方舟子的Blog

科学摩擦：有关中国科研造假的争议正在失控吗？

By Bruce Einhorn, with Catherine Arnst in New York
美国《商务周刊》2006年5月29日

　　正当美国大学加紧与中国大学结成联盟，有关科研造假的指控的喧嚣正笼罩

着中国。北京政府要让中国成为科技强国的决定看来已创造出了一种类似美国西

部蛮荒时期的气氛，顶级科研人员在要求出成果的紧张压力之下，倾向于去伪造

成果或剽窃他人成果。在指控和反指控之中——其中有的似是而非——科学家们

担心一场迫害运动已经开始，会使可信的科研与可疑的科研一道蒙污。

　　这一呼声在5月12日达到高潮，当时上海交通大学宣布开除明星教授陈进，

他被指控伪造了计算机芯片方面的研究成果。陈只是一群被控犯有从伪造或剽窃

成果到窜改履历等各种造假行为的学者中的一个。这些人中有的丢掉了工作，但

是“还有多得多的事例（被控造假的）学者仍占据高位，”香港大学教授和广东

汕头大学新闻学院院长陈婉莹说。

　　生物化学学者方是民是揭露造假的主要人士之一。他主持一个非常有影响的

中文网站（www.xys.org），在上面详细列举对中国科学家中造假和不端行为的

指控。他宣称，自从其网站在2000年创建以来，已揭露了约500起非法或不道德

的行为。“不端行为在中国学者中是如此普遍，以致他们几乎已对之习惯了，”

方在一封电子邮件中说，“他们并不觉得那是什么大不了的事。”

　　对胡锦涛主席来说，这个混乱场面出现在一个特别尴尬的时刻。他和其他领

导人正在兜售一个远景，中国经济将会更多地依赖高端创新而不是廉价制造业。

为了实现这一以知识为本的未来，中国领导人督促科学家们去占领纳米技术、干

细胞研究和其他新兴领域的前沿。

　　如此雄心勃勃的目标也许会刺激不道德的行为。“人人都受到压力，”印第

安纳大学医学院华人教授傅新元说。他组织了一封由120名在美国的华人学者签

署的公开信，呼吁他们的政府改革调查不端行为指控的方式。“几乎每个大学都

想要成为世界级大学，”他说。“一夜之间，你应该成为顶级科学家。”

　　企业家阶层的兴起让形势变得更为复杂。教授们为了使实验室成果商品化而

与商人合伙，但是科学与中国杂乱无章的资本主义的结合并不美妙。这个国家最

丑恶的一个案件涉及到成都四川大学教授丘小庆和他以前的商业伙伴、一家名为

四川新泰克的投资公司。

　　51岁的丘小庆在2002年与新泰克公司合作开发他的一个发现，想要利用大肠

杆菌杀死体内有害的微生物。丘声称双方由于对他在公司中该占有多少股份有异

议而闹翻。之后，丘的研究小组的某些成员指控他伪造实验结果。丘说，这个指

控是“荒唐的……是个大笑话。”四川大学在4月份宣布丘没有过错。但是新泰

克公司对此不服，要求学校公布其详细的调查情况。

　　像这样乱糟糟的学术争端会让美国大学在试图加强与中国的合作时三思而后

行。和丘博士合作的康耐狄格大学教授乔治·吴博士对这种危险有亲身的体会。

今年早些时候，有人匿名指控吴参与了丘的造假。“我从未听说过如此下流的事

情，”他说。在康耐狄格大学为吴做了澄清之后，他做为部门负责人的位置被人

取代了，学校说在造假指控出现之前就已经打算这么做。吴对这种说法不那么相

信：“那些受调查的人会沾上污点。”

　　事态的激烈程度不太可能很快会平息。癌症专家、印第安纳大学的傅新元要

求北京政府制定如何处理不端行为指控的明确步骤，但是揭露者方怀疑人们会去

信任政府所做的调查。

（方舟子译）

Business Week, MAY 29, 2006

GLOBAL BUSINESS

Science Friction
Is the controversy over research fraud in China spiraling out
of
control?

Just when U.S. universities are pushing to form alliances with
their
counterparts in China, accusations of scientific fraud are
zinging
across the Middle Kingdom. Beijing’s determination to make China
a
scientific superpower seems to have created a Wild West climate
where
top researchers, under intense pressure to produce, are tempted
to
fake results or copy the works of others. Amidst charges and
countercharges — some of them spurious — scientists worry that
a
witch hunt is starting up that could besmirch the credible
research
along with the suspect.

The outcry reached a crescendo on May 12, when Shanghai
Jiaotong
University announced the firing of star professor Chen Jin
for
allegedly faking research on computer chips. Chen is just one in
a
crowd of academics accused of everything from falsifying or
plagiarizing results to embellishing résumés. While some have
lost
their jobs, “there are many, many known cases where the academics
are
still in senior positions,” says Yuen Ying Chan, a University of
Hong
Kong professor and dean of the journalism program at Shantou
University in Guangdong province.

One of the leading Chinese whistle-blowers is biochemist Shi-min
Fang.
He runs a highly influential Chinese-language Web site
(www.xys.org)
that details charges of fraud and abuse among China’s
scientists.
Since his site launched in 2000, he claims to have exposed 500
cases
of illegal or unethical behavior. “Misconduct is so widespread
among
Chinese academics that they have almost become used to it,” Fang
said
in an e-mail exchange. “They don’t think it’s a big deal at
all.”

The turmoil comes at a particularly embarrassing time for President
Hu
Jintao. He and other leaders have been flogging their vision of
China
as an economy that relies on high-end innovation more than
low-cost
manufacturing. To realize this brains-based future, Communist
Party
leaders urge scientists to seize the leading edge of
nanotechnology,
stem cell research, and other emerging fields.

Such ambitious goals may be inspiring the unethical behavior.
“Everybody is under pressure,” says Xin-Yuan Fu, a Chinese
professor
at Indiana University School of Medicine. He helped organize an
open
letter from 120 U.S.-based Chinese academics calling on their
government to reform the way it investigates misconduct
accusations.
“Almost every university wants to be world-class,” he says.
“Overnight,
you should be a top scientist.”

The rise of an entrepreneurial class further complicates the
situation.
As professors team up with business partners to commercialize
their
lab results, the nexus between science and the rough-and-tumble
world
of Chinese capitalism has not been pretty. One of the
country’s
seamiest cases involves Dr. Qiu Xiaoqing, a professor at
Sichuan
University in Chengdu, and his onetime business partner, an
investment
company called Sichuan NTC Holdings.

MESSY DISPUTES
Qiu, 51, teamed up with NTC in 2002 to develop his discovery
regarding
the ability of E. coli bacteria to kill harmful microbes in the
body.
The two sides had a falling out over what Qiu calls a
disagreement
about the percentage of shares he should get in the company. After
that,
some members of Qiu’s research group accused him of faking his
lab
results. The charge, says Qiu, is “ridiculous…it’s a huge
joke.”
Sichuan University announced in April that it had cleared Qiu
of
wrongdoing. But NTC, unpersuaded, has asked the university to make
the
details of its investigation public.

Such messy academic disputes could give pause to U.S.
universities
seeking to increase their collaborations with the Chinese. Dr.
George
Wu, a professor at the University of Connecticut who collaborated
with
Dr. Qiu, has firsthand knowledge of the dangers. Early this year,
Wu
was anonymously accused of contributing to Qiu’s alleged fraud.
“I
have never heard of anything this nasty,” he says. While Wu
was
cleared by UConn, he has been replaced as head of his division, a
move
that the university says was in the works before the fraud
allegations.
Wu isn’t so sure: “There’s a stigma attached to somebody who
is
investigated.”

The level of acrimony isn’t likely to die down soon. Indiana
University’s Xin-Yuan Fu, a cancer expert, wants Beijing to
create
clear guidelines on how to handle accusations of wrongdoing,
but
whistle-blower Fang doubts that anyone would trust a
government
investigation.

By Bruce Einhorn, with Catherine Arnst in New York

(XYS20060520)

◇◇新语丝(www.xys.org)(xys.dxiong.com)(xys.3322.org)(xys.xlogit.com)◇◇