21 Candidates Failed in the Final Selection Round
On November 6th, the Office of the State Council of Professors (HĐ GSNN) announced the list of professor and associate professor candidates approved by the HĐ GSNN for the 2018-2023 term at its 12th meeting (November 4-5).
The 12th session of the National Council of Professors for the 2018-2023 term approved a list of 630 candidates for Professor and Associate Professor positions.
Speaking to Thanh Nien Newspaper, a representative from the Office of the National Council of Professors said that the list of candidates for Professor and Associate Professor approved by the National Council of Professors includes 630 people, including the two Councils for Security Science and National Defense Science. Of these, there are 58 candidates for Professor and 572 candidates for Associate Professor. The number of candidates approved by the sectoral Councils is 651, including 60 candidates for Professor and 591 candidates for Associate Professor. Thus, there are 2 candidates for Professor and 19 candidates for Associate Professor who, although approved by the sectoral Councils, were not approved by the National Council of Professors. The percentage of candidates who passed the state-level review is 97% compared to the number of candidates submitted by the sectoral Councils.
According to statistics from Thanh Nien newspaper, the field with the most candidates for Professor and Associate Professor positions passing the final round is economics , with 92 candidates (6 Professors, 86 Associate Professors); followed by the interdisciplinary fields of chemistry - food technology, with 54 candidates (6 Professors, 48 Associate Professors); the interdisciplinary fields of mechanical engineering - power engineering, with 43 candidates (6 Professors, 37 Associate Professors); and medicine, with 63 candidates (6 Professors, 57 Associate Professors).
" Thanks to" anonymous letters, many cases are withdrawn voluntarily.
Speaking to Thanh Nien newspaper , Mr. Tran Anh Tuan, Chief of the Office of the State Council of Professors, said that this year many candidates, despite being approved by the sectoral councils, withdrew their applications during the state council's review process. Even during the 12th session of the State Council of Professors on November 4-5, withdrawal requests were still being submitted. The majority of these withdrawals were not entirely voluntary, but were related to allegations of scientific integrity raised through anonymous letters or on social media, especially on the Facebook page "Science Integrity."
Mr. Tuan stated that throughout the 2023 professorship and associate professorship review season, the Office of the National Professorship Council has only received two official complaints. One complaint accused a biology candidate of violating scientific research regulations, and the other accused a candidate from the interdisciplinary field of philosophy, social sciences, and politics of being considered for the wrong specialization. After verification, the Office of the National Professorship Council found these accusations unfounded. Therefore, both candidates were included in the final round of review and were approved by the National Professorship Council.
However, the Office of the National Council for Professorships receives quite a lot of anonymous letters. In addition, the office also monitors information regarding candidates on the Science and Technology Council website. Afterward, the office compiles the information and sends it to the relevant councils, requesting their consideration. "Regarding anonymous letters or anonymous complaints on the National Council for Science and Technology, if the allegations are general, such as 'poor ethics' or 'plagiarism,' without specifying a particular product or details, the Office of the National Council for Science and Technology will report to the minister for permission not to forward them to the relevant industry councils. For anonymous letters or complaints with specific content, the Office of the National Council for Science and Technology will forward them to the industry councils for review, followed by written explanations. The Office of the National Council for Science and Technology will compile and report to the National Council for Science and Technology. Most issues are reviewed by the National Council for Science and Technology through explanations from the industry councils; anything requiring clarification is addressed through questioning. Some cases of candidates withdrawing are a result of this processing procedure. Otherwise, the National Council for Science and Technology evaluates and votes," Mr. Tuan stated.
State Supervisory Board for the term 2018 - 2023
NUMEROUS APPLICATIONS SUSPECTED OF "LACK OF INTEGRITY" ARE STILL APPROVED
This year's professorship and associate professorship review season is taking place against a backdrop of many ambiguities in Vietnamese science, making it difficult to distinguish between honest and dishonest scientists. Many candidates have been accused on social media of showing signs of "lack of integrity," yet their names are included in the list of candidates approved by the National Professorship Council.
A typical example is a medical professor candidate accused of dishonestly declaring the number of internationally published scientific works (international articles). This candidate had too many articles, while their application only listed a very small fraction. In addition, the candidate was also accused of publishing articles in "predatory" journals, a practice that serious scientists are actively opposing…
Mathematics, a field renowned for its close adherence to international scientific research standards, has also been criticized this year for allegedly covering up for some candidates suspected of violating the Scientific Research Council's regulations. According to reports on the Scientific Research Council's website, several mathematicians (including two professor candidates) published numerous international papers in which the address listed two places: one being the candidate's workplace and the other being Thang Long University, under the pretext of collaboration with Thang Long University, but the true nature of this collaboration has not been clarified.
However, in response to Thanh Nien newspaper , representatives of the relevant industry councils stated that they had no basis to determine that those candidates violated the Civil Service Law, while all the candidates met the professional requirements.
EXPLANATION BY THE NATIONAL SUPERVISION COUNCIL
Regarding the cases of candidates from the two councils on medicine and mathematics that we mentioned above, Mr. Tuan stated that, specifically for the medical candidate, the medical council had conducted a thorough review, even requesting the candidate to provide an explanation. The State Council of Professors also requested a separate explanation from the medical council for this case. According to the candidate's explanation, the reason for the large number of international publications is due to extensive research collaborations and participation in numerous research groups across various institutions. The medical council accepted the candidate's explanation and committed to taking responsibility for it. As per usual practice, the State Council of Professors votes to approve all cases requiring explanation. According to regulations, at the state council level, a candidate only needs 50% of the affirmative votes to be approved. "We ourselves checked Google Scholar and found that the number of publications by candidates is lower than the number stated on the LCKH website. Since 2021, the number of annual publications by candidates has also decreased significantly (the peak in terms of the number of publications by candidates was in 2019)," Mr. Tuan said.
Regarding the case of listing two addresses for the mathematics department, Mr. Tuan stated that, according to the explanation from the Mathematics Department Council, during the research period, the candidates had a collaborative relationship with Thang Long University, so they had the right to list this institution as their second address. Regarding proof of that collaboration (for example, whether or not the Vietnam Institute of Mathematics, the institution where the candidates worked, had given its consent), Mr. Tuan replied: "Professor Le Tuan Hoa is the chairman of the Mathematics Department Council and was formerly the Director of the Vietnam Institute of Mathematics. The candidates are staff members of the Institute of Mathematics. Professor Le Tuan Hoa knows whether the Institute of Mathematics agreed to allow the candidates to collaborate with Thang Long University or not."
The issue of 'selling' scientific research papers and the autonomy mechanism are also contributing factors.
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