Professor Nguyen Xuan Hung stopped participating in the council of professors in mechanics.

On September 18, Thanh Nien Newspaper received a reply from the Office of the State Council of Professors regarding the case of Professor Nguyen Xuan Hung, Vice President of the Council of Mechanics, who had resigned from the Council of Professors of Mechanics. Previously, at the end of August, the Board of Directors of the Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics (VIASM) also expressed its opinion to Thanh Nien Newspaper regarding Professor Nguyen Xuan Hung being a member of the VIASM scientific council.

Professor Nguyen Xuan Hung presented a public lecture at the Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics (VIASM) on the afternoon of April 11, 2023.

Mr. Tran Anh Tuan, Chief of Office of the State Council of Professors, answered Thanh Nien Newspaper as follows:

"The Standing Committee of the State Council of Professors received the application to resign from the position of Professor Nguyen Xuan Hung (through the Office of the State Council of Professors). Based on the content of the application and related documents, the Standing Committee of the State Council of Professors agreed to let Professor Nguyen Xuan Hung resign from the Council of Professors in Mechanics according to his personal wishes."

The list of members of the 2024 Council of Professors of Mechanics on the website of the State Council of Professors has also been updated without the name of Professor Nguyen Xuan Hung. The Vice Chairman of the Council of Professors of Mechanics is now Professor Le Van Canh, International University, Ho Chi Minh City National University.

On August 27, Thanh Nien Newspaper published an article "Another story of 'flexible' addresses in scientific articles" reflecting the case of Professor Nguyen Xuan Hung, a famous scientist, who wrote addresses (affiliation) in international articles very flexibly, related to schools that are suspected of using tricks to increase the number of international articles to compete for university rankings.

On the same day, Thanh Nien Newspaper continued to report on Professor Nguyen Xuan Hung's response to the fact that he is a frequent co-author of Professor Timon Rabczuk, a scientist who is notorious for using the trick of falsifying his position and assisting universities in cheating on university rankings. Accordingly, when Thanh Nien Newspaper asked to share about his cooperative relationship with Timon Rabczuk, a person who has been criticized by the public for "selling articles", Professor Hung said that it was Mr. Rabczuk's "private matter".

For many years, Professor Hung has held many important positions, playing a role in leading the country's science, such as Vice President of the Council of Professors in Mechanics, member of the Management Board of the National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED), member of the Scientific Council of VIASM...

Professor Ngo Bao Chau: No violation if the governing body does not prohibit it

After the above article, Thanh Nien contacted relevant agencies to ask about their views on the case of Professor Nguyen Xuan Hung. On August 30, responding to Thanh Nien Newspaper, Professor Ngo Bao Chau, Scientific Director of VIASM, said: "The participants in the VIASM Scientific Council are selected based on the quality of scientific research works and more broadly, their contributions to the development of Vietnamese science through organizing research groups, training graduate students, and editorial work in scientific journals. In our subjective opinion, Professor Nguyen Xuan Hung is an outstanding scientist if evaluated according to the above criteria. In addition, VIASM has a policy of promoting research in applied mathematics, a field in which Professor Nguyen Xuan Hung is an expert recognized by the international community.

The issues raised by Thanh Nien Newspaper, such as Professor Nguyen Xuan Hung using several different addresses in his scientific publications, are issues that should be of concern, but not as much as the quality of scientific publications. I do not know the specific reason in Mr. Hung's case, but I know that there are a number of Vietnamese scientists who publish articles under the addresses of many scientific institutions where they are not permanent staff.

If these things are done in an agreement with the consent of the host institution, or the host institution does not strictly prohibit this, then I do not see any signs of violation. This becomes an ethical issue when, although the host institution has regulations prohibiting organic scientists from publishing under other addresses, they still secretly do so."

Professor Ngo Bao Chau also added: "I would like to reaffirm that the selection of members of the VIASM Scientific Council is based only on the quality of scientific research works and contributions to the development of Vietnamese science, not on the quantity and address listed in their scientific publications, or those of their co-authors."

A representative of the NAFOSTED Foundation said that the foundation has met with members of the scientific council to seek opinions on the case of Professor Nguyen Xuan Hung. The foundation will soon have an official document responding to Thanh Nien Newspaper regarding the related content.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/gs-nguyen-xuan-hung-thoi-tham-gia-hoi-dong-giao-su-nganh-co-hoc-185240918142317911.htm