Looks Good on Paper

∷ 經(jīng)緯 編注 / 秋葉 評

近幾年，中國的學(xué)術(shù)造假事件層出不窮，不僅在國內(nèi)鬧得沸沸揚揚，還吸引了外國媒體的注意?！督?jīng)濟學(xué)人》雜志刊文討論了中國的學(xué)術(shù)誠信問題，呼吁中國各界人士對這種學(xué)術(shù)造假和剽竊事件采取行動。

A flawed system for judging research is leading to academic fraud.1. flawed: 有缺陷的，有瑕疵的；fraud: 欺騙，詐騙。

As China tries to take its seat at the top table of global academia,the criminal underworld has seized a lucrative opportunity in its research system: They are producing fake scholarly articles which they sold to academics, and counterfeit versions of existing journals in which they sold publication slots.2. 正值中國努力在世界領(lǐng)先學(xué)術(shù)界占據(jù)自己位置之際，地下犯罪組織在中國的科研體系中抓住了一個趁機揩油的機會：他們編造出虛假論文，賣給科研人員；“盜版”現(xiàn)有雜志，向科研人員收取版面費。academia: 學(xué)術(shù)界；lucrative: 賺錢的，有利可圖的；counterfeit: 假冒的，偽造的；publication slot: （雜志的）版面。The fact that research grants3. research grant: 科研經(jīng)費，科研補助金。and promotions are awarded on the basis of the number of articles published, not on the quality of the original research. This has fostered an industry of plagiarism, invented research and fake journals that Wuhan University estimated in 2009 was worth $150m,a fivefold increase on just two years earlier.4.這催生了一個剽竊、科研造假和虛假論文的產(chǎn)業(yè)；在2009年，武漢大學(xué)估計這個產(chǎn)業(yè)的價值總額是1.5億美元，比2007年增長了五倍。foster: 培養(yǎng)，滋生；plagiarism: 剽竊，抄襲；fivefold: 五倍的。

Chinese scientists are still rewarded for doing good research,and the number of high-quality researchers is increasing. Scientistsall round the world also commit fraud. But Chinese evaluation system badly needs to be improved.

By volume the output of Chinese science is impressive.5. volume: 數(shù)量，總額；output: 產(chǎn)量，產(chǎn)出。Chinese mainland researchers have published a steadily increasing share of scientific papers in journals included in the prestigious Science Citation Index (SCI).6. prestigious: 有威信的，有聲望的；Science Citation Index: 科學(xué)引文索引，由美國科學(xué)情報研究所于1960年編輯出版的一部期刊文獻檢索工具，它是目前國際上被公認的最具權(quán)威的科技文獻檢索工具。The number grew from a negligible share in 2001 to 9.5% in 2011, second in the world to America, according to a report published by the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China.7. negligible: 微不足道的，可以忽略的；Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China: 中國科學(xué)技術(shù)信息研究所，于1956年成立，是科技部直屬的國家級公益類科技信息研究機構(gòu)。From 2002 to 2012, more than 1 million Chinese papers were published in SCI journals; they ranked sixth for the number of times cited by others8. the number of times cited by others: 文章被引用次數(shù)。Nature, a science journal, reported that in 2012 the number of papers from China in the journal’s 18 affiliated9. affiliated: 附屬的。research publications rose by 35% from 2011. The journal said this “adds to the growing body of evidence that China is fast becoming a global leader in scientific publishing and scientific research”.

In 2012, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an American journal, published a study of retractions accounting for nation of origin.10. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences:《美國國家科學(xué)院院刊》，美國國家科學(xué)院的官方學(xué)術(shù)周刊，創(chuàng)刊于1915年。該刊出版前沿研究報告、述評、綜述、前瞻、學(xué)術(shù)討論會論文等，覆蓋生物學(xué)、化學(xué)、物理學(xué)、數(shù)學(xué)和社會科學(xué)；retraction:（文章、數(shù)據(jù)等）撤銷，收回，下文出現(xiàn)的retract是其動詞形式。In it a team of authors wrote that in medical journal articles in PubMed, an American database maintained by the National Institutes of Health, there were more retractions due to plagiarism from China and India together than from America (which produced the most papers by far,and so the most cheating overall).11. 這個調(diào)研團隊的研究員們寫道：在由（美國）國立衛(wèi)生研究院維護的PubMed醫(yī)學(xué)論文數(shù)據(jù)庫中，來自中國和印度的由于剽竊而被撤銷的論文數(shù)量加起來，已經(jīng)多于來自美國的論文（迄今美國研究者發(fā)表的論文總量最多，因此由于剽竊而被撤銷的總量也是最多的）。PubMed: 一個免費的搜尋引擎，提供生物醫(yī)學(xué)方面的論文搜索以及摘要；National Institutes of Health: 國立衛(wèi)生研究院，隸屬于美國衛(wèi)生及人類服務(wù)部，是美國聯(lián)邦政府中首要的生物醫(yī)學(xué)研究部門。The study also found that papers from China led the world in retractions due to duplication12. duplication: 復(fù)制品，完全一樣的東西?！猼he same papers being published in multiple journals. On retractions due to fraud, China ranked fourth, behind America, Germany and Japan.

Chinese scientists have urged their comrades to live up to the nation’s great history. “Academic corruption is gradually eroding the marvellous and well-established culture that our ancestors left for us 5,000 years ago,”wrote Lin Songqing of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,in an article last year in Learned Publishing, a Britishbased journal.13. erode: （逐漸）毀壞，削弱；Chinese Academy of Science: 中國科學(xué)院，中國在科學(xué)技術(shù)方面的最高學(xué)術(shù)機構(gòu)。

In the 1980s, when China was only beginning to reinvest in science, amassing publishing credits seemed a good way to use non-political criteria for evaluating researchers.14. amass: 積累，積聚；credit: 發(fā)表文章被引用數(shù)量（在別人發(fā)表的文章中被引用，出現(xiàn)在被引用文獻列表中）。But today the statistics-driven standards for promotion are proved to be problematic. Xiong Bingqi of the 21st Century Education Research Institute calls it the“GDPism15. GDPism: 經(jīng)濟增長。of education”.

The most valuable statistic a scientist can tally up16. tally up: 計算……的總數(shù)，總結(jié)。is SCI journal credits, especially in journals with higher“impact factors”—ones that are cited more frequently in other scholars’ papers. SCI credits and impact factors are used to judge candidates for doctorates, promotions,research grants and pay bonuses.17. doctorate: 博士頭銜，博士資格；pay bonus: 獎金。Some ambitious professors amass SCI credits at an astounding18. astounding: 令人震驚的，令人驚訝的。pace. Mr.Lin writes that a professor at Ningbo university, in southeast China, published 82 such papers in a three-year span.The relative19. relative: 相對而言的。weakness of these papers is found in the fact that China ranks just 14th in average citations per SCI paper, suggesting that many Chinese papers are rarely quoted by other scholars.

This incentive20. incentive: 激勵的，獎勵的。system has created some bigger embarrassments. In 2009, a British journal on crystallography, was forced to retract 70 papers coauthored by two researchers at a university in southern China, because they had fabricated evidence described in the papers.21. crystallography: 晶體學(xué)；fabricate: 捏造，偽造。

The pirated medical-journal cases show that there is a well-developed market for publication beyond the authentic SCI journals.22. pirated: 剽竊的，盜版的；authentic: 真正的，可靠的。The cost of placing an article in one of the counterfeit journals was up to $650, police said.Purchasing a fake article cost up to$250. Customers were typically medical researchers angling for23. angle for: （通常帶貶義）謀取，博取。promotion.