Fake papers are rife at universities

Strong demand for ghost-written academic papers in the lead-up to university graduation time and revelations that people pay to have scholarly articles published are worrying critics who fear the billion-yuan industry is making it harder than ever to evaluate graduates' abilities.

Li Wei, who works for China Professional Paper Writing Agency, confirmed his company employs about 20 writers who each produce five or six papers a month for university students who should do the work themselves.

The cost of an undergraduate thesis is 700 yuan and the additional cost to have one published is 600 yuan.