Wei Yuquan, vice-president of Sichuan University and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has recently become famous but it's not because of a new academic achievement.

Instead, the lavished attention comes because Wei was accused of fabricating his papers.

Since late March, Si Lufang, a professor of immunology at Xi'an Jiaotong University, claims Wei fabricated two papers one of which was published in the world-renowned journal, Nature Medicine.

Wei's papers are about using pig tumor cells as therapeutic vaccines to repress the growth of tumors in mice.

Si told China Daily that the "very rough data" in Wei's papers suggested that "such an experiment might not have been done at all."

Si published his accusations on the website New Threads, which is known for its attack of academic misconduct.

Wei was unavailable for comment, but at a news conference held last week in Chengdu, Wei refuted Si's accusation, saying the claim was originated from personal enmity. He did not respond to Si's request to publish raw experiment data.

On April 15, Sichuan University announced that "in a proper time," it will invite scientists in the field and host a hearing where Si and Wei can counter each other.

Wei's accusation is not an isolated case. It is, however, one of the most high-profile incidents.

"Among many accusations we have made against paper fabrication, the involved person in this case has the highest academic position," said Fang Zhouzi, a US-trained biologist who operates New Threads. "We hope our efforts would result in an institutionalized system to curb academic misconducts in China."

More misconduct cases

Wei is not the first to be of the target of New Thread's academic misconduct outcry.

Last December, New Threads accused Qiu Xiaoqing, a professor of biomedicine at Sichuan University, of publishing fraudulent research in the November 2003 issue of Nature Biotechnology.

Chengdu-based company NTC Holding, which invested in the technology Qiu's paper described, claimed on New Threads website that the scientist's original results could not be repeated.

Sichuan University agreed to investigate the claims and declared on April 14 that Qiu's paper could be proved by repeated experiments. NTC Holding refused to accept the explanation, requiring the university to publicize the raw experiment data and appealing a third-party committee to redo the testing.

A month prior, Fang declared that Liu Dengyi, vice-president of Hefei-based Anhui Normal University, had falsely claimed co-authorship of his 2001 paper in the American Journal of Botany and of three papers in the journal Ecology in his online resume.

China Daily tried to call Liu's office, but the man answered the call refused to give a comment.

After the accusation, the papers in question disappeared from his online resume, and Anhui Normal University never conducted a formal investigation into the claim.

That same month, Fang claimed that professor Liu Hui of Beijing-based Tsinghua University had listed a paper by a US-based professor with a similar name on his resume that was listed on the university's website.

Liu said the mistake was not his own but a misprint by the Tsinghua Library, which compiled the list of papers. But after an investigation, Tsinghua confirmed Fang's accusation and Liu was fired.

Problem roots

Fang told China Daily that since 2000, New Threads has exposed 400 cases of plagiarism, fabrication and other deceptions involving scientists faking their academic achievements.

Although most scientists Fang has accused claim their innocence, no one has yet accused Fang of libel.

In the majority of cases, few individuals have been seriously investigated or punished by the science authorities.

"The lack of severe punishment has led to the rampancy of plagiarism and fabrication," said Fang.

So far, Tsinghua's Liu is the only scientist who lost his job due to fabricating his resume. Previously, graduate students involved in paper plagiarism were dismissed in China.

In the West, a scientist who fabricated his or her papers would lose their fame for lifetime, but in China, according to Fang, wrongdoers are only investigated by their employers often universities and institutes which does not always mean their reputation is ruined.

He Shigang, a scientist at the Institute of Biophysics of CAS, said a supreme committee is needed to punish academic misconduct.

"So far, the Natural Science Foundation of China has made the most frequent punitive measures, but its power is no more than abolishing the wrongdoers' rights to apply for its grants," said He.

According to He, those brave enough to expose academic misconduct often face great pressure.

Si, now nearly 70 years old, said that in 2003, he had found Wei's paper in Nature Medicine was seriously flawed. He then wrote an article to point out the mistakes. But before he published this article, Si claims, Wei begged him not to print the piece.

At the news conference last week, Wei admitted he visited Si in Xi'an at that time, but it was because of etiquette.

Juan Carlos Lopez, editor-in-chief of Nature Medicine, confirmed on Monday that the journal was going to publish Si's correspondence challenging Wei's research and a rebuttal by Wei in 2003. Later Si requested to delay the publication time but the journal could not meet this demand and eventually gave up this article.

He Zuoxiu, a renowned physicist at CAS's Institute of Theoretical Physics, believes the rising commercialism in China has penetrated science, leading some researchers to falsify data or plagiarize others' work in order to gain fame or funding.

Zhu Xiaomin, a researcher at CAS's Institute of Science Policy and Management, said that the lack of supervision and transparency within the science community should be blamed for some scientists' misconducts.

"The public and media do not have the knowledge and capacity to judge what's right and what's plagiarism within the science society, and the self-disciplinary action of the scientists is the most important way of preventing academic conducts," Zhu said.

Actions to come

Starting early this year, after South Korean stem-cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk was found to have fabricated his published research, Chinese science authorities seemed to be enhancing efforts to fight academic misconduct, such as plagiarism and misuse of graduate students in advisor's research.

Lu Yongxiang, president of CAS, admitted at a recent session of China Science and Humanity Forum, that there were misuses of graduate students and other misconducts in CAS.

"If we found any case of this kind, we would decisively strike it without hesitation," Lu said.

In late March, Xu Guanhua, minister of Science and Technology, admitted publicly for the first time that unethical behavior in the country's science community was a serious problem.

Speaking at a seminar last month, Xu said his ministry would reform the way it awards research funding in an attempt to tackle the problem.

On March 27, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Education told Beijing Morning Post that the ministry would set up an ethics committee to strengthen the fight against academic misconduct.

"Although Tsinghua's firing Liu Hui is still sporadic in the Chinese academia, this is a symbolic step, meaning the authorities eventually begin to face the problem," said He Shigang.

But Wu Weimin of Shanghai-based Tongji University, hopes that the strike against academic misconduct should be done by the official organs.

The unofficial disciplining actions of New Thread and media could cause misunderstanding and may be misleading.

"I hope the Chinese academic authorities will have the courage and capacity shown by the University of Seoul in the case of Hwang Woo-suk," said Fang.

(China Daily April 29, 2006)