Survey reveals gaps in ethical publishing knowledge among Chinese researchers
A survey has found that researchers in China often lack a clear understanding of ethical publishing practices, particularly when they use third-party manuscript services. The study, which analyses the survey results and is published in the Journal of Data and Information Science, emphasises the need for all researchers to receive thorough and appropriate ethics education.
The survey was conducted through a collaboration between international publisher Taylor & Francis and the National Science Library at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). It involved 1,777 students, researchers, and librarians, and revealed significant uncertainty about research and publishing ethics.
Authorship confusion and ‘gift authorship’ concerns
A notable 35.9% of respondents were unsure about the responsibilities involved in article authorship, with master’s students showing the highest levels of confusion. Additionally, a considerable number of respondents reported engaging in ‘gift authorship’ – either adding an author to a paper or agreeing to be named as an author without meeting proper authorship criteria.
Identifying unethical third-party publishing services
The study also looked into researchers’ views on services offered by third parties to help with publishing in international journals. While 31% of respondents reported using these services, many struggled to identify unethical options. Most correctly recognised services such as language editing, translation, and formatting as acceptable. However, a concerning number also considered activities typically associated with paper mills acceptable, such as writing parts of a paper or adding authors and citations chosen by the agent.
The study’s authors conclude that researchers at all levels need timely, accessible, and suitable training in research integrity and publishing ethics. This training should include undergraduates and those at institutions responsible for upholding overall integrity standards. Essential topics such as authorship responsibilities and working with ethical third-party manuscript services must be part of mandatory training. Only 55.4% of the survey respondents stated they currently had access to any training, with an even smaller proportion having formal training.
The report also questions the quality of current training. While researchers who had formal training showed greater awareness and concern about ethical issues, many still struggled to confidently identify questionable practices, especially concerning authorship.
The survey was developed by the Joint Lab on Research Integrity, a project supported by Taylor & Francis and the National Science Library at CAS. Established in December 2023, the Lab aims to better understand and address research ethics challenges in China by combining publisher expertise with direct research institution experience and insights.
Dr Sabina Alam, Director of Publishing Ethics & Integrity at Taylor & Francis, said: “Our survey findings highlight the urgent need for training for students and researchers at all levels in China, a need we believe is also present for many students and researchers across the world. Without this, the knowledge gaps we’ve found leave researchers susceptible to exploitation by unethical organisations, such as paper mills, and many might unknowingly engage in misconduct.”
“It’s understandable that 80% of those who responded to our survey are concerned about the impact of research integrity issues on the trustworthiness of research publications,” Alam added. “Partnerships between publishers and research institutions will be crucial for tackling global research integrity challenges, including developing and implementing comprehensive training in research integrity and publishing ethics. A key reason for our collaboration with the National Science Library at CAS was to explore important issues, and we believe these results from our Joint Lab demonstrate the benefits of working together in this way.”
Dr Zhesi Shen, Deputy Director of the Department for Scientometrics and Research Evaluation at the National Science Library, CAS, said: “Research institutions and libraries play a vital role in educating the next generation of researchers about academic integrity standards and how to apply them. By working closely with publishers, these organisations can use their complementary strengths to develop and deliver systematic training programmes tailored to local needs, while collectively addressing global research integrity challenges.”
Research article
‘Perceptions and recommendations about research integrity and publishing ethics: a survey among Chinese researchers on training, challenges and responsibilities’ by Sabina Alam, Victoria Babbit, Jason Hu, Ying Lou, Zhesi Shen, Laura Wilson and Zhengyi Zhou. Journal of Data and Information Science.