【10.04.12 印度时报】Rampant cheating hurts research in China

青蛙小王子

http://toi.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World-China/Rampant-cheating-hurts-research-in-China/articleshow/5785695.cms
LIUZHOU: When professors in China need to author research papers to get promoted, many turn to people like Lu Keqian.

Working on his laptop in a cramped spare bedroom, the former schoolteacher ghostwrites for professors, students, government offices — anyone willing to pay his fee, typically about $45.

Ghostwriting, plagiarizing or faking results is so rampant in Chinese academia that some experts worry it could hinder China's efforts to become a leader in science. The communist government views science as critical to China's modernization, and the latest calls for government spending on science and technology to grow by 8% to $24 billion this year.

State-run media recently exulted over reports that China publishes more papers in international journals than any except the US. But not all the research stands up to scrutiny. In December, a British journal retracted 70 papers from a Chinese university saying the work had been fabricated.

Critics blame weak penalties and a system that bases faculty promotions and bonuses on the number, rather than quality, of papers published.