[Opinion] Hope for Swift Establishment of Leadership in Science and Technology Sector

On the 4th, a hearing for five ministerial candidates was held at the National Assembly. After watching the hearing of the candidate for Minister of Science and ICT, whose work is directly related to mine, I became concerned about when the head of the science and technology command center would be able to start their duties. Countries around the world are in the midst of a technological hegemony competition in response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Reading the book "The Great Reset" by Klaus Schwab, Chairman of the World Economic Forum, published this February, it is said that due to COVID-19, economic, social, environmental, technological, and geopolitical resets, as well as personal resets, are rapidly unfolding. However, we are currently in a worrying situation where even the head of the science and technology sector is absent.

Having accumulated over 40 years of experience in domestic and international research fields and now concluding that career, I recognize how important research ethics are and observe that our country's research community has yet to properly internalize international norms. Therefore, I would like to share a few points regarding plagiarism in research papers and attendance at overseas academic conferences from the perspective of the science and technology sector. At the same time, I reflect on the fact that the science and technology community has lacked sufficient communication with the general public.

First, unlike the humanities, which are mainly centered on individuals, research in the science and engineering fields encourages collaborative research among researchers within laboratories (Labs), where roles and contributions are judged and decided among the researchers. Authorship qualifications and the order of authors are agreements among the authors, and since it is difficult to apply author order to institutional performance evaluations, many institutions simply evaluate by dividing credit equally among co-authors.

Second, it is an accepted practice in science and engineering fields to use one's research content both in a thesis and in academic journal papers. When I wrote my doctoral dissertation abroad 35 years ago, two chapters were reorganized papers previously presented at academic conferences. Of course, it is a fundamental virtue to properly disclose sources and citations. However, seeing ongoing uncomfortable issues related to research ethics, I hope that researchers’ ethical awareness will be strengthened and that mature understanding and interest from society as a whole will increase.

Third, regarding international conference travel, bringing family members along while attending overseas conferences officially may still be unfamiliar in our cultural sentiment. However, from the perspective of international conferences, family accompaniment is recognized as a motivating factor that attracts distinguished scholars who deliver keynote speeches or special lectures and encourages the submission of high-quality papers. Therefore, many overseas conferences provide spouse or family programs. In this way, family accompaniment at overseas conferences is a common research culture internationally.

Now, an expert in the DNA (Data, Network, Artificial Intelligence) fields, which are core to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and digital transformation, must be appointed as the head of the science and technology sector to properly navigate the current situation where the great reset accelerated by COVID-19 is underway. As a member of the science and technology community, I sincerely hope that the command center of our science and technology sector will soon be properly established, and I pray that the foolishness of "gyogaksalwoo (矯角殺牛)"?straightening the ox’s horn but killing the ox in the process?will not occur.

Kim Myung-jun, Chairman of the Council of Heads of Science and Technology Research Institutes