China Launches Its Largest Academic Misconduct Crackdown After Student Geng Scandal

China’s leading basic-research funder has opened investigations into four prominent academics after a blogger’s allegations helped trigger the country’s largest public crackdown on academic misconduct.

The National Natural Science Foundation of China published details on Aug. 26 of 31 new misconduct cases at universities and hospitals. The cases involve more than 40 researchers, making the disclosure the foundation’s largest to date.

Four of the academics had been publicly named in April by a blogger and PhD dropout known as Student Geng. All four had received the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, an honour that often helps recipients gain entry to China’s top science and engineering academies. Three had served as deans or associate deans.

The four professors lost their university positions after Geng flagged alleged problems in their research. In its August notice, the foundation named them, revoked their funding and titles, and ordered them to return more than 10 million yuan, or about US$1.49 million, in grants they had previously received.

They have also been barred from applying for foundation funding again for between three and seven years. The cases have placed high-profile researchers under official scrutiny and expanded a controversy that began with social-media disclosures.