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Chinese scientist calls for crackdown on fraud

Posted on: Friday, 2 June 2006, 03:41 CDT

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.

Source: REUTERS

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