China is out-investing Europe and the United States in scientific research with the aim of being a global leader in science and technology, but as it bounds ahead, China is also grappling with fraud and faked research results, the New York Times reports.
According to the Times, a recent spate of scandals has emphasized that, to be a scientific force, China must also deal with the issue of fraud. For instance, when Tumor Biology retracted more than a hundred articles because of faked peer review, the majority of those papers were from Chinese researchers, the Times says. It adds that a government investigation found that the authors supplied the real names of outside researchers to critique the work, but gave incorrect email addresses that then allowed hired writers to instead provide glowing reviews.
The Times says that the state of affairs is getting better, though the pressure to publish in high-profile journals and the awards attached to doing so are high.
"When it comes to research culture and academic integrity, it all depends on self-discipline," Zhang Yuehong, editor of the Journal of Zhejiang University, tells the Times. "We need to work harder to develop a culture of integrity."