TIANJIN/GUANGZHOU, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Two Chinese universities on Saturday reaffirmed their zero-tolerance to academic misconduct after penalizing multiple staff members.
In a public notice, Nankai University, in north China's Tianjin Municipality, said it has terminated employment contract with a postdoctoral fellow after irregularities were flagged in a paper the person authored. One corresponding author was removed from his post as the dean of the College of Life Sciences, while the other corresponding author was given a warning.
Nankai University stated that it will take the case as a lesson to comprehensively reinforce education on research integrity, and build a clean and upright research environment and academic atmosphere.
Meanwhile, Sun Yat-sen University, in south China's Guangdong Province, has removed two faculty members from their posts as deputy heads of their respective institutions, after the images and data in their academic works were found to be problematic. Other relevant individuals also received punishment ranging from demotion to criticism and warning.
Sun Yat-sen University has pledged to strengthen education on research integrity, improve the management mechanism for research data, experimental records, image usage and paper submission, and refine its regular supervision and verification systems. ■
