Melbourne Professor Discovers He Was Listed as Co-Author on Iranian Journal Paper Without His Knowledge

U.S. The Guardian reported that Ghalibaf, a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander and an associate professor in political geography at the University of Tehran, appeared alongside Rajabifard on the March 2023 paper. I’S Political Economy and Reconstructing of the Social Economy,' was published in the Iran-based Journal of Applied Researchers in Geographical Sciences by Kharazmi University.

Other academics at the University of Tehran were also listed as co-authors. Rajabifard told The Guardian he had “no involvement in the article” and had the journal remove his name earlier this year. Rajabifard said he was not aware that he was listed as a co-author until January.

He wrote to the journal immediately in January as a formal notification and request for removal of unauthorised authorship. “I stated clearly and unambiguously that I had no involvement in that paper,” Rajabifard said. “I did not participate in the study or writing of the manuscript, nor was I consulted or informed at any stage of the research or submission process by the corresponding author or any of the other listed co-authors.

His name was removed from the journal website in February. For more than two years, Rajabifard’s name remained listed as a co-author on the journal’s website and on a UN database. Rajabifard stated he has never worked or connected or published articles with Mr Ghalibaf or any IRGC members.

In 2016, Rajabifard was a guest at the University of Tehran’s Faculty of Geography. Rajabifard said he was part of a University of Melbourne delegation that visited Tehran University and a number of other universities in 2016 and 2017.

He said he was invited by the Faculty of Geography to deliver a seminar and that this was his only visit to that Faculty. The article’s publication came in the same month that foreign affairs minister Penny Wong wrote to universities asking them to cease work with Iranian academics and institutions.

In March, federal education minister Jason Clare ordered the Department of Education to reiterate to university vice-chancellors the government’s expectations in relation to research collaboration with other countries, including Iran.

Australia has imposed no sanctions on Ghalibaf, the University of Tehran, or Kharazmi University. Eshagh Ghalibaf, the son of Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, worked as a research assistant at the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructures and Land Administration (CSDILA) between 2016 and 2018.

Prof Abbas Rajabifard leads the research centre that employed Eshagh Ghalibaf seven years earlier.

Eshagh Ghalibaf studied for a master’s of engineering at the University of Melbourne between 2015 and 2018 and secured temporary residency in Australia until September 2022. A University of Melbourne spokesperson said the university was alert to the risks of foreign interference and devotes considerable resources to identifying and mitigating these risks.

The University of Melbourne has introduced mandatory Foreign Interest Disclosures for all staff in recent years.

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the Australian government has made clear its expectations that universities should not enter into, continue, or facilitate research collaboration with Iranian entities where this would be inconsistent with Australia’s foreign policy, sanctions regime, or national interest.