In recent years, behind many academic misconduct, there is a secret paper trading industry chain, and some third-party institutions buy and sell papers, plagiarize and cheat under the guise of "polishing papers".
Cheng Shuozuo (Xinhua News Agency)
"SCI journals are the most important and reliable, and the number is limited. Pay after employment." Xiao Zhao, a doctoral student in a university in Beijing, received an e-mail titled "Reply: Submission" when his mobile phone screen lit up. When he clicked into the text, he found that this paper was written to advertise.
"This is the third letter I have received this month." Xiao Zhao wrote to this newspaper that he often received similar emails.
Writing papers instead of publishing them violates scientific research integrity and erodes scientific research spirit. Nowadays, some paper intermediaries turn to online platforms. How do they work? Why is it repeatedly banned? The reporter conducted an investigation.
Businesses that write and send papers are all over the network platform, claiming that they can buy papers with money.
"As long as there is ‘ in Weibo; Paper ’ In two words, there may be an account for writing papers ‘ Like ’ 。” Xiao Su, a master’s graduate, said that she encountered this situation many times when writing her thesis.
The reporter tried to publish a Weibo with the word "paper". In less than 10 minutes, it was called "Shuo — On — Generation — The account of "Write" likes it, and its homepage profile says "Write MBA, MPA, master’s thesis, periodical publication, etc., and write the team professionally to ensure quality", and leave the QQ number.
"It is easy to find relevant information on the Internet." Wuyishan, a researcher at the China Academy of Science and Technology Development Strategy, said. With the rapid development of Internet and computer communication technology, the communication channels of papers are more extensive, the communication speed is faster, and more people are contacted.
Reporters input "papers" on Baidu, sogou and other search engines, and there are websites on the front pages. Some introductions say, "Strictly follow the writing requirements, standardized format and delivery time, and multi-disciplinary professional teachers provide high-quality auxiliary guidance", and some advertisements say, "The agent publishes quickly, the editor-in-chief receives the manuscript directly, the process is short, and the page fee bill is provided, so you are a reliable paper publishing partner". On Taobao, QQ, WeChat, Zhihu and other platforms, you can also find "merchants" and users related to writing and forwarding papers.
The reporter contacted a number of businesses in the name of writing and publishing papers. When searching to join the relevant QQ group, a user took the initiative to ask: "Write a paper?" The reporter inquired about the charge for writing undergraduate graduation thesis, and the other party said that 900 yuan, a thesis with 10,000 words and a repetition rate of less than 10%, would "start the topic, check the duplicate and report".
When the reporter hesitated whether it was "reliable", the other party sent a screenshot and said, "We do this every day." There are more than 20 documents on the map, and the topics are related to accounting, real estate, photovoltaic power generation and so on.
In a paper publishing agency group, members nicknamed periodical editors constantly publish information: "The agency can receive it directly, check the manuscript, make it public, and have invoices", "Wanfang will include it, keep it online, and return it in full if it is not online" … …
A user nicknamed the editor of a periodical recommended a periodical, saying that it is regular and accessible, and the publishing cost is about 800 yuan, "depending on how many characters you write". The reporter wants to confirm whether it can be published. The other party said that "the article is clear in logic, coherent and smooth before and after, and generally no problem", and said that the layout is tight, so it is best to grasp the operation. On Wanfang platform, we can find that this journal is a weekly magazine. Taking the latest issue as an example, there are more than 200 articles, and the authors come from companies, grassroots governments, township schools and so on.
It is worth noting that some agents can also write or help contact them. "I can help you contact and see what you need," said the editor. The ghostwriting fee is generally from 100 yuan to 300 yuan. A "thesis consultant" of "China paper net" also made it clear that it can be written on behalf of others, and sent four periodicals and their prices, some of which were "2200 characters for the first edition, 1850 yuan for writing on behalf of others" and some were "3000 characters for the first edition, 2100 yuan for writing on behalf of others".
Xiao Zhao received an email saying that he could help publish SCI journals, "no down payment, 0 down payment, payment after the journal is officially hired, and no charge if it is unsuccessful". After the reporter consulted, the other party sent a picture showing that the price ranged from 20,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan according to the periodical division and impact factors.
Demand is large and profitable, and some "merchants" have changed their faces and taken risks.
According to the "Several Opinions on Further Strengthening the Construction of Scientific Research Integrity" issued by the Central Office and the State Council in 2018, the market supervision and management, public security and other departments should take the initiative to investigate and severely punish intermediary service institutions engaged in illegal activities such as buying and selling academic papers, writing and investing on behalf of others, and forging, fabricating and tampering with research data.
The reporter found that many platforms have blocked keywords such as "writing papers", but they are still banned repeatedly, just changing their faces and evading supervision.
For example, in Sina Weibo, a search for "papers to write" indicates that "according to relevant laws, regulations and policies, the search results are not displayed". However, there are still a lot of results when searching by ghostwriting, and some "hot" Weibo likes them by thousands and forwards them by hundreds. In Taobao, there are some products called "Guidelines for Writing and Publishing Academic Papers". After the reporter consulted, the "merchants" sent the prices for writing and publishing. Searching on QQ with "thesis" as the key word has a large number of groups. The reporter joined a group with 1988 members, and the user "Golden Pen Studio" said, "The students who need to write on behalf of this group have a private chat with me." There are also some websites, wearing the vest of "paper cloud platform" and "periodical information", which are engaged in writing on behalf of others.
Wuyishan said that effective supervision mechanism and legal restraint mechanism are still lacking. The reporter also found that although it is easy to search online, the follow-up communication is hidden. Most of the other parties request to add private chats such as QQ and WeChat, and some payments are also made through WeChat, which brings inconvenience to supervision.
In addition to the regulatory difficulties, behind the repeated prohibition of writing papers on behalf of others, there is still a large number of demand and supply.
"I know students who haven’t sent an article in the fourth and fifth grades. Sometimes they are too worried to sleep." Xiao Zhao said that in his department, generally speaking, doctoral students need to publish at least two SCI journal papers after graduation, and some students are under great pressure to publish.
It is not only masters and doctoral students who are facing the demand of writing and publishing papers. "Now, the total number of people who have the hard task of writing scientific research papers is very large." According to Kunlun Zhang, a professor at Henan University, the total number is in the tens of millions, including full-time teachers in colleges and universities, graduate students, full-time teachers in high schools and junior high schools, as well as scientific researchers and engineers and technicians other than colleges and universities, as well as technicians in agriculture and health industries. Wuyishan also believes that it does not mean that the unreasonable requirements for publishing papers will be cancelled, and papers will be extinct. "Some people may still cheat in order to pursue better interests in the process of awarding prizes."
From the supply point of view, the risk of writing papers on behalf of others is low and the return is high, with income ranging from thousands of yuan to tens of thousands of yuan. The reporter also learned that compared with the income, its cost is lower, most of the income belongs to the intermediary, and the writer gets less income.
In addition, the service of writing on behalf of others can be called "thoughtful", and some "merchants" not only provide one-stop service of writing on behalf of others, but also have a warm attitude. A few days after the reporter’s consultation, the "merchants" also took the initiative to remind them that if the topic selection of the paper is difficult, they can help to set the topic and pay attention to the deadline … …
The demand is still strong, the supply is continuous, the supervision is facing difficulties, and the multiple factors make the Internet paper generation platform still emerge one after another.
Experts suggest perfecting laws and regulations, strengthening network supervision, and reasonably defining the requirements for publishing papers.
"If this continues, it will be extremely unfair to those who really sit on the bench and work hard to explore the unknown and study science and technology." Kunlun Zhang said that the drawbacks caused by the publication of papers in money transactions are serious, and should be dealt with severely with a combination of boxing.
Kunlun Zhang believes that the punishment measures formulated by relevant laws and regulations are relatively thin, and there are also problems of inadequate law enforcement in reality. He suggested that laws and regulations should be improved, and it should be clearly stipulated that commercial institutions that write and distribute papers are illegal, and commercial acts of writing and distributing papers are illegal.
"On the basis of clear laws and regulations, the press and publication management institutions at all levels and the public security network supervision departments should work together to resolutely eliminate websites and advertisements that publish papers for compensation, and investigate the legal responsibilities of intermediaries and relevant journals." Kunlun Zhang said.
Wuyishan also believes that, in view of the fact that most of the advertising and trading activities of papers are carried out through the Internet at present, it is suggested that the network supervision department set up a filtered vocabulary of related words, so that intermediaries can’t publicize through the Internet, and demanders can’t access relevant information on the Internet, which will increase the difficulty and cost of their publicity and trading.
In addition to the governance of the platform, we should also make efforts from the demand side, such as reasonably defining the requirements for publishing papers for the promotion of professional titles of relevant practitioners.
“‘ Paid publication of papers ’ The persistence of high fever is closely related to the rigid requirement of publishing papers for the promotion of professional titles of science, education and health technicians. The criteria for evaluating the professional ability of science, education and health technology practitioners should be diversified, and the specific situation needs specific analysis. " Kunlun Zhang suggested that some positions can be promoted without publishing papers, while others can only use publishing papers as an auxiliary condition rather than a rigid condition of "one-vote veto". In terms of degree awarding, the requirements for publishing papers of different degrees can also be different.
In October 2018, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the China Academy of Engineering issued the Notice on Carrying out the Special Action of Cleaning up "Only Papers, Only Professional Titles, Only Academic Qualifications, Only Awards". Wuyishan believes that if the action of cleaning up "only papers" can be put in place, it will help to manage the chaos from the demand side.
Academic journals are also the link to manage the distribution of papers. Kunlun Zhang said that it is necessary to create a mechanism in which journals don’t want to sell their pages and are afraid to sell their pages. From the perspective of internal mechanism, we should improve the quality of running journals, formulate rigid severe punishment measures, and severely deal with those who sell pages privately for profit. From the perspective of external mechanism, external law enforcement inspection and supervision should be strengthened.
Of course, researchers should strengthen self-discipline, and those who finish and publish papers through improper means should be punished more severely. "If there is a problem with integrity, one vote veto will do!" Wuyishan said.
Author: Aika Automobile 
