In a statement today, the university said the article, published in a refereed journal listed in the educational research abstracts database, complied with the policy of blind peer-reviewed journals.

“This means that the study has been reviewed by experts who are not associated with the researchers to prevent any conflict of interest.”

UPM went on to say that social science and humanities studies were “open to interpretation”.

The institution, however, said it viewed the allegations by a French historian seriously.

Yesterday, French historian Serge Jardin accused Rozita Che Rodi and Hashim Musa of misrepresenting Malay maritime history and questioned the academic journal in which it was published.

Rozita and Hashim wrote “The Jongs and The Galleys: Traditional Ships of The Past Malay Maritime Civilization” which was published in the International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Vol 13, Issue 11, 2023.

Jardin claimed that an image used in the paper said to be a model of a Malay Jong, a sailing ship from Java, Indonesia, used by Javanese, Sundanese, and later Peguan and Malay sailors, was actually that of a Foochow Pole Junk from China.

In a Facebook post, Jardin asked: “How low can academia go?”

He also included a photo of the jong in question and listed two other factual claims in the paper that he argued were false.