China asks its universities to review the retractions of academic research | Sciences

China has for the first time conducted a nationwide review of academic article retractions after noting the very large number of scientific papers rejected by publishers in recent years. On November 20, the Ministry of Education called on colleges and universities in the Asian giant to examine the retraction of academic articles by their researchers, verify the reasons for rejection, and “severely punish scientific misconduct,” according to a memorandum that is still ongoing. It will be published on the websites of many educational institutions in the country. The departments have until last Thursday to conduct a self-examination of materials rejected in the past three years – since January 1, 2021 – and send their conclusions to the ministry, according to the magazine. nature.

The ministry's request, as recorded in a note on the website of the Inner Mongolia Medical University, outlines Beijing's concern about the large number of articles by Chinese authors that have been rejected by scientific publishers such as Hindawi, “which has had a negative impact on China's reputation and academic standing.” Environment.” A recent analysis of nature It is revealed that the aforementioned Al-Hindawi Publishing House issued more than 9,600 reviews in 2023, of which about 8,200 had a co-author in China. In 2023, all publishers issued nearly 14,000 retraction notices, about three-quarters of which were to a Chinese co-author. Since 2021, when the period Beijing intends to review begins, more than 17,000 retraction notices have been issued for articles published by Chinese co-authors, always in accordance with naturewhich only took into account articles published in English for analysis.

Chinese Economic Journal Caixin It ensures that notices highlight the “scope and seriousness” of academic misconduct in China, and the “publish or perish” culture and context that has fueled the so-called industry. “Paper mills”, Companies that produce fake or plagiarized articles to order. This newspaper ensures that in 2023, more than 6,400 articles published in journals mentioned in the Science Citation Index (SCI) database, which is considered the highest classification in science, have been withdrawn worldwide; Three-quarters of them came from China, according to the data I cited CaixinThis is based on a report by the American health consulting company Healsan Consulting.

The memo published by Inner Mongolia Medical University describes problems department heads may encounter when examining articles. These include plagiarism, or misappropriation of research, falsification of results, buying or selling research data, manipulation of research data, graphs, and conclusions, ghostwriting, fabrication of peer review experts, and various forms of fraud to obtain funds for research or claim authors cite specific documents unnecessarily.

Problems of scientific misconduct in China are not a new phenomenon. Another article from nature The year 2021 has already demonstrated the systematic production of fake research through the study of “factories”. There have been glaring cases in the country. In May 2020, police in Taizhou, in eastern China's Jiangsu Province, dismantled a group of ghostwriters from whom more than a thousand doctors in hospitals across the country had purchased supposed scientific works (most of these writers had no more than a high school diploma). . ). According to reports, they were paid more than 10,000 yuan (about 1,300 euros) for publishing in national magazines. Caixin.

Quoted from an expert nature He confirms that this is the first time he has attended a national review process of this kind. Previously, investigations were done largely on a case-by-case basis, but this time all institutions have to conduct investigations simultaneously, said Xiaotian Chen, a librarian and computer scientist at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, who has studied withdrawals. Data and its data. Research misconduct in China

In recent decades, as the Asian giant has opened up to the world, risen to superpower status and developed its scientific potential, the number of its original academic works has also risen. In 1995, China produced more than 12,000 publications, including articles and reviews. That number rose to 120,000 in 2009, and in 2021, China-based researchers are authors or co-authors of about 650,000 publications, according to a recent study by the Institute for Scientific Information, a US-based analysis and research organization. States. Only between 2009 and 2021, while China doubled its size by a factor of five, US production did so by less than 1.5 times, and EU production by 1.75 times. “China now publishes more academic research studies annually than the European Union or the United States,” the report states.

At present, it is not clear what punitive consequences may arise from the discovery of violations. In a similar situation in 2021, where China's National Health Commission published the results of an investigation into a group of retracted articles, penalties ranged from pay cuts to demotion.

You can follow Theme in Facebook, s And Instagramor sign up here to receive Our weekly newsletter.

_