Forced to put my name on a bad quality and fraudulent paper

Question

I am studying Computer Science in an unknown, crap tier university in India. Due to my interest in Deep Learning, I've done some strong projects and internships in it. Word passed over and people started asking for help with things, and subsequently my current situation also happened because a professor came with the Head of Department in my university and asked me to work on an ML project for them. I agreed to it since it was some small work. Later I got to know that this was going to be the PhD thesis of that professor, but I didn't mind it since it was a small work and also because the Head of Department is involved (if I rejected, they would probably punish me by intentionally reducing my internal marks and failing me).

The work I did for the paper was completely ridiculous but the professor was still very satisfied with it (it was on par with the quality of rest of the fake papers published in the journal he was going to publish in). I was also forced to fake the results for the paper and bluff up things. If anyone reads merely one standard paper in that area, and then takes a glance at this cooked up paper, they can easily figure out that its faked and is a completely worthless paper with zero academic contribution, and only helps the university and the professor to increase their paper count.

The problem is that the paper is now finished and the professor just said that he will put my name on the paper. I am strongly against this and I've tried saying this softly like "No sir, it's okay, you don't have to put me in the paper", but he is adamant and wants to put my name in the paper because I've helped him make it.

I'm still young in undergrad and I'm planning to pursue an MS in a good university and further pursue a PhD. I'm super worried about having a very bad and ridiculously faked up paper this early in my research career. Anyone in the future can ruin my career by mentioning that a paper that has my name on it is completely fake and unethical. I also won't be able to make it to any university for higher studies because the admins and professors at grad school can spot this ridiculous paper easily and reject my application right away. I am extremely worried about it and I'm having panic attacks thinking about this and my future, and I am not able to stop the professor from putting my name on the paper.

What can I do about this?

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Addressing the points in the comments:

1. I did have two choices - yes and no. Had I said no and refused to participate in this fraudulent project, I would've been intentionally and illegally failed in the course, and committed to mental torture (this can happen in India unlike the US). This is like an offer that I cannot refuse and I said yes only to survive myself from this situation - which is why I say I was forced. It's like being held at gunpoint.
2. I cannot switch to another institution at this point (I'm a final year student with still 8 months to graduate). And I don't think I can harm my relationship with the Head here even after graduating because I'm dependent on them for an LoR. Since an LoR from a professor is better than one from industry, I have to obtain one from the Head here because it is better than obtaining an LoR from any other in this institution.

Answer 1

The work I did for the paper was completely ridiculous but the professor was still very satisfied with it (it was on par with the quality of rest of the fake papers published in the journal he was going to publish in). I was also highly encouraged to fake the results for the paper and bluff up things. If anyone reads merely one standard paper in that area, and then takes a glance at this cooked up paper, they can easily figure out that its faked and is a completely worthless paper with zero academic contribution, and only helps the university and the professor to increase their paper count.

If your description is fair, this is not a "bad quality paper", it is a fraudulent one.

The problem is that the paper is now finished and the professor just said that he will put my name on the paper. I am strongly against this and I've tried saying this softly like "No sir, it's okay, you don't have to put me in the paper", but he is adamant and wants to put my name in the paper because I've helped him make it.

Then don't say it softly. "It's okay, you don't have to put my name as an author" communicates "it is acceptable but not necessary that my name be concluded". A very reasonable response to this soft statement would be to include your name if they think your name should be included.

If you do not want your name associated with the paper, you must say this. You can still say it softly to start as, "I do not want my name on this paper," but you may need to insist with "I refuse to have my name on this paper". Ideally, I would get this documented e.g. in an email, so that you have something to refer to if your name is nonetheless associated with fraudulent work.

It's understandable that your position will be confusing to your advisor, because you've already participated in the faking of results, which makes it seem like you're on board with the whole enterprise. I would not recommend doing this in the future - if asked to produce fraudulent results, you should refuse immediately at that step and therefore not risk being credited for that fraudulent work. Of course, you could still be involved in a larger project in which other authors have not acted ethically and you feel your name needs to be withdrawn for those reasons, but you are still personally responsible for the specific individual work you do and the quality of that work.

Besides that, I don't know what to say. It seems you feel you are in a lab that regularly publishes fraud, in an institution that is permissive of fraud. I don't know what benefit you think you'll get from this arrangement. Maybe things are not really as bad as you make it sound here, but if they are, your next steps should all be about getting someplace else. Good luck.

Answer 2

I’ll add some thoughts on top of @BryanKrause’s excellent answer. To summarize a lot of information from the comments, the story I’m getting is that you:

1. faked data, but did so under coercion (or what you perceive as coercion) by the corrupt head of department;

2. now wish to distance yourself from the fraudulent research by refusing to be a coauthor of the work; and

3. do not seem to think that you could have behaved in any other way, or that you have any ethical responsibility for this fraudulent research being published or helping to get someone a fake PhD, as long as it doesn’t mention your name.

Well, I’m sorry to be a bearer of bad news, but I think this last belief is not quite right. If this research ends up getting published, then, regardless of whether it has your name on it or not, you will have been complicit in academic misconduct. And you already are complicit in misconduct, since you helped someone get a fraudulent PhD. Thus, if your career is hurt in some way by this unfortunate turn of events, you might be forced to acknowledge that it was your behavior, and the choices that you made, that played a role in those bad consequences.

Perhaps you acted under coercion, and if so that would be a mitigating factor that reduces your culpability to some extent. I’m not passing judgment, since I know only very few details about what happened. And I don’t actually have much in the way of practical advice I can offer. But, before you make any decisions about how to act, I’d advise you to first of all do some soul searching and face the fact that you cannot easily claim to be purely a victim in this situation. Your mindset about the situation seems to be misguided, and this might have led you to make wrong decisions in the past. Changing your mindset might lead you to better decisions going forward. For example, you could adopt the view that a corrupt academic is not an acceptable person to even want a letter of recommendation from, under any circumstances, and look for a path forward in your career that doesn’t involve caving to corrupt demands from such people. Even if that seems like an impractical approach to take, I think it would ultimately serve you better in the long term.

Good luck!

Answer 3

I think you have to be creative, and you should avoid fighting an injustice with another injustice.

There is a weak point in authorship, and it is the non-univoque relation between a person and the name of the person.

One smart solution is then to add noise to your name. This way, in the future, if you do not refer to the paper, it will not be easy to find out that the co-author of the paper is really you.

When you will give in to your professor request, ask them politely to put your name as "newres + the family name of your grand grand mother", in a form of respect towards her, and adding as well "Edgar" which is the nickname you always use to distinguish yourself from the other newres doing ugly stuff in CS.

Note: no paper publication forms, no publishers (not even the one doing big scams) are requiring ID to check authors'names.