The million-dollar question in China’s relentless academic paper chase
Researchers’ US$2 million reward for their study published in top international journal sparks debate over China’s cash-for-papers policy
It’s the gold standard of scientific research and late last month a team at Sichuan Agricultural University finally achieved it – publication of a study in one of the world’s leading peer-reviewed journals.
The team, led by Professor Chen Xuewei, discovered a genetic variant in rice that could help the crop resist rice blast, a fungus that cuts the country’s output by about 3 million tonnes a year. Since the gene occurs naturally in rice, the researchers found that existing species could be tweaked safely and quickly to acquire the trait, passing it on to future generations.
The team wrote up the study and submitted it to US -based Cell, which published the paper on June 30.
But it was the publication – rather than the research itself – that prompted the university to give Chen’s team a 13 million yuan (HK$ 15 million) reward, the biggest ever to a Chinese team for a paper in an international journal.
The university said most of the money would go to Chen’s laboratory as research funds over five years. The team members would also receive 500,000 yuan in cash.
Like other tertiary institutions around the country, Sichuan Agricultural University offers the rewards to its staff as part of a broader push to foster excellence and research on a par with the best in the world.