25 November 2017

According to local scientists and researchers, Singapore is at far greater risk of academic fraud now, given the increasingly competitive academic environment here.

In academia, the pressure to “publish or perish” has steadily been increasing in recent years due to the proliferation of higher degrees awarded by universities and the increasing number of people entering academia.

Still, it must be noted that the number of papers that have been retracted due to academic malpractice in Singapore remains at a modest level when compared internationally.

There have been only about 60 retractions involving misconduct or duplicated findings here out of 14,000 international cases in the database of Retraction Watch, a website that tracks such cases, since 2007.

One of the largest cases of scientific fraud in Singapore came to light recently when former Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) scientist Sabeera Bonala admitted to falsifying data in her doctoral thesis.