Eleven faculty members of the Faculty of Law at Lambung Mangkurat University (ULM) have been accused of academic fraud after being recently appointed professors. After receiving a complaint that several ULM faculty members published academic articles in predatory journals, the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology immediately launched an investigation.

Accordingly, this is an unofficial journal, to be published, professors only need to pay 70-135 million IDR (~109-211 million VND). To achieve the title of professor, the Indonesian Ministry of Education requires scholars to have at least one publication in an international scientific journal listed in the Scopus index and 10 years of teaching.

All 11 ULM faculty members failed to meet this requirement. The investigation team even found that some members of the Indonesian Ministry of Education’s evaluation team had accepted bribes from candidates to approve professorships, despite the lack of publications in Scopus-indexed journals.

After the incident was exposed, these people had their professorships revoked but continued to teach at the school. In addition, 20 other lecturers from ULM departments are also being investigated for similar allegations.

Regarding this issue, Mr. Arief Anshory, a senior lecturer at Padjadjaran University, said that the incident is the tip of the iceberg. "If we investigate all professors in Indonesia, it is likely that half of them will have their titles revoked," he shared with University World News .

The phenomenon of buying academic papers is becoming a systemic problem in Indonesian universities. He said university presidents also encourage lecturers to accelerate the process of achieving professorships to raise the status of their schools, giving them the opportunity to attract investment and major academic projects.

"Schools all want to be in the top 10-20 in the country, and then become world-class universities. Therefore, they will do everything to achieve their goals, even at the expense of academic ethics and scientific integrity," said Mr. Arief Anshory.

Mr. Ahmad Alim Bahri, President of ULM, admitted that the school also aims to become one of the top 20 universities in Indonesia by 2025. "The fact that 11 professors had their titles revoked does not hinder the school's goal," he said.

Similarly in Thailand, three lecturers from Khon Kaen University, two from Chiang Mai University and one from Chulabhorn Royal Academy were also accused of buying research papers. Sharing with the Bangkok Post , Mr. Supachai Pathumnakul, Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation of Thailand, said that eight other lecturers are also being investigated.

The incident originated in August 2023, when information emerged that a Chiang Mai University lecturer was paying 30,000 baht per research paper (~22 million VND). By early 2024, academic fraud had resurfaced as many young researchers were continuously publishing scientific articles in journals.

Under the direction of Ms. Supamas Isarabhakdi, Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation of Thailand, requested the establishment of an investigation committee chaired by Mr. Supachai Pathumnakul. The preliminary investigation results found that there were 109 lecturers from 33 universities under investigation and 5 websites providing services for selling scientific research articles.

Mr. Supachai Pathumnakul said that most of the people who bought the research papers were lecturers at public universities. To avoid similar incidents, the Thai Ministry of Education has asked universities to submit all data of their doctoral and graduate students for verification.

Studying for a PhD abroad, professor exposed for using fake degree, forced to resign CHINA - Receiving a PhD in Business Administration from the European University (Ireland), Professor Tran Xuan Hoa of Peking University (China) was exposed for using fake degree, then forced to resign.