We should establish an effective checking system to prevent plagiarism of academic papers, says an article in People's Daily. The following is an excerpt:

The Internet offers great help for academic research but it is also an easy way to plagiarize someone's work.

A company that runs a database for academic research said it would be easy for professors to find out whether their students have been cheating if they use its database. But it hoped professors would not use the database for that purpose as it would affect sales.

It is surprising that a company offering help to academic institutes can allow and even encourage students to cheat.

These types of companies should be condemned. But in fact they are not alone. Due to a lack of strict rules, the academic field has now become chaotic.

The average quality of our academic papers is low. Cases of plagiarism have cropped up repeatedly.

As an overseas research shows, 1 to 5 percent of papers that have already been published involve plagiarism and cheating in the world; In Asian countries, the rate is higher. We should be on the alert.

The basic way to build and maintain academic excellence is to implement a strict checking system.

In fact, the monitoring needs to be done before people doing research start working on their thesis, and when their completed papers are reviewed by their professors.

With an effective research checking system in place, those who cheat should be punished.

(China Daily March 27, 2008)