March 29, 2024

Plagiarism widespread in Chinese science

Acknowledged by Chinese academic

As China becomes more and more important
because of its burgeoning economy and science, will academic misconduct also
increase? Quite possibly. In a letter in Nature, Yuehong Zhang states that “Since
October 2008, we have detected unoriginal material in a staggering 31% of papers submitted to the Journal of Zhejiang University–Science (692 of 2,233 submissions).”

Dr Zhang says that “We are therefore
campaigning for authors, researchers and editors to be on the alert for
plagiarism and to work against cultural misunderstandings. In ancient China,
for example, students were typically encouraged to copy the words of their
masters.” ~ Nature, Sept 9

Michael Cook
academic misconduct
China
plagiarism