Editorials
Corruption in academics
(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-11 07:43
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Albert Einstein, if he were still alive and living in China, would have been unable to be a professor nor would he have been given the highest academic title of an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences if it came to the number of dissertations he has published.
If he yearned for the honor, he would have to buy dissertations and pay for their publication.
The turnover from the business of dissertation sales and publication was estimated at 1 billion yuan ($146 million), according to research conducted by a Wuhan University group. In their three-year study, the group headed by a professor found that the total number of academic journals and magazines fall far short of the number of research papers that need to be published.
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For those who are required to have papers published to attain diplomas, degree certificates, promotions and salary raises, paying money to have papers written and published has become a last resort when they have no other choice.
This explains why the sale and publication of papers has turned into a booming business.
This business will in turn push more within the industry to seek help while an increasing number of master's or doctorate students will act as ghost writers for the firms. When more people benefit from the business, it will bite deep into the ethics of academics.
The academic field could falter because scholars and researchers are losing the incentive of burying themselves in their studies to come up with great ideas, discoveries or inventions when they can just buy papers to get what they want.
If an increasing number of graduates, professors or research fellows pay their way, it will only depreciate the value of everything in the circle of academics. Those who stubbornly bury themselves in books and stick to their principles will soon become laughing stocks.
If no measures are taken to crack down on the dirty business, the scenario of buying honors and acclaim will for sure become a reality in the near future. Look at the increasing number of professors who have been caught cheating in papers, look at those who have even been caught in papers published in international journals. Some in the circle of academics have lost the sense of shame.
Among other things, the practice of imposing quotas of papers on students, professors and even some other professionals must be abolished. This is both the laziest and easiest way to assess what students have learned and how professors have conducted research. Most of the time, they're unnecessary. Students can be made to write papers but it is unnecessary for them to have papers published. Professors will write papers if they find it necessary, and there is no need to push them in such a stupid manner.
Without demand for papers, the dirty business will surely die out. This should be the first step to crack down on corruption in academics.
(China Daily 01/11/2010 page8)
