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More South Korean academics caught naming kids as co-authors

nature.com

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Re: More South Korean academics caught naming kids as co-authors

#21

Post by gimmeThaBeet »

antognini wrote: post #18

When I was in grad school our department had a meeting every morning where we could get together to discuss the latest papers which we called "Morning Coffee" (or also Astro Coffee). These discussions were pretty fruitful and regularly would inspire new papers. After writing a new paper based on one of these discussions one of the professors decided to commemorate the contribution of Morning Coffee to the paper and a…

To be fair, being ground up and having boiling water poured on you isn't completely unlike grad school.

Re: More South Korean academics caught naming kids as co-authors

#23

Post by nkrisc »

cortesoft wrote: post #22

Who thought it was a good idea to use academic paper authorship as a selection criteria for university!? There can't be enough high school kids writing academic papers for it to be that helpful, and certainly encourages this kind of cheating.

This is exactly what I find confusing about the whole affair. A university applicant with an academic paper authorship under their belt, while in high school, should warrant extra scrutiny, not automatically jump them to the top of the list.

Re: More South Korean academics caught naming kids as co-authors

#25

Post by blackhaz »

sgillen wrote: post #20
droithomme wrote: post #16

I'm not sure this is always bad, as long is it's obvious it's not serious or for the purpose of fraud, or if the individual cited actually contributed in some way. Here's a researcher's dog, whose name was Galadriel Mirkwood, cited as a co-author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Matzinger#Dog_co-author_... Who is to say the dog did not contribute to the author's paper and research in some way she found significan…

I do think it’s misleading to acknowledge the sorts of contributions children and dogs might make with co authorship. I do agree that often small contributions are rewarded with authorship, but really I think these are best credited in the acknowledgment section of the paper. Otherwise there is not a good way to distinguish between a substantial contribution and an ethereal one.

I agree. What if everyone begins to include their children and pets at will, for whatever reasons they are up to today? The whole purpose of naming authors is defeated then.

Re: More South Korean academics caught naming kids as co-authors

#26

Post by protomolecule »

option wrote: post #8
failuser wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect that’s a common practice. In Russian Emprie nobility’s kids were listed as soldiers when their mothers have been still pregnant. If a girl was born, the imaginary soldier was reported dead.

please proof - just curious

Added a rough translation which doesn't really add anything to what the parent comment said.

Re: More South Korean academics caught naming kids as co-authors

#27

Post by bpodgursky »

cortesoft wrote: post #22

Who thought it was a good idea to use academic paper authorship as a selection criteria for university!? There can't be enough high school kids writing academic papers for it to be that helpful, and certainly encourages this kind of cheating.

I had a lot of friends in high school who did the Intel Talent Search (since renamed or reorganized) via partnering with a lab in the nearby university. Most of them got some kind of publication and authorship out of it.

None of it was fake, and I don't think this is uncommon for applications to top schools.

Re: More South Korean academics caught naming kids as co-authors

#28

Post by OnlineGladiator »

b0rsuk wrote: post #10
OnlineGladiator wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd call it fraud, not genius.

Sure it's a fraud, but like something from a comedy movie. Most of the time frauds are incredibly boring and time-consuming to explain. Especially financial frauds are often hidden behind layers upon layers of obfuscation. Now THAT'S what I call planning ahead! EDIT: ...and I'll gladly pay the karma cost for that reply!

Your idea of genius seems to be simplicity. I consider genius the ability to understand things others cannot. I think the question is, how long did the researchers get away with this fraudulent act compared to bankers who created the last recession? The ability to hide something for longer from more eyes is a greater sign of genius than coming up with a trick nobody bothered to verify.

And of course, the really fucked up part is what the bankers did was legal.

I feel like you're ascribing genius to the equivalent of a parlor trick.

Re: More South Korean academics caught naming kids as co-authors

#30

Post by qwerty456127 »

> The practice was probably used to improve the children’s chances of securing a university place.

The fact the competition to get into a university is so hard you need to co-author a scientific paper for this is the problem. Education should be accessible for everybody.

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