Eleven newly appointed professors from the Faculty of Law at Lambung Mangkurat University (ULM) have been accused of academic fraud. Following complaints alleging that several ULM faculty members published academic papers in "predatory journals," the Indonesian Ministry of Education , Culture, Research and Technology immediately launched an investigation.

Accordingly, this is an unofficial journal, and to have an article 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 experience.

With this requirement, all 11 ULM faculty members failed to meet the standards. Furthermore, the investigation team discovered that some members of the Indonesian Ministry of Education's evaluation team had accepted bribes from candidates to approve professorships, even though they lacked publications in Scopus-indexed journals.

After the incident came to light, these individuals had their professorships revoked but were allowed to continue teaching at the university. In addition, 20 other faculty members from various departments at ULM are also under investigation for similar allegations.

Regarding this issue, Arief Ansory, a senior lecturer at Padjadjaran University, said the incident is just the tip of the iceberg. "If all professors in Indonesia were investigated, it's likely that half of them would have their titles revoked," he told University World News .

The phenomenon of purchasing academic papers is becoming a systemic problem at universities in Indonesia. He said that university rectors also encourage faculty members to expedite the process of achieving professorship titles to enhance the prestige of the university, giving it a better chance of attracting investment and major academic projects.

"Universities all want to be in the top 10-20 nationally, and then become world- class universities. Therefore, they will do everything to achieve this goal, even sacrificing academic ethics and scientific integrity," said Arief Anshory.

Ahmad Alim Bahri, President of ULM, acknowledged that the university also aims to become one of the top 20 universities in Indonesia by 2025. "The revocation of the titles of 11 professors does not deter the university's goals," he said.

Similarly in Thailand, three lecturers from Khon Kaen University, two from Chiang Mai University, and one from Chulabhorn Royal Academy are also facing allegations of purchasing research papers. Speaking to the Bangkok Post , Supachai Pathumnakul, Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation of Thailand, said that eight other lecturers are also under investigation.

The issue originated in August 2023, when information emerged that a lecturer at Chiang Mai University paid 30,000 baht per research paper (approximately 22 million VND). By early 2024, academic fraud resurfaced as many young researchers continuously published scientific papers in journals.

Under the direction of Ms. Supamas Isarabhakdi, Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation of Thailand, an investigative committee was established, chaired by Mr. Supachai Pathumnakul. Preliminary investigations revealed that 109 lecturers from 33 universities were investigated, along with 5 websites offering services for selling scientific research papers.

Mr. Supachai Pathumnakul stated that the majority of those purchasing research papers are lecturers at public universities. To prevent similar incidents from happening again, the Thai Ministry of Education has requested universities to submit all data of doctoral and master's students to the agency for verification.

Professor who earned his PhD abroad is exposed for using a fake degree and has to resign . CHINA - Professor Chen Chunhua of Peking University (China), who received a PhD in Business Administration from the European University of Ireland, was exposed for using a fake degree and subsequently had to submit his resignation.