Health Minister expresses concern over fraudulent research cases for international conferences
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, has expressed his concern regarding alleged cases of fraudulent research used to obtain travel grants for international scientific conferences. “It is not my field, but frankly, as an Indonesian, I am very saddened. We should not behave this way,” said Minister Budi Gunadi in Jakarta on Tuesday. The Minister stated that it is far better to write properly and correctly, ensuring work is the genuine result of one’s own efforts and labour.
In a separate development, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Kemdiktisaintek) announced it will investigate allegations of research fabrication committed by Indonesian citizens regarding the International Society of Pneumonia and Pneumimosal Diseases (ISPPD) 2026 conference in Denmark. “We have also coordinated with UNY (Yogyakarta State University), the institution where the alleged perpetrator completed their undergraduate studies,” said the Minister of Higher Education.
Based on initial investigations into affiliations, the ministry found that almost all individuals involved do not hold status as lecturers or formal educators in any university in Indonesia. The Minister explained that the lack of formal employment status prevents the ministry from directly imposing administrative and ethical sanctions, such as the dismissal of a lecturer.
Nevertheless, Minister Brian noted that UNY has acted proactively by summoning four suspected individuals for questioning regarding their motives, while the ministry continues to gather strong evidence to bring the case into the criminal justice system.
“Medical science can only stand upon truth, honesty, ethics, and academic responsibility,” said the Chairman of MGBKI, Budi Iman Santoso. He emphasised that all forms of data fabrication, falsification of research results, plagiarism, identity forgery, misappropriation of affiliation, authorship manipulation, and the misuse of artificial intelligence to create fictitious scientific works constitute serious violations of scientific dignity and cannot be tolerated. However, he stressed that every allegation of violation must be examined through a fair, transparent, independent, proportional, and evidence-based mechanism. MGBKI does not encourage public judgement, personal persecution, or the dissemination of private data.