As several Chinese universities including Sun Yat-sen University and Nankai University have disciplined professors implicated in academic misconduct, Geng Tongxue, the science blogger who exposed the allegations, said his Douyin social media account has been permanently restricted from exposure and had its advertising revenue function suspended.
Singapore-based Lianhe Zaobao reported on Monday that "Douyin appears to have blocked the social media account out of concern that, amid the intensifying campaign against academic misconduct in China, Geng Tongxue might be criticized for failing to fulfill his principal responsibilities." The newspaper added, "However, voices are growing that Douyin should explain clear reasons to Geng Tongxue and impose exposure restrictions based on the law."
Recently, Chinese academia has been shaken as renowned professors at prestigious universities have been implicated in academic misconduct including paper fabrication. The case began last month when Geng Tongxue began verifying papers published by prominent scholars in the biochemistry and medical fields and raising allegations.
Geng Tongxue, who dropped out of a doctoral program in biomedical engineering at Beihang University last year, is a science blogger with 1.8 million followers. He verified research papers using data analysis, statistical models and automatic detection tools. Through this, he found misconduct in the papers of five prominent scholars, some of which had been published in the prestigious international journal Nature.
The scholars whose misconduct was uncovered include Wang Ping, dean of the School of Life Sciences and Technology at Tongji University; Chen Quan, dean of the School of Life Sciences at Nankai University; Kang Tiebang, deputy director of the Cancer Center at Sun Yat-sen University; Kuang Dongming, vice dean of the School of Life Sciences at Sun Yat-sen University; and Su Jiacan, director of the Institute of Translational Medicine at Shanghai University. The universities recognized their misconduct on the 30th of last month and immediately dismissed them or demoted their ranks.
Chinese state media Xinhua News Agency and People's Daily Online positively evaluated Geng Tongxue's revelations, praising them as "a brilliant mirror for China's academic supervision system." Lianhe Zaobao reported, "Although Chinese state media praised Geng Tongxue's revelations, Douyin blocked his social media account, prompting netizens to criticize the measure." It added, "Chinese communications scholar Wei Wuhui views the permanent exposure restriction on Geng Tongxue's social media account as possibly being the platform's own decision, but it could also have been made under instructions from a higher authority."
Wang Jun, a lawyer at Guangdong Weichang Law Firm, said, "It is inevitable that academic misconduct in China must be eradicated," adding, "Geng Tongxue is a product born from this great trend of the times."
