Former Taiwan Academia Sinica professor resigns at OSU for falsifying data

前台灣中央研究院教授論文造假辭去俄亥俄州大學

Taiwan cancer researcher found guilty of academic misconduct in eight papers


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Ohio State University (OSU) announced Saturday that a Taiwanese anticancer expert and professor, Chen Ching-shih (陳慶士), was found guilty of committing academic misconduct, including falsifying data in eight papers, and has resigned.

Chen resigned as a lecturer at OSU’s Cancer Treatment Research Center and issued an open letter of apology, stating that “data results were not in accordance with daily records” and that he hopes this incident does not bring harm to Taiwan’s academic circles, according to CNA.

Chen also blames himself in the letter for allowing careless oversights in his laboratory, calling this the “biggest mistake of his career.”


(Image from OSU)

OSU said the research results have been sent to federal authorities, including the Office of Research Integrity at the Department of Health and Human Services, and if ethics committees confirm falsified published research documents, Chen is subject to sanctions.

An OSU investigation committee published a 75-page document stating that from 2006 to 2014 Chen published eight papers which included 14 instances of “deviating from the accepted practices of image handling and figure generation and intentionally falsifying data,” according the Science Mag. The committee suggests all eight papers be recalled immediately.

The investigation shut down research on a compound developed by Chen in June 2017, and the committee says that no harm came to patients.

Chen previously was the director of the Institute of Biological Chemistry at Taiwan’s Academia Sinicia. He stepped down from that post in 2016, just one month before being formally accused of misconduct.