Vietnamese scientist in the top 'most influential in the world' explains publishing 1 article every 3 days

Dr. Vo Nguyen Dai Viet - Photo: H.NG

Frontiers in Energy Research, a journal under Frontiers Publishing, has just removed an article by a group of authors from Malaysia, Bangladesh, China and Vietnam.

The peer reviewer and editor are all affiliated with the authors of the article.

The removed article is titled Optimization of Pyrolysis Parameters for Production of Biochar From Banana Peels: Evaluation of Biochar Application on the Growth of Ipomoea aquatica , published on February 16, 2021.

The Vietnamese author named in the removed article is Dr. Vo Nguyen Dai Viet (7th author), deputy director of the Institute of Technology Application and Sustainable Development, Nguyen Tat Thanh University.

Mr. Viet is one of four Vietnamese people in the "top 1% most cited in the world" by Clarivate, and is ranked 17th out of 47 Vietnamese people in the "top most influential scientists in the world" in the ranking by Professor John PA Ioannidis and colleagues at Stanford University.

According to the removal notice, Frontiers Publishing found evidence of multiple undeclared conflicts of interest that undermined the integrity of the peer-review process. The undeclared conflict of interest that led Frontiers to remove the article was that both the editor in charge of the review process and the reviewers were related to the authors of the article.

Undeclared relationships between the five authors

According to information provided by scientists to Tuoi Tre Online right after the above article was removed, the corresponding author of the article is Pau Loke Show, whose address is the University of Nottingham Malaysia. Notably, Mr. Dai Viet and Pau Loke Show are co-authors in at least 12 articles.

The editor in charge of the review process was Su Shiung Lam at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, a frequent co-author with Mr. Viet and the Pau Loke Show. Su Shiung Lam has co-authored at least 15 articles with Mr. Viet and 11 with the Pau Loke Show.

The paper was submitted to Frontiers in Energy Research on December 4, 2020, and accepted for publication less than three weeks later, on December 23, 2020. Editor Su Shiung Lam co-authored the paper with Vo Nguyen Dai Viet and Pau Loke Show before, after, and even during the peer review process.

One of the three reviewers of the article that was removed is Dr. Nguyen Thi Dong Phuong, from the Department of Chemical and Environmental Technology at the University of Technical Education (University of Danang). Ms. Phuong is also a frequent co-author with Pau Loke Show. The two have shared their names in at least 17 articles.

Another rebuttal to the removed article is Chin Kui Cheng, whose address is Khalifa University, United Arab Emirates. He is also a frequent co-author with Vo Nguyen Dai Viet and the Pau Loke Show.

Chin Kui Cheng has co-authored at least 12 articles with Mr. Dai Viet and 10 with Pau Loke Show. There are articles in which author Vo Nguyen Dai Viet, reviewer Chin Kui Cheng and editor Su Shiung Lam are all co-authors.

"The undeclared relationship between five people, author Vo Nguyen Dai Viet, corresponding author Pau Loke Show, reviewer Nguyen Thi Dong Phuong, reviewer Chin Kui Cheng and editor Su Shiung Lam, is a conflict of interest, eroding the integrity of the peer review process, forcing Frontiers Publishing House to remove the article," said a Vietnamese scientist currently living abroad.

Frontiers in Energy Research journal announcement on article removal - Screenshot

How did Mr. Vo Nguyen Dai Viet publish a scientific article every 3 days?

Mr. Vo Nguyen Dai Viet has published more than 500 scientific articles with nearly 1,400 co-authors. In 2021 and 2022, he published about 120 articles/year.

Speaking with Tuoi Tre Online , Mr. Viet confirmed that according to the SCOPUS database extracted on November 26, 2023, he and his colleagues published 120 articles in 2021 and 119 scientific articles in 2022 with work addresses at Nguyen Tat Thanh University and foreign units.

Explaining this "huge" international publication capacity, Mr. Viet said: "From the data, it shows that most of my publications are closely related to editorial work such as editorial overview articles, edited books, edited book chapters, prefaces, letters to the editor and corrections, which have contributed to increasing the number of publications in the year (2021: 55.24%; 2022: 71.13%); and mainly as co-authors in scientific publications (2021: 90.48%; 2022: 78.35%)".

Mr. Viet said he also has experience in peer review and is an editor of many international specialized journals (as deputy editor and assistant editor of many prestigious international journals). He has participated in editing over 40 special topics as a guest editor, has 18 years of experience in research and peer review (top 1%).

"In fact, depending on each published work, I have made certain contributions to a few tasks as follows: participating in proposing research directions or research methods; sharing scientific databases, or participating in measuring some survey indicators related to environmental science research directions and sustainable development; discussing and analyzing some results of the topic; participating in editing the manuscript and responding to reviewers of the article.

In addition, many young scientists around the world have contacted me to discuss, analyze results, give comments, and edit scientific articles, because I have a lot of experience in research and editing. Because of these contributions, I deserve to be a co-author in international collaborative articles," said Mr. Viet.

In addition, he also said that the publications are coordinated in cooperation with many strong research groups in universities in different countries, which are prestigious international partners.

"Because of my contributions to a certain extent and appropriately in the topic and manuscript of the article, I am worthy of being a co-author in these articles according to international research and publication practices, as well as the regulations of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) on research ethics and scientific publication," he affirmed.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nha-khoa-hoc-viet-trong-top-anh-huong-nhat-the-gioi-ly-giai-cong-bo-3-ngay-1-bai-bao-20240616194717691.htm