan

From 1988 to 1991, worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Beijing Institute of Technology

From 1991 to 1993, served as an associate professor at Beijing Institute of Technology

From 1993 to 1995, served as an associate professor at Tohoku University in Japan

In 1995, he entered Keizu University as an associate professor

Personal introduction of Zhao Qiangfu on the official website of Huijin University

Principal from the private sector, carrying the burden of Japan's academic system

The China Science Daily interviewed Bai Le, a renowned academic detective and honorary professor at the Imperial Women's University in Japan, and asked him to share his views on this matter.

76 year old Bai Le

Bai Le has years of experience in researching academic ethical issues. He believes that the situation of Principal Miyazaki is somewhat unique, and even carries some "grievances".

Firstly, in Japan, duplicate submissions and self plagiarism are in a "gray area", and whether they are fraudulent or allowed depends on the degree. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has not yet established clear standards.

A decade ago, self plagiarism and duplicate submissions were not considered academic misconduct. But over time, standards are changing, and many papers that were previously legitimate are considered fraudulent, which makes some academic professors feel uncomfortable.

Secondly, Minami Miyazaki comes from the public. He is a person who came from a private enterprise to become a professor in a university, rather than someone who has always achieved research results in the academic community. In this case, he may not be very familiar with the norms of academic publication. People who enter the academic community halfway often exhibit a high proportion of research misconduct, but it does not mean that their original intention is intentional violation.

It is understood that Minami Miyazaki specializes in communication network research and obtained a doctoral degree from Tokyo Institute of Technology, a top 3 university in Japan. He previously worked at Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Company and became a professor at Aizu University in 2005.

"President Miyazaki comes from the public and has unique ideas, and I have always trusted him. This news is regrettable," said Huinan Shikawa, Chairman of the Education and Academic Revitalization Foundation in the Aizu region

Bai Le proposed two suggestions for this: firstly, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology should establish clear standards for whether self plagiarism and repeated submissions are considered improper behavior; Secondly, when hiring university professors, they should be given sufficient guidance on academic publishing standards.

Bai Le believes that even if a school principal makes a "gray zone" mistake, resigning quickly is undoubtedly the right choice.

What do you think about this matter? Do you think this principal is "wronged"?