Note: [†] Formerly with GKSS Research Centre, Geesthacht, near Hamburg, Germany.
Abstract: This paper is dedicated to Professor Takeo Yokobori, who sadly passed away in 2017. Among many other merits, Professor Yokobori, University of Sendai, is known as the founder of the world-wide organization International Conference on Fracture, ICF. This organization holds quadrennial conferences at various places in the world, the inaugurating one at Sendai. My personal relation to this great scientist goes back to the nineteen hundred nineties of the past century. At an ASTM meeting in the USA, Professor Yokobori approached me and asked me whether I would be interested in founding a new research group dealing with creep crack propagation in titanium aluminides. I agreed, and this was the beginning of a very fruitful cooperation of experts from various countries. Professor Yokobori invited me several times for visits to Japan. On these occasions, I had the opportunity to see many interesting places, such as Miyajima, Hiroshima, Nikko, Tokyo, Sendai, Sapporo and numerous others. I was - and still am - especially impressed by the unparalleled beauty of the many temples and gardens I had the pleasure to visit. These visits induced in me very deep impressions of the unique Japanese culture. Thank you very much, Professor Takeo Yokobori!
Keywords: Plagiarism, scientific misconduct, falsification, impact factor, strategic authorship, manipulation of research results, education, credit points, financial conflicts, ghostwriters, intellectual property, purchase of academic titles, quantity before quality
