Bulletin of the
Korean Mathematical Society BKMS

Korean Mathematical Society Code of Ethics

Chapter 1 General Provisions

Article 1 (Purpose) The purpose of the Korean Mathematical Society Code of Ethics is to establish the standards and procedures for the Members of Korean Mathematical Society (hereinafter, "the Society") to follow when a violation of the Ethical Guidelines of the Korean Mathematical Society (hereinafter, "the ethical guidelines") Journals occurs.

Article 2 (Reporting) Any person who is made aware of a violation of the ethical guidelines can report the details of the matter to the Secretariat of the Society.

Chapter 2 Committee for Ethics of Research

Article 3 (Organization)

• Section 1
  The purpose of the Committee for Ethics of Research is to review and resolve conflicts related to Article 1 of the Korean Mathematical Society Code of Ethics.
• Section 2
  The Committee for Ethics of Research shall be comprised of up to ten members, including two vice presidents and an editor-in-chief, appointed by the President of the Society. The term is the same as President of Korean Mathematical Society.

Article 4 (Verdict)

• Section 1
  The Committee for Ethics of Research may organize a subcommittee to investigate a violation case.
• Section 2
  The Committee for Ethics of Research shall grant the alleged violator an opportunity to provide a written rebuttal.
• Section 3
  The Committee for Ethics of Research may be held as an electronic meeting.
• Section 4
  (The Committee for Ethics of Research can reach a 'guilty' verdict only by a two-thirds (or greater) majority of its current members who were present at the time of voting. If the alleged violator is found guilty, the Committee for Ethics of Research shall vote to impose one of the following sanctions.

  • 4.1
    Private warning (a warning shall be sent to the violator in written form and the Vice President-General Affairs shall inform the initial reporter that a warning has been issued)
  • 4.2
    Public warning (a warning shall be published in the Newsletter of the Society and the affiliation of the violator shall be informed of the violation)
  • 4.3
    Public warning and expulsion from Society in accordance with Article 11 Section 2 of the Articles of the Korean Mathematical Society

Article 5 (Confidentiality)

• Section 1
  The identity of the individual who reported a research ethics violation shall be kept confidential.
• Section 2
  The identity of the alleged violator shall be kept confidential in case he/she is found innocent or until sanctions are enforced if he/she is found guilty.

Chapter 3 Processing Outcome

Article 6 (Processing)

• Section 1
  If the case under consideration is judged to be a violation of the ethical guidelines in accordance with Article 4, Section 4 of the Korean Mathematical Society Code of Ethics, the Vice President-General Affairs shall notify the convicted individual of the resulting sanction.
• Section 2
  The convicted individual may submit one written objection to the Secretariat of the Society within onemonth of the notification by the Vice President-General Affairs. In such case, the Committee for Ethics of Research shall reconsider the case in accordance with Article 4, Section 4 of the Korean Mathematical Society Code of Ethics.
• Section 3
  The Chairman of the Committee for Ethics of Research shall convene the committee when necessary. Chairman shall report the outcome to the Board of Directors, and enforce resulting sanctions.

Supplementary Provisions

1. The Code of Ethics takes effect by means of decisions of the Board of Directors and the General Assembly of the Society.
2. The Code of Ethics applies to cases of violation of the ethical guidelines that occur after the decision of the General Assembly of the Society.
3. The Code of Ethics takes effect 1 January 2009.
4. The Code of Ethics is enforced from 25 October 2014.
5. The Code of Ethics is enforced from 24 October 2015.
6. The Code of Ethics is enforced from 28 October 2017.
7. The Code of Ethics is enforced from 26 October 2019.

Ethical Guidelines of the Korean Mathematical Society

Mathematics is one of the oldest fields of study in the history of mankind and has been contributing to its advancement for thousands of years. Its role has greatly expanded in recent years as mathematical research findings are being directly applied to industrial sites. Such expansion of the role of mathematics is placing increasing pressure on mathematicians to increase their number of research findings, and on research institutions to encourage their researchers to increase the number of results that they publish. In such an environment, the likelihood of occurrences of unethical conduct related to mathematical research is increasing. An examination of cases of unethical conduct reveals that although some are deliberate, others arise from indifference or ignorance on the part of the concerned parties.

The Korean Mathematical Society, in response to this trend, came to establish basic guidelines on research ethics with which its researchers shall comply. Ethical conflicts that may arise span various areas of ordinary academic affairs or researchers such as researching, teaching and volunteering. More specifically, these include:

- Actions related to achieving and presenting research results,
- Actions related to advising graduate students on dissertations or academic curricula, and
- Actions related to being involved in another researcher's work by peer-reviewing, journal editing, or reviewing research projects.

1. Presentation of Research Result

Researchers use various forms to reveal the processes and results of their research to colleagues. This demonstration of productivity is used as a measure when the researchers are evaluated.

Research Papser

All researchers should be well aware of the recent trends in their areas of research and in related fields. Specifically, researchers should be fully aware of precedent results related to their own research. Precedent results should be cited appropriately when preparing research papers. Contributions not of one's own must not be deliberately concealed. Even if a researcher was unaware of the existence of a prior research result and thus failed to cite it in his or her research paper, proper citation of sources is the sole responsibility of the author. In particular, including without citation a result in a paper that appeared in one's own previously published work may be considered as plagiarism and must be avoided.

In addition to plagiarizing other researchers' published work, stealing another researcher's idea must also be avoided. If ideas or findings are obtained during a discussion with a colleague, sound reasoning should be used to determine whether to include the colleague either as a coauthor of the paper or in the acknowledgements. This decision should reflect the desires of the colleague.

The Korean Mathematical Society recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:
- Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
- Drafting the work; AND
- Final approval of the version to be published; AND
- Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

All authors of a joint paper should have a contribution comparable to that of an author to the contents of the work and any author who makes such contribution must be listed as a joint author of the work. In case of joint authorship, the established custom of the international mathematical community is to list the authors in alphabetical order of their last name, except in special circumstances. Before submitting a coauthored paper to a journal, the corresponding author should confer with all authors of the paper regarding submission and editing.

Conference Presentations

Presenting one's research results at a conference is an opportunity to publicize them to colleagues more immediately than by publishing them in a journal. For a conference presentation, the presenter may choose to present the contents of a single paper or a series of papers. The identities of all joint authors must be revealed when presenting any coauthored paper.

When presenting at a conference, indiscreetly mentioning a result that has yet to receive a final verification should be avoided.

Publications in Proceedings

The contents of oral presentations at conferences are often published in conference proceedings. Papers published in proceedings may be treated equally as formal papers published in journals, or may be survey papers in specific areas of research. Survey papers may include contents from previously-published papers but the fact that they are survey papers should be specified clearly.

Books and Translations

Mathematics books may be categorized into several types depending on their technical level. Books that summarize recent research results to the extent that they serve as valuable references for researchers must clearly specify the sources of the results. Although citing the original sources of all results mentioned in undergraduate textbooks may not be possible, sufficient effort should be made to provide students with useful references. When publishing a textbook, one should not list as an author a person uninvolved in writing the book, possibly with the intention of increasing sales.

When preparing a publication in Korean by consulting works written in other languages, the publication must be classified by means of sound judgment as an original work, a translation or an edited translation. For a translated publication, the identity of the translator should always be specified.

2. Teaching

Receiving a doctoral degree is practically considered the starting point of one's professional career as a researcher. When conferring a doctoral degree to one's own advisee, one must assess carefully whether or not the student is fully qualified as an independent researcher. Evaluating whether or not the significance of the student's doctorate dissertation is sufficiently high to be published in an accredited journal may serve as a useful measure in assessing the student's qualification.

Researchers should set an example for students by fully adhering to research ethics themselves, and should provide students with concrete directions on how to do so when specific questions arise.

When graduate students ask researchers to be their advising professor, researchers should fully inform them about the field of study, including its future prospects and employment opportunities.

3. Editing and Reviewing

Researchers may be requested to edit or review another researcher's work. They may also become involved in reviewing various research projects.

Upon receipt of a paper submission, the journal's editors and reviewers should make substantial efforts to ensure prompt review and publication of the paper. Editors and reviewers should keep the identities of the reviewers confidential. Particularly, reviewers of papers or research projects should not reveal their identity to the author(s) whose work is being reviewed. Even with good intentions, revealing the identity of the reviewer may be construed as an attempt by the reviewer to exert influence over the author(s).

Editors and reviewers may gain privileged information on the contents of another researcher's work during editing or reviewing processes. If one gains such knowledge from no other source than editing or reviewing, he/she should not publish his/her own work that uses those results until the original work is published.

When assigning reviewers, selections must be made carefully to ensure that the reviewers and the author(s) of the work being reviewed are not in any special relationship such as teacher-and-student. A reviewer should reject any request to review a paper written by an individual with whom he/she has such a special relationship.

Reviewers must conduct all reviews of papers or research fund applications impartially without regard to the age, gender, affiliation (former or current), position, religious belief or ethnicity of the author(s).