Ministry of Science and Technology Revokes an Award

Almost a year after Xi'an Jiaotong University fired its professor Li Liansheng for fraud after a lengthy and difficult campaign by six elder professors, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China finally reached a decision to revoke an award it had given to Li Liansheng in 2005.

The ministry cited severe plagiarism and inaccurate economic impact data in the application for the reason for its action.

Xi'an Jiaotong University Fires Professor for Fraud

According to China Youth Daily, Xi'an Jiaotong University has made the decision to fire Professor Li Liansheng (李连生) for committing forgery.

Two years ago, on March 28, 2008, six elder professors from that school published an open letter on New Threads. The letter states that Li Liansheng's work, which was then just awarded a first-class prize by the national Ministry of Education, was a complete forgery. The six professors provided detailed description of their evidences and opinions. They also signed the letter with their real names.

A year after that, Li Liansheng sued three of the six professors in court. The six professors pooled their retirement funds to help the legal defense.

Their case suddenly turned in November, 2009, when Li Liansheng abruptly withdrew the lawsuit. On March 20, CCTV openly reported the case, which apparently spawn an immediate reaction from the school. Li Liansheng was stripped of his professorship and had his employment contract terminated.

University Vice President Loses His Degree for Plagiarism

More than two years ago, alert readers of New Thread have uncovered two separate plagiarism cases committed by Huang Qing (黄庆), vice president of Southwest Jiaotong University (西南交通大学).

A couple months after the public exposure, the school received a formal complain near the end of 2007. It was not until last week that they have reached a verdict that Huang Qing had indeed committed plagiarism. On July 10, the school decided to revoke the Ph.D. degree it had given Huang Qing in 2000 and his qualification in advising graduate students.

There was no decision on his position of vice presidency or faculty status, which the school said it would be dealt with separately in the future. The school did however say that Huang Qing is welcome to stay in school and presumably work in some teaching capacity.

Huang Qing himself has denied all wrongdoings.

Danwei has previously reported this case.

Zhengzhou University Sacks an Associated Dean

According to China Youth Daily, Zhengzhou University (郑州大学) has recently dismissed the Associated Dean of its News and Mass Media College in a disciplinary action against fraud.

The associated dean, Professor Jia Shiqiu (贾士秋), was recently exposed for having used falsified personal information and publication record to gain her professorship three years ago. In her application, she had listed articles and books for which she was not even listed as an author or contributor.

Jia Shiqiu was also stripped of her professorship and presumably fired from the school.

Rao Yi Reports on a Fraud Case

In his online blog, Rao Yi reported a recent case of scientific fraud in a Shanghai institute of the Chinese Academy of Science.

About a month ago, the Journal of Neuroscience informed the institute that a paper authored by a researcher of the institute contained practices of scientific fraud. After investigating for a month, the institute informed the Journal of their findings. It decided to fire the researcher and close the laboratory within a year.

Rao Yi praised for the swift and strict disciplinary action. However, he did not mention the name of the accused or disclose any details of the case.

Shanghai University Disciplines a Professor

Shanghai University (上海大学) has recently completed its investigation of professor Chen Zhanyun (陈湛匀) and concluded that he had committed serious plagiarism in two of his published papers. The investigation found that the papers contain 25% and 30% of plagiarized text, respectively.

Chen Zhanyun was stripped all of his committee appointments and managerial positions. However, it looks like his academic position was not affected.

Chen Zhanyun's academic credentials had been previously challenged on New Threads last year.

Anhui Agricultural University Dismisses its Vice President for Plagiarism

Without any fanfare, a local newspaper reported that Anhui Agricultural University (安徽农业大学) has dismissed its Vice President Li Xiaoming (李晓明). The school did not provide any details.

Since last August, XYS has reported that Li Xiaoming has committed serious plagiarism in his published papers.

Zhejiang University Dismisses Three Faculty in Scandal

The scandal at Zhejiang University continues to receive much media attention in China. After firing a junior researcher identified as the main culprit of the scandal, the school dismissed another faculty who was in charge of the research group and was the correspondence author in most of the papers in question. It also said that it will not renew its employment contract with the Academician Li Lianda.

In an interview with a newspaper, Fang Zhouzi stated that he was not satisfied with the displinary actions delivered so far. He thought the school did not go far enough to punish others who were also implicated in the scandal. But nontheless, he considered the resolution a step in the right direction.

Yanbian University Takes Quick Action on a Plagiarism Case

Almost every day, people are reporting various academic fraud cases on New Thread. While the cases receive great exposure there, it has been rare that any of them receive serious attention by the proper authorities, not to mention investigation.

So, it is nice to see that, in one small case, action has been taken quickly and swiftly. On June 19, a netter reported a plagiarism case in a Master degree thesis at Yanbian University. Barely two weeks later, the school disclosed its its findings and confirmed the practice of the plagiarism. In its official announcement, the school resolved to strip the awarded Master degree from the perpetrator. In addition, his adviser received the penalty of a three-year suspension in advising any graduate students.

The Plagiarism Case of Wang Mingming

In his letter, professor Stearns cited an old case in Peking University (Beida):

The penalties for plagiarism that you will encounter later in life are very serious. If you do it as a graduate student, you can be expelled from university, and you will not get your degree. If you do it as a faculty member, you can lose your job. I know you may not believe that, for the sociology professor at Beida who translated an entire book into Chinese and published it with his name on it only lost his administrative positions but kept his professorship and salary. But things are not like that elsewhere. When plagiarism is detected in the United States, it can end the career of the person who did it. That is also true in Europe.

Long time followers of Fang Zhouzi and New Thread know exactly what that case was. It was back in 2002, when Fang Zhouzi was just getting into this business of exposing academic fraud. The entire history of that case is documented in New Thread's For the Record.

In January, 2002, an article was published in a small newspaper in Shanghai, accusing Professor Wang Mingming (王铭铭) of plagiarism. Wang Mingming was, and still is, a professor in the Institute of Anthropology in the Sociology Department of Peking University.

The fact was pretty simple. In 1987, Wang Mingming led the effort to translate of William A. Haviland's Cultural Anthropology and published it in Chinese. A decade later in 1998, Wang published a book of his own in Chinese (想象的异邦). It was found that about one-third of this new book, some 100,000 Chinese characters' worth, were directly copied from Haviland's book. Wang's new book cited 120 references, but did not include Haviland, a book Wang had translated himself and then copied in tantalizing scale.

The accusation ignited a heated debate in the media and internet at the time. Numerous students from Peking University rose to defend Professor Wang. Wang's own Ph. D. students published an open letter defending the character of their beloved teacher and accused the whistle-blower for having ulterior motives in defaming their school, the leading institute of Anthropology in China.

According to a report in the newspaper Beijing Youth, the original accuser was ready to apologize to Professor Wang for the trouble he had caused. On the other hand, Professor Wang only had "no comment" to answer to reporters' questions.

Later in March, 2002, Professor Wang Mingming issued a public apology to Haviland, colleagues, and readers. The school decided to revoke his administrative positions and suspend his privilege of advising Ph. D. students for two years. But he had his professorship intact. The punishment was almost identical to the ones dished out in the more recent plagiarism cases at Fudan University.

Today, Wang Mingming enjoys the full status as a professor in Peking University. His online resume indicates that he is also the Vice President of the Association of Literature and Anthropology in China.

Disciplinary Actions at Fudan University

The year is almost over, but the Committee for Scholarly Standard (学术规范委员会) at Fudan University (复旦大学), Shanghai, had just released its very first announcement of the year. But it's a good one.

The announcement include the results of investigation and subsequent disciplinary actions against three separate cases of plagiarism involving professors, teachers, a postdoctoral scholar and a graduate student at the school. Two of the three cases were reported at Fang Zhouzi's New Thread web site (but only one was credited as such in the announcement).

All three cases were found guilty of plagiarism. The graduate student who was found almost solely responsible for one case was expelled from school. The postdoctoral scholar received a penalty of similar effect. All the professors and teachers were publicly reprimanded. Professors who have the privilege of advising Ph. D. students have that privilege suspended for two years. (In China, the privilege of advising Ph. D. student is treated very seriously, almost regarded as an additional professional title along with Professorship.)

For many years, Fang Zhouzi's lonely crusade against academic fraud has been frustrated by the silence and inaction of various authorities. It is rare, although not the first time, to see a concrete action. This came from Fudan University, one of the top institutes of higher education in China, is definitely a huge plus.

However, Fang Zhouzi is also quick to point out that he is still waiting for the committee to report on another plagiarism case he had reported. One that involves an Academician in Fudan. Would Fudan just punish the small flies and let the big elephants get away?