Chinese scientist calls for crackdown on fraud

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese scientists who falsify their
work should be severely punished, Xinhua news agency on Friday
quoted a top scientist as saying, weeks after a Shanghai
academic was fired for faking research.

There has been a rise in scientific misconduct since China
began adopting a market-oriented economy, Xinhua quoted Lu
Yongxiang, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as
saying, though it did not provide an explanation.

“Ethics education, checks and balances and outside
supervision are necessary to cure the disease,” Lu said.

“Though many leading research entities have drafted rules
to fight plagiarism or falsification of research data, the
scientific community lacks effective checks and punishment for
violators.”

He blamed “dishonest, fickle and inappropriate distribution
of public funding for research for deteriorating ethical
standards of scientists.”

“Proven scientific misconduct and corruption among academy
members will be earnestly punished,” Lu said.

Last month, Chen Jin, an academic at Shanghai’s prestigious
Jiao Tong University, was fired for falsely claiming to have
invented a new type of computer chip.

His sacking followed the release of an open letter from a
group of 120 Chinese scientists working in the United States
that urged proper procedures for handling scientific misconduct
in China and said there were increased allegations of such
fraud.

Chen’s fall from grace was a shock to a scientific
community winning increasing government funding and attention
as China pushes to strengthen domestic innovation and research.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, an engineer by training, has
been quoted as saying China must pour more resources into
scientific breakthroughs or risk being left a minor player in
global technological advances.