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Shi Huang

Three more senior Chinese scientists have been disciplined by their universities after a high-profile blogger raised red flags about their research.
Nankai University in Tianjin announced on Saturday that Chen Quan had been removed as dean of its College of Life Sciences.
The university said that Chen, as a corresponding author, failed to properly oversee the quality and authenticity of experimental data in a paper published in Nature Cancer in 2024.
Meanwhile, Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou said Kang Tiebang had been removed as deputy director of the State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, and Kuang Dongming was no longer associate dean of its School of Life Sciences.
The university said Kang was the corresponding author for a paper published in Nature Cell Biology in 2020 that had various data and image errors.
Kuang was accused of similar misconduct associated with three papers published in Nature Cell Biology, Science Advances and Cell.
The announcements came three weeks after Tongji University in Shanghai said it had removed Wang Ping, a leading cancer researcher, as head of its School of Life Sciences over academic misconduct related to research papers.
All four researchers had been given the national “outstanding youth” award – an honour that is considered a prerequisite for admission to China’s top science and engineering academies.
But they faced increasing scrutiny after a former doctoral student turned blogger and video creator known as Student Geng raised questions about their research.
Geng, a former biomedical engineer, used AI tools and statistical methods to identify data anomalies in work by a long list of leading researchers.
His videos about his findings have attracted 1.8 million followers on social media.

Geng’s video about Wang examined data anomalies in a paper published in the journal Nature.
Other prominent targets of his videos include Central South University’s Xiangya School of Medicine, East China Normal University and Hunan University.
Geng was profiled last week by the state news agency Xinhua in two articles published on social media that praised his high expectations about research quality and the positive impact of his work in popularising science.
It said he was angered by academic fraud but warned he “could not replace the system”, adding that the problem should be tackled within universities and research organisations rather than on social media.
In a later video, Geng said the attention made him feel like a “child who has a desire to be recognised and is suddenly being praised by their parents”.
But not all the attention he attracted was so welcome. On Friday, he said in a status update that his main channel on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, had been permanently restricted following an undisclosed complaint, meaning he could not earn revenue from his videos.
Nankai University told Xinhua it would learn lessons from the case and “comprehensively reinforce education on research integrity, and build a clean and upright research environment and academic atmosphere”.
Sun Yat-sen University also told the news agency it would strengthen its oversight systems.
Springer Nature, which publishes several of the journals where the research appeared, has been asked for comment, as have the publishers of Science Advances and Cell.
In response to a previous report about Geng’s whistle-blowing, Springer Nature’s head of communications Michael Stacey told the South China Morning Post that the publisher “was undertaking a rigorous investigation” and would “take any appropriate action in line with our policies to protect the integrity of the scientific record”.


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Science blogger Student Geng raised questions about the quality of their work. Photo: Bilibili

(From left to right) Chen Quan, Kang Tiebang and Kuang Dongming. Photo: Handout

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A former biomedical PhD student turned whistle-blower and science blogger, known as “Student Geng”, has made a string of claims about the integrity of articles in the prestigious science journal. Photo: Bilibili

Tongji University in Shanghai has taken disciplinary action against a top cancer researcher. Photo: Handout

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News

China

The trio faced heightened scrutiny after a former doctoral student and blogger known as Student Geng raised questions about their work


The trio faced heightened scrutiny after a former doctoral student and blogger known as Student Geng raised questions about their work.


Nankai University (China)

Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU)

Xinhua News Agency

Tongji University

Chinese scientists leave posts after whistle-blower raises alarm over their research

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The trio faced heightened scrutiny after a former doctoral student and blogger known as Student Geng raised questions about their work

The trio faced heightened scrutiny after a former doctoral student and blogger known as Student Geng raised questions about their work