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Academics in China Targeted by Elaborate Scams Involving Fake Conferences
🇨🇳 China /Culture & Society

Academics in China Targeted by Elaborate Scams Involving Fake Conferences

From South China Morning Post · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Chinese academics are increasingly falling victim to sophisticated scams involving fake academic conferences.
  • Researchers pay significant fees for supposed publication in reputable databases, only to find their work in obscure journals.
  • The scams exploit researchers' need to publish for career advancement, highlighting a vulnerability in the academic system.

Academics in China are facing a growing problem with fraudulent schemes centered around non-existent academic conferences. These scams target researchers who need to publish papers to advance their careers, often for professional title evaluations.

Liu Xia, an economics and management lecturer from Wuhan, shared her experience of paying 4,600 yuan (US$680) for a conference submission. She was promised indexing in the Compendex engineering database, but her paper ended up in an obscure journal that couldn't be found in recognized academic databases. Liu later discovered the conference was entirely fabricated, with a made-up organizing committee.

This simply cannot count as a recognised academic publication.

— Liu XiaDescribing her disappointment after realizing her paper was published in an obscure journal.

"Researchers are not deceived because they are unintelligent," Liu emphasized, noting that unfamiliarity with conference publication processes can easily lead scholars into these traps. The scams prey on the pressure academics face to publish, exploiting their legitimate professional needs for financial gain.

Researchers are not deceived because they are unintelligent. If a scholar is unfamiliar with how conference publications work, they can easily fall into the trap.

— Liu XiaExplaining why academics fall victim to these scams.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by South China Morning Post in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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