How to "dress up" academically when fraud occurs at the application stage
2021-12-29
NSFC recently announced a number of academic fraud cases applying for NSFC. The reporter found that since this year, hundreds of papers have been notified because of fraud. Truth seeking is the cornerstone of scientific research. Every academic misconduct is an "earthquake" that shakes this cornerstone. However, what we have to face is that such "earthquakes" occur every year or even from time to time, and are presenting new characteristics with new forms and new means. Academic misconduct has occurred in the application stage of scientific research projects Changing the name, forging the certificate number, and changing 6 units in the application form in two years. Among the 22 cases of academic misconduct published by the National Natural Science Foundation of China on October 22, 2021, one of them made a "fancy" fraud at the application stage. The reporter learned that after the investigation and publication of this kind of fraud when applying for the project, the applicant was also permanently disqualified from applying for and participating in the project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Such "crooked thoughts" have appeared in recent years. From the analysis of two batches of cases of academic misconduct published by the National Natural Science Foundation of China on October 22 and November 30, 2021, there are many cases of "making a big fuss" in the application for scientific research projects - asking others to write the application, plagiarizing the application that has been funded, forging expert recommendation letters, providing false information in the application, etc. These cases point directly to the reality that "academic misconduct is' ahead of schedule". Researcher Zhang Jiuqing, deputy editor in chief of China Science and Technology Forum, has been paying attention to academic misconduct for more than 20 years. In a recent academic discussion, he analyzed and pointed out that academic misconduct is showing the characteristics of "fraud moving forward". Generally speaking, the process of carrying out scientific research projects is to apply for scientific research projects, carry out scientific research after project approval, complete scientific research projects and publish academic papers. "In the past, it was only after the release of scientific research achievements that we could check back." Zhang Jiuqing said that if there are accusations against academic papers, we can judge and test whether they are fake. However, in these cases, "academic misconduct has moved forward to the initial stage of applying for scientific research projects". On December 1, the China scientific research integrity network of the Ministry of science and technology announced the investigation and punishment of 12 batches of 235 fake papers, most of which were written and submitted by agents, false signatures, data and pictures, etc. The authors of these fake papers have been revoked their professional titles, cancelled the declaration of scientific research projects for several years, recovered awards, cancelled honorary titles, etc. These past academic misconduct, superimposed with "moving forward" fraud, shows that "academic misconduct has occurred in the whole process". Zhang Jiuqing said. Conflict of interest leads to academic misconduct Objectively speaking, over the years, efforts have been made to draw a pause for academic misconduct and create a clean and positive academic environment. However, why do academic misconduct still occur frequently, and even show new characteristics such as "moving forward" and "whole process"? On the one hand, this is related to the strengthening of the efforts of relevant departments to combat academic misconduct. Zhang Jiuqing introduced that the use of new technologies such as informatization and artificial intelligence makes the screening comparison more simple and convenient. This also enables the review and supervision of scientific research to further cover the front-end links and identify potential misconduct as soon as possible; On the other hand, this also reflects, to a certain extent, that the conflict of interest between personal interests and scientific research norms in the current scientific research field has an increasing trend, which needs more attention and timely measures. "The problem of scientific research integrity is the table, and the problem of interest conflict is the inside. If the problem of interest conflict is not solved, it will be difficult to solve the problems of scientific research integrity and scientific research ethics." Li Lun, director of the professional committee of science and technology ethics of the Chinese ethics society and Minister of the Department of Humanities and social sciences of Dalian University of technology, said that at the moment of scientific research professionalization, scientific research subjects are separated from scientific research funding subjects, and scientific researchers have multiple roles. They are facing the requirements of scientific norms, the pressure of professional survival and development, and the temptation of money. "These interests and pressures tangle with scientific norms, forming a conflict of interest." Li Lun said. Of course, this widespread tangled state will not always evolve into academic misconduct. Only when the pressure of personal interests such as economy, achievement, reputation and livelihood overwhelms the constraints of scientific norms, and develops from confrontation to the victory of personal interests, will academic misconduct occur. Relevant experts remind that academic misconduct occurs in advance, showing the characteristics of "whole process", which means that personal interests overwhelm scientific research norms in more stages. Guard against the risk of academic misconduct and "decouple" interests Scientific research activities are to pursue objective truth and should adhere to "science for science". When academic misconduct "moves forward" and "the whole process" occurs, the dredging should also cover the "whole process". First of all, it warns that academic misconduct has spread to the stage of scientific research application. More management departments should be vigilant against potential risks, and supervision can not be ignored. "The supervision of scientific research integrity and the review of ethics should run through the whole process of scientific research activities, so that the rules can play a strong binding role." Professor Pan Jianhong of the Institute of science, technology and society of Beijing University of science and technology said. Secondly, the fundamental solution is to "decouple" interests. In Li Lun's view, the key is to implement effective measures to ensure scientific objectivity, adhere to the principle of interest neutrality and ensure that it is not influenced by other interests. In this regard, the international scientific and technological community has reached a consensus and put it into practice, including the universal adoption of avoidance, disclosure, supervision and other systems. For example, if it involves economic interests, it may withdraw on its own, apply for withdrawal, or force withdrawal; It is unavoidable to publicly disclose interest related information when the paper is published. If the information disclosed is untrue, the accuracy of the results may be questioned. The reporter noted that in 2020, the European Journal of respiratory medicine had withdrawn its papers on smokers who were not susceptible to COVID-19 because of the fact that the researchers did not disclose the relationship with the tobacco industry truthfully. At the same time, it is also an important measure of "decoupling" not to link the number of papers published and influencing factors with personnel rewards, bonuses and work assessment. In January 2021, the revised code of integrity and related conduct for medical research issued by the National Health Commission, the Ministry of science and technology and the State Administration of traditional Chinese medicine has relevant provisions. However, there are still weak links in the implementation and implementation of these policies and initiatives. According to the survey of China Association for science and technology, More than 30% (33.6%) of the scientific and technological workers believed that their units had not implemented the relevant systems of scientific research integrity and ethics construction. In this regard, Zhao Yandong, director of the professional committee of Sociology of science of China Science and Technology Policy Research Association and professor of Renmin University of China, said that we should focus on building a complete institutional system, especially colleges and universities, scientific research institutions Hospitals and enterprises should build a sound review mechanism. There are also "loopholes" in the systematic education of scientific research integrity and academic ethics. According to the survey, less than 50% (45.9%) of scientific and technological workers said they knew academic norms such as scientific research ethics and academic integrity, and more than 50% (55.1%) thought that the current education on scientific research integrity and ethics in higher education was insufficient. "At present, there are still a few scientific and technological workers who learn scientific research integrity and ethical knowledge through systematic courses. Most of them understand these contents with the help of media and self-study." Zhao Yandong said, "we should also improve the curriculum and teaching materials of scientific and technological integrity and ethics education, improve everyone's awareness, and make everyone more capable and motivated to abide by the ethical norms of scientific research integrity." (outlook new era)
Edit：Yuanqi Tang Responsible editor：Xiao Yu
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