A 2013 academic paper has sparked discussions about academic misconduct after netizens found the author had dedicated a signification portion to flattering his advisor and his advisor’s wife.
A 2013 academic paper has sparked discussions about academic misconduct after netizens found the author had dedicated a signification portion to flattering his advisor and his advisor’s wife. The 35-page paper on ecological economics was published in the Journal of Glaciology and Geocryology, a prestigious Chinese journal. In the article’s abstract, author Xu Zhongmin, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, exalted the morals of his advisor, Cheng Guodeng, and lavished praise on his wife’s beauty. Xu went on say the couple’s virtues could help resolve practical ecological and economic problems. Netizens also pointed out that Cheng was the chief editor of the journal. The paper has since been withdrawn and Cheng was removed from his post. But netizens argued the root problem lies in the rigid system that requires researchers to publish a specific number of articles in key journals to be eligible for higher academic titles.
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