Publishing with prestige no longer rare

Five years ago, there was debate in the Chinese scientific community over the country's funding system that allotted money according to the impact of the journals in which researchers publish their work.

An obsession with impact turned the research community into a "vanity fair", said Chinese chemist Wang Naixing in the prominent scientific journal Nature in August 2011.

Now the professors have ended their discussion, not because the environment is moderating, but because publishing in top scientific journals has become so common among Chinese researchers that, even many postgraduate students are joining the ranks.