Ethics rules outlined by Chinese Academy of Sciences

Hepeng Jia/ Beijing, China 

In a bid to stem a rising tide of scientific misconduct, Chinese science authorities have established ethics committees and released guidance for researchers. But observers say that more systematic efforts are needed to improve ethical practices within the scientific community.  

The most recent set of regulations was released on 26 February by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the largest research body in China with 30,000 scientists and nearly 100 institutes. The document defines falsification, fabrication, plagiarism, and abusing scientific research resources as misconduct, and also establishes a hierarchy of ethics committee to investigate allegations of wrongdoing. And in November 2006, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) established a scientific integrity office to investigate and punish scientific misconduct. 'In recent years, scientific misconducts have shown a rising trend, and we need a complete regulation system to ensure ethical behavior among academic circles,' said CAS president Lu Yongxiang.  

Last year, Liu Hui, assistant dean of the medical school of Beijing-based Tsinghua University, Yang Jie, dean of life sciences at Shanghai-based Tongji University, and Chen Jin, dean of electronic engineering at Shanghai Jiaotong University, were fired for falsifying their resumes or fabricating their research. He Zuoxiu, a senior CAS physicist, said that the lack of punitive measures has led to the string of scientific frauds. Fang Shimin, an outspoken critic of scientific misconduct in China who runs an investigative website called New Threads, argues that increased commercialism in the Chinese scientific community is behind the rise in plagiarism and data falsification. 'With some papers published in leading international journals, the scientists and their institutes could get big benefits of scientific funding, and no one questions the credibility of their research,' Fang told Chemistry World. Wu Yishan, chief engineer of the Institute of Scientific and Technological Information, welcomed the MOST and CAS guidelines, saying they offer more approaches for fighting research misconducts. But Li Daguang, a professor of science communication at the Graduate University of CAS, added that institutes can stand to gain funding as a result of misconduct, and may be very reluctant to investigate allegations of misconduct.