Vice-Chancellor Anders Hagfeldt reported for research misconduct
A complaint sent to the National Board for Assessment of Research Misconduct has presented suspicions of research misconduct against the Vice-Chancellor of Uppsala University, Anders Hagfeldt. The complainant asserts that at least two of the illustrations in a scholarly article published earlier this year contain manipulated images.
“Obviously this is a difficult situation for me, both as Vice-Chancellor and as a researcher. Public confidence in research and researchers is of the utmost importance and for this reason I want to be completely open about the fact that a complaint has been made,” says Anders Hagfeldt.
The National Board for Assessment of Research Misconduct is a national government authority under the Ministry of Education and Research established in 2020 to investigate research misconduct.
“I note that this is a matter of a complaint that has been made. The National Board will now consider whether there is any reason to take up the complaint for examination. The Vice-Chancellor continues to enjoy my full confidence and I have informed the University Board. At the present time, I have no further comment on the matter,” says Anne Ramberg, chair of Uppsala University’s University Board.
Linda Koffmar
Facts
The article named by the complainant, of which Anders Hagfeldt is a co-author, is:
Arshad et al. (2022) N-coordinated bimetallic defect-rich nanocarbons as highly efficient electrocatalysts in advanced energy conversion applications, Chemical Engineering Journal, DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2022.134913
The complainant also asserts that there is a suspicion of data manipulation in another article of which Anders Hagfeldt is one of the authors:
Sadegh et al. (2020) Highly efficient, stable and hysteresis‒less planar perovskite solar cell based on chemical bath treated Zn2SnO4 electron transport layer, Nano Energy, DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2020.105038