"Integrity affects the intellectual community and the teaching community, so without investigation and evidence, it cannot be named, affecting each scientist and the scientific community," said Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Tran Hong Thai.
On December 19, at Hanoi University of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology coordinated with the Ministry of Education and Training to organize a scientific workshop on integrity in research, with the participation of research institutes, higher education institutions, experts and scientists in the fields of science and technology across the country.
Addressing the workshop, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc stated that in the past 10 years, one of the outstanding results of science, technology and innovation activities is that the number of scientific publications in prestigious international journals has increased sharply, demonstrating the contributions of Vietnamese scientists.
Specifically, according to the database of Elsevier (academic publishing company, publishing medical and scientific documents), the total number of scientific publications of Vietnam in the Scopus directory (a bibliographic database containing abstracts and citations of scientific articles) in 2013 was about 3,800 articles and in 2022 it was nearly 18,500 articles, an increase of about 5 times, bringing Vietnam's ranking to 5th in the ASEAN region, 12th in Asia and 45th in the world in terms of the number of international publications on Scopus.
This number of international publications contributed to Vietnam's Global Innovation Index 2022 ranking 48th out of 132 countries and territories; 4th in Southeast Asia and 2nd among low-income countries (after India).
The strong growth of international publications in recent years is also raising a number of issues that need to be addressed by managers, science and technology organizations as well as the community and individual scientists, including debates about integrity in scientific research.
Deputy Minister Nguyen Van Phuc said that in 2022, the Ministry of Education and Training advised the Government to issue Decree No. 109/2022/ND-CP regulating science and technology activities in higher education institutions, in which higher education institutions were assigned to proactively issue regulations and take responsibility for academic integrity in science and technology and innovation activities of their units according to two contents. Including: issuing a set of rules on academic integrity in science and technology and innovation activities, ensuring the principles of honesty, responsibility, fairness, transparency, conformity with practice and international practices; issuing internal regulations and tools to control, prevent and handle acts of plagiarism, fraud and fabrication in science and technology and innovation activities.
At the workshop, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc, Chairman of the Council of the University of Technology, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, expressed his opinion that it is necessary to move towards a legal framework regulating integrity in scientific and academic research. The purpose of integrity is to aim for healthiness, first of all, people need to be aware of integrity in their ethics and behavior. Besides, it is also necessary to avoid taking advantage of integrity to harm scientists; there should be regulations so that all schools must be proactive, have management tools to control, and create a healthy mechanism in science.
Dr. Nguyen Xuan Hung, lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, also hopes that there will be a common set of rules for schools to refer to in building their own set of rules, along with a post-inspection mechanism and a sanction to handle this issue.
According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Tai Dong, Director of the Institute of Philosophy, Vietnam is not a “desert” in terms of scientific integrity. We have many regulations reflected in laws, in decrees, in regulations of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Education and Training, of many schools, and many journals, but there is no overall regulation and now we need a common legal framework.
“This is mandatory in building a set of criteria or a common regulation for the country,” Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Tai Dong commented. The values that scientists pursue are knowledge and intelligence, from which they find the truth and their own values. If this cannot be protected, there will be no more science and no training.
Many opinions agree that there needs to be a comprehensive regulatory framework for academic research from a state perspective. Vietnam also needs to strongly develop domestic journals that meet international standards, while at the same time, creating a database as a premise for a national data citation system.
Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Tran Hong Thai affirmed that it is time to pay attention to the issue of scientific integrity. Integrity is an “open” concept, but there must be updates and general guidance for implementation. “Integrity affects the intellectual community and the teaching community, so without investigation and evidence, it cannot be named, affecting each scientist and the scientific community,” Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Tran Hong Thai stated.
Deputy Minister Tran Hong Thai emphasized that the immediate task is for state management agencies to urgently study and propose the format of guiding documents and urge universities and research institutes to implement regulations and rules on integrity. The Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education and Training will study to soon have a database on science and technology, creating resources for state management; at the same time, study and consider the criteria for monitoring journals and the orientation for developing the domestic scientific journal system. The opinions at the workshop will be considered for incorporation into the provisions when changing the Law on Science and Technology.
“It is time for state management agencies to take action on integrity and disclosure, trying to create a healthy science and technology environment. This workshop is the beginning for the two ministries to commit to accompanying scientists and media agencies, towards better education and science, bringing more happiness” - Deputy Minister Tran Hong Thai.
The Deputy Minister also said that we should try to behave with integrity in a cultured and civilized manner, because we are dealing with scientists and teachers.
PHAN THAO
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