..
Communications of the ACM
China’s Fake Science Industry: How ‘Paper Mills’ Threaten Progress
By Financial Times
March 29, 2023
Comments
Chinese researchers have become some of the world’s most prolific publishers of scientific papers. But experts say that China’s impressive output masks systemic inefficiencies and an underbelly of low-quality and fraudulent research.
The world’s scientific publishers are becoming increasingly alarmed by the scale of fraud. An investigation last year concluded: “The submission of suspected fake research papers . . . is growing and threatens to overwhelm the editorial processes of a significant number of journals.”
Bernhard Sabel at Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg is one of many journal editors calling for “swift global action to restore the health of the scientific record and to prevent the erosion of trust in science.”
Estimates of the extent of fake scientific output vary from 2 percent to 20 percent or more of published papers.
From Financial Times
View Full Article
..
.
Premiered Aug 1, 2022 #fakeDegree#chinaeducation
Recently, the “introduction of quick PhDs in universities” has become a hot topic on Chinese social media. First, the news that Shaoyang College in Hunan Province spent more than 18 million RMB to bring in 23 PhDs from Adamson University in the Philippines sparked public attention, and then “Xingtai College hired 13 female PhDs from South Korean universities” hit the top of Weibo’s trending search list. The media investigation found that “quick doctorate” has become an industry in China.
On July 25, “Xingtai College hired 13 female PhDs from South Korea” was again on the top of Weibo’s trending search list. According to the mainland media, in February this year, Xingtai College announced a list of candidates for 2021, a total of 13 people, all of whom are PhDs from Korean universities. A netizen who checked the list found that the seemingly public recruitment was actually all for the current teachers at Xingtai College .
These 13 PhDs graduated from three Korean institutions, namely Woosuk University, Jeonju University and Wonkwang University, with doctoral majors including education, Chinese studies, business administration, cultural management and landscape architecture engineering. What is absurd is that they are Chinese students who went to Korea for their doctoral degrees and even majored in Chinese studies. In the current Chinese society, many companies and institutions make education as one of the priority requirements when recruiting. Many basic positions require a graduate degree or higher to apply.
In actual work, whether it is title rating or job promotion, education is one of the necessary conditions for assessment, and this phenomenon is more serious in civil servants and state-owned enterprises. Under such a social environment, various kinds of academic falsifications, such as “accelerated doctorate”, have been created.
..
Financial Times
China’s fake science industry: how ‘paper mills’ threaten progress
Eleanor Olcott in Hong Kong and Clive Cookson and Alan Smith in London
March 28 2023
The country has become a prolific producer of academic research but fraudulent studies risk serious real-world consequences
.
But experts say that China’s impressive output masks systemic inefficiencies and an underbelly of low-quality and fraudulent research. Academics complain about the crushing pressure to publish to gain prized positions at research universities. “To survive in Chinese academia, we have many KPIs [key performance indicators] to hit. So when we publish, we focus on quantity over quality,” says a physics lecturer from a prominent Beijing university. “When prospective employers look at our CVs, it is much easier for them to judge the quantity of our output over the quality of the research,” he adds. The world’s scientific publishers are becoming increasingly alarmed by the scale of fraud. An investigation last year by their joint Committee on Publication Ethics (Cope) concluded: “The submission of suspected fake research papers . . . is growing and threatens to overwhelm the editorial processes of a significant number of journals.”
https://www.ft.com/content/32440f74-7804-4637-a662-6cdc8f3fba86
..
Caixin Global
Mar 29, 2022 08:29 PM
Hundreds of Fake Medical Research Papers Published in Recent Months, Authorities Say
By Peng Leyi, Huang Huizhao and Wang Xintong
China has named and shamed more than 600 medical workers linked to some 520 faked papers since June 2021, as part of an ongoing crackdown on plagiarism and other misconduct in the medical community that has dented the country’s scholarly reputation.
The faked papers were revealed in a string of statements published from last June to March this year on the website of the Ministry of Science and Technology. Investigations into research at more than 240 medical and educational institutions found that the production of the papers involved illegal activities such as trading, ghostwriting and falsifying research processes and data, according to the statements.
..
Nature
- NEWS FEATURE
- 23 March 2021
The fight against fake-paper factories that churn out sham science
Some publishers say they are battling industrialized cheating. A Nature analysis examines the ‘paper mill’ problem — and how editors are trying to cope.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00733-5
..
weehingthong 