Korean court cases regarding research and publication ethics from 2009 to 2020

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Research and publication misconduct may occur in various forms, including author misrepresentation, plagiarism, and data fabrication. Research and publication ethics are essentially not legal duties, but ethical obligations. In reality, however, legal disputes arise over whether research and publication ethics have been violated. Thus, in many cases, misconduct in research and publication is determined in the courts. This article presents noteworthy legal cases in Korea regarding research and publication ethics to help editors and authors prevent ethical misconduct. Legal cases from 2009 to 2020 were collected from the database of the Supreme Court of Korea in December 2020. These court cases represent three case types: 1) civil cases, such as affirmation of nullity of dismissal and damages; 2) criminal cases, such as fraud, interference with business, and violations of copyright law; and 3) administrative cases related to disciplinary measures against professors affiliated with a university. These cases show that although research and publication ethics are ethical norms that are autonomously established by the relevant academic societies, they become a criterion for case resolution in legal disputes where research and publication misconduct is at issue.

참고문헌 (Reference)

1 남형두, "표절에 관한 최초의 본격적인 대법원판결의 명암 -대법원 2016. 10. 27. 선고 2015다5170 판결에 대한 평석-" 한국법학원 162 : 341-374, 2017

2 "Suwon District Court Decision. 2017Gojung2591 & 2592(Oct 12, 2018) (first trials) ect"

3 "Supreme Court Decision. 2018Do13696 (Jun 25, 2020)"

4 "Supreme Court Decision. 2017Do9459 (Apr 9, 2020)"

5 "Supreme Court Decision. 2016Do16031 (Oct 26, 2017)"

6 "Supreme Court Decision. 2015Da5170 (Oct 27, 2016)"

7 Hwang ES, "Manual for research and publication ethics in science and engineering" Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies 2016

8 Sohn HS, "Court ruling: coauthor falsely added in a book republished" Law Times

9 Han YH, "A PhD degree costs 20 million KRW, a master’s degree costs 10 million KRW: Dean of a graduate school of oriental medicine convicted for ghostwriting" Joongangilbo

10 Kim DY, "179 Professors prosecuted for misrepresenting the authorship and publication of books authored by others: for the first time" Yonhap News