A group of Vietnamese scientists had three research papers withdrawn by Fuel, an Elsevier journal. These papers were published between March and May 2022.

All three articles featured co-authorship from both Vietnamese and international authors. The Vietnamese authors included Dao Nam Cao, Thanh Hai Truong, Anh Tuan Le, Anh Tuan Hoang (1); Xuan Phuong Nguyen; Van Vang Le; Anh Tuan Hoang (2); Anh Tuan Hoang, Xuan Phuong Nguyen (3).

The reason for the withdrawal was attributed to changes in authorship during the revision process. Specifically, in the first paper, the publisher noted that one author was removed during revisions, despite being listed as an author upon submission, and two authors were added during the revision process (Thanh Hai Truong and Anh Tuan Le).

In the second paper, there was a change in authorship during the second round of revisions, where one author was removed, and Van Vang Le was added. In the third paper, authorship changes occurred in both revision rounds, with two authors removed in the first round and Van Tam Bui and Xuan Phuong Nguyen added in the same stage. This violated the journal’s authorship policy.

What did the involved say?

Associate Professor Hoang Anh Tuan, a co-author of all three withdrawn papers, shared with VietNamNet that the articles were published before he was invited by Elsevier to serve as the editor-in-chief of Fuel (a role he held from December 2022 to March 2023) overseeing the Asia-Pacific region.

Before the articles were withdrawn, Elsevier's ethics committee sent a letter to his group requesting clarification on several issues: Why did he cite his own papers? What was his relationship with the editor? Why were there changes in authorship during the revision rounds?

The authors explained clearly that citing their own work was relevant to their expertise and provided additional scientific evidence. They stated that none of the authors had any relationship with the editor and that the submission of the papers was handled by editors assigned by Fuel. The changes in authorship were based on the contributions of each author; during revisions, they sought the expertise of new contributors, while some authors could no longer contribute and requested to withdraw their names from the papers.

“This is entirely in line with ethical standards in scientific research,” Tuan stated. Despite their explanations, the publisher did not agree, and the papers were still withdrawn. He described the withdrawal by Fuel as entirely arbitrary. His team has sent letters to the ethics committee and the director of Elsevier to vehemently protest this issue.

Tuan emphasized that publishers like Springer, Taylor & Francis, and ACS always require all authors to sign agreements and submit them to the journal for any changes in authorship. Only when the reasons for changes are accepted can the paper be sent for peer review and potentially published. He noted that changes in authorship should be considered technical errors that must be verified by the journal and the publisher. However, Elsevier did not follow these procedures.

“I admit my shortcomings in scientific work to improve myself. I hope to share my experiences to help newcomers in science avoid mistakes during the publishing process. These papers represent serious research efforts and our intellectual contributions. We even traveled to a laboratory in India focusing on internal combustion engines to conduct these studies,” Tuan expressed.

“The withdrawal of these papers greatly impacts my reputation,” he added, urging the Vietnamese scientific community to propose solutions to protect Vietnamese authors against unfair and non-transparent treatment from publishers.

The withdrawn articles, published between March and May 2022, are titled:

1. Combustion and emission behaviors of dual-fuel premixed charge compression ignition engine powered with n-pentanol and blend of diesel/waste tire oil included nanoparticles

2. Exploration over combined impacts of modified piston bowl geometry and tert-butyl hydroquinone additive-included biodiesel/diesel blend on diesel engine behaviors

3. Optimization of variable compression ratio diesel engine fueled with Zinc oxide nanoparticles and biodiesel emulsion using response surface methodology

Associate Professor Hoang Anh Tuan previously worked at the HCM City University of Technology before becoming Vice-Rector at Dong A University. Due to plans for long-term teaching and project collaboration in Europe, he resigned from Dong A University in early September and transitioned to a professorship at Korea University in South Korea. He has extensive research in alternative fuels, renewable energy, internal combustion engines, and carbon reduction strategies.

Le Huyen