Most Chinese scientists write academic papers to get promoted, survey finds
- Nearly half of those polled said they believed the way the authorities appraised scientific research was ‘misleading’
- Some say publish-or-perish culture has contributed to academic misconduct in recent years
Most Chinese scientific researchers admit they write papers purely for promotion because the country’s academic appraisal system favours quantity over quality.
More than 93 per cent of scientists surveyed by the China Association for Science and Technology said getting promoted was their major motivation to publish papers.
Nearly half of the researchers polled said they believed the way authorities appraised scientific research was “misleading”, according to the survey, which is conducted every five years and this year covered over 48,000 researchers across the country.
The publish-or-perish culture has contributed to the rampant academic misconduct that has emerged in recent years, according to some researchers.
Now [papers are] the major – or even the only – criterion in appraisals, they could have a bad influence
“Papers are an important channel for academic exchange and demonstrating achievements, but now that they’ve become the major – or even the only – criterion in appraisals, they could have a bad influence,” said Wang Pei, a doctoral candidate at the University of Science and Technology of China’s (USTC) Earth and space sciences school.
The eagerness to rack up published papers had led to recent retraction scandals, he added.
In the latest case, a sociologist from prestigious Nanjing University has had over 100 papers retracted recently by international and Chinese publications.
Liang Ying is under investigation after China Youth Daily accused her of plagiarism and the duplicate submission of at least 15 of her papers, the university said in an announcement last week.