China’s research paper boom could be a ‘false prosperity’, academician warns
Senior biologist Zhang Hong, a member of the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences, fears genuine innovation may be at risk
Projects were inflated for scale, engineered to land in elite journals and then cashed in for titles and even greater resources, he told science communication outlet The Intellectual in an article it posted to its social media account on Monday.
“You often hear people boasting about publishing a paper that costs tens of millions of yuan in a top journal like Science, Nature or Cell. What they’re really showing off is how many resources they control,” Zhang said.
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This kind of research, while good at chasing hot topics and expanding existing ideas – often known as “1-to-100” science – has squeezed out the space, culture and funding needed for true innovation, according to Zhang.