The business of essay trading "beautiful"
Recently, the Ministry of Science and Technology, together with relevant departments and units, conducted investigations into cases of falsification of academic papers and illegal use of funds for scientific research projects.
On September 16, it notified 9 cases of violations that had been investigated and handled, 7 of which involved the sale of papers.
Buyers came from Cancer Hospital of China Medical University, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Zhangzhou Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Suzhou Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Shandong University and Nanjing University of Science and Technology.
In these transactions, third-party paper writing and investment agencies appeared.
These institutions, in the name of translation companies, technology service companies, or cultural communication companies, deal with the realities of buying and selling papers.
We provide "one-stop" service from paper writing, journal selection and submission, review and revision to final publication.
How can essay intermediaries be successful?
"If it's illegal, can we do it for so long?"
In early 2010, the "Changjiang Daily" published a report that disclosed the findings of the Wuhan University's Shenyang research team: The sale of papers has become an industry in my country, with an output value of up to 1 billion yuan in 2009.
Moreover, this is still a conservative estimate.
Now search on Baidu with "posting paper" as the key word. Among the top-ranked websites, there are customer service representatives who can "write on behalf of" and "subscribe on behalf of investment."
More sophisticated institutions have directly penetrated into the scientific research personnel.
Li Yun, a professor at Shantou University School of Medicine, told a reporter from Science and Technology Daily that intermediaries would mix into some WeChat groups of the society, add scientific researchers as friends, and promote their business in the circle of friends.
"I have been blacked out several times."
Not long ago, Li Yun found their small advertisement on the circle of friends: heavyweight, SCI 0-1, launched in August 20, searched and transferred in September.
The goods are already here, just waiting for someone to make an inquiry.
A few years ago, because of the need to choose a topic, a reporter from Science and Technology Daily had contact with Xin Ke (a pseudonym), the customer service of a Beijing-based dissertation agency.
Recently, when the reporter logged on the account that he hadn't used for a long time, he found that Cinco was still "professional" sending greetings every once in a while: Hello, is there a need for paper publication now?
He said that his institution is a research institute, and he has cooperated with scientific research teams at home and abroad, and the papers he published are all "first-hand goods."
Institutions have a wide range of business, from books and teaching materials, monographs and patents to project declarations, as long as they are required for professional title review and graduation, they can "escort".
Knowing the needs, then matching the needs, this set of processes, Xinke has already done a good job.
He regularly posts papers that have been accepted by the magazine on QQ space and only require minor revisions. If the customer needs it, he can change it after the transaction or add the buyer's name.
"If time is tight, use the papers that have passed. If time is loose, take the papers that are still in the process, or find someone to write them for you."
Not only papers.
Books, patents, and even topics, money, intermediaries promise to be named.
The reporter said that an SCI English paper with an unlimited impact factor in the direction of electronic information is needed.
Cinco offered a "base price" of 70,000 yuan.
He said that as long as the money is paid, the buyer will not have to worry about anything, just wait.
"Some guilty conscience." The reporter chatted with him.
Xinke felt that the reporter was "hypocritical": "If everyone thinks like you, would you still be in business? Publishing a paper is related to the evaluation of job titles and graduation, which is a major event in life."
Later, a reporter from Science and Technology Daily contacted other intermediary agencies online.
For a "Science and Technology Information Service Company" in Shanghai, Zhang Ying (pseudonym), a customer service agent, said: "There are many customers who work with us, and they collaborate on hundreds of articles every month. SCI, EI The core of NTU and the core of Peking University have cooperation channels. Many professors and doctors are published by us. The advantage of agency is that the speed is fast. Our advantage is that we publish as an agency, not your normal submission method. We follow The co-editors of the magazine directly receive the manuscripts, and internal channels can guarantee the acceptance and publication."
The reporter said that he wanted English papers in pediatrics.
The other party quickly selected the target journal for the reporter, wrote and voted on behalf of the journal, and quoted 25,000 yuan.
This fee includes all-process fees such as article editing and polishing fees, public relations fees, consulting fees, service fees, review fees, and page fees.
If the reporter already has a paper, and the company only invests it, the fee is 21,000 yuan.
Zhang Ying said that in order to guarantee the rights of buyers, they will sign formal contracts.
"If it is not published within the specified time, no fees will be charged and you will be compensated for double losses." Moreover, since the reporter is working with them for the first time, they can give a 10% discount to new customers.
"We are doing word of mouth. If you are satisfied, you can introduce your friends and colleagues to contribute and publish."
According to the process introduced by Zhang Ying, after confirming the "cooperation", the paper buyer must fill in a copy of his own basic information and writing requirements, and pay 50% of the fee first, which will be used as a proxy fee and operation publication fee.
The remaining amount will be paid after receiving the notice from the magazine.
After the magazine is published, two sample publications, recording notices and invoices will be delivered to facilitate buyer reimbursement.
"The topic can be set by you, or we can arrange for a teacher to draft it for you, and write according to your direction. Most of our teachers are professors and PhD masters from famous domestic universities, with rich professional writing experience." Zhang Ying told Xin before this. The "routines" of the department are the same: the company is formal, the team is all big, and the experience is very rich.
Is it illegal to write essays for submission?
Zhang Ying said frankly: "It was a side ball." Xinko asked in return: "If it is illegal, how long can we do it?"
Spend 100,000 to buy two papers for people: save time and effort
Why can an intermediary company contract out?
Industry insiders told reporters from Science and Technology Daily that some of these companies may really have access to the journal editorial department; or they are indeed familiar with the routines of paper publishing; but some are just bluffing.
But even if they are deceived, there are only a few paper buyers who dare to give up their face to call the police.
In the first two years, Liu Yang (pseudonym) decided to buy a dissertation for her ex-girlfriend who was studying for a PhD in a certain 985 college.
He knows that this market is "deeply."
To be safe, Liu Yang found the teacher he had handed in at university and asked him to recommend a essay writing agency.
"The main target group of core journals is still in schools. Normally, teachers have to evaluate professional titles, and they will buy and sell papers if they don't have time to write papers. Some teachers already know the way." Liu Yang analyzed to a reporter from Science and Technology Daily.
Sure enough, the intermediary recommended by acquaintances was "reliable."
Liu Yang and the intermediary chatted on WeChat for a few rounds and quickly negotiated and paid a deposit of 20,000 yuan.
"Received the first draft, revised it, and then received the receipt and employment certificate. The whole process went smoothly."
Liu Yang bought two papers, both on the subject of finance, each with no more than 4,000 words.
An article on the core of Peking University and an article on the core of Nantah University. The agency also sent a book by the deputy editor's signature.
All this cost Liu Yang 100,000 yuan.
"Take these materials, go to a third-rate university, and comment on associate professors is enough." Liu Yang himself is not engaged in research-related work, and his attitude towards scientific research integrity does not matter.
"Spending money to buy papers can be considered time-saving and labor-saving for some people. If you really want to do your own research and write your articles very well, that’s not a worry. If you can’t finish it, you can’t graduate, or your title promotion is hindered, buy The thesis is still a good thing." He also knew that the shooter must be immoral, but "I don't know if it is illegal or not."
In fact, journal editors are also "matching wits and courage" with the writing and investment agencies in their work.
"Journal of Sun Yat-Sen University" editor Liu Qinghai once wrote that in the current situation of serious domestic paper fraud, sci-tech journals have to pay a lot of effort to prevent the publication of academic misconduct.
He shared a little story.
At the end of April 2014, when he was processing a batch of rejected manuscripts, he found that several manuscripts were overdue and had not yet been revised. Considering that it is not easy for the author to do research, he called to communicate with the author.
As a result, the person who answered the phone claimed to be the author's husband, and his reaction was very indifferent.
Liu Qinghai felt strange. After searching, he discovered that the author of the paper was from a central hospital in Tianjin, but the cell phone number he left was in Guilin, Guangxi.
Later, Liu Qinghai found the landline of the author's unit and contacted the author.
The author explained that the reason why he left his mobile phone number in Guilin was because the paper was contributed by students from the South.
"The two people's statements are contradictory." Liu Qinghai judged that this essay is a proxy for writing.
He summarized several characteristics of writing and submitting papers: Generally speaking, the number of authors of papers is small; the amount of author information in the acquisition and editing system is small; only mobile phones are retained in the acquisition and editing system, and the location of the mobile phone number does not match the location of the author's unit.
Specific to the paper itself, the academic misconduct literature test can pass, but it shows "may have been tested in advance."
According to Liu Qinghai's analysis, the agency should be familiar with the operating rules of the editorial department. Therefore, the manuscript was submitted after the duplicate text was removed or revised through special channels in advance.
The editorial department of the Journal of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery of Wenzhou Medical University's journal has analyzed 86 authors who used the same password from different units in the journal submission system from January 2015 to July 2016 and their 93 manuscripts. .
After comprehensive review by the editorial department, 82 of them were initially identified as manuscripts written on behalf of others.
They pointed out that from the current point of view, the phenomenon of proxy submission has not been improved, and it will exist for a long time. Journal editors still have to face these proxy submissions mixed in incoming manuscripts for a long time.
Experts suggest that the act of writing and submitting papers should be criminalized
"This matter, to put it bluntly, is that there is a market if there is demand. Moreover, the demand exists for a long time." Yin Bo, consultant of the Academic Committee of Beijing Normal University, associate professor of law school, and doctoral tutor, said to the reporter of Science and Technology Daily that many people have published papers. However, the journal itself is a scarce resource. The requirement to publish core journals and SCI has further exacerbated this scarcity.
Earlier, at the Fifth Plenary Session of the Seventh Session of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chen Yiyu, director of the Supervision Committee, pointed out that in recent years, third-party intermediary agencies have written proxy submissions, forged dissertation review opinions, and hired “gunners” to write fund applications. New situations happen from time to time.
Regarding third-party intermediaries, Chen Yiyu said that the Fund Committee currently has no way to deal with them. He called on the relevant departments to severely punish them to curb the deterioration of such problems.
In May 2018, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Construction of Scientific Research Credit" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions").
The "Opinions" pointed out that the market supervision and management, public security and other departments should actively investigate and severely punish intermediary service agencies that engage in the sale of academic papers, proxy writing, and forging, falsifying, and falsifying research data.
The agency where Zhang Ying works shows the registration place is Huangpu District, Shanghai.
A reporter from the Science and Technology Daily dialed the phone number of the Shanghai Huangpu District Market Supervision Bureau. The staff believed that the essay writing agency was not under their management and should belong to the cultural field.
"As for who will be in charge, we must consult the relevant judicial departments." Xinke's location is Tongzhou District, Beijing.
The staff of the Office of the Market Supervision Bureau of Tongzhou District said that they did not know who was in charge of the essay writing agency.
According to media reports, in 2017, relevant leaders of the China Association for Science and Technology once publicly stated that they would jointly invite the Central Cyberspace Administration of China and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce to carry out a cleanup operation to crack down on “black intermediaries” who write and submit papers.
But so far, there is no follow-up progress report on this matter.
According to insiders from relevant departments, there is indeed a lack of effective supervision of such intermediaries, and there is no strong basis for supervision.
Yinbo pointed out that at the level of laws, regulations and national management, social intermediary organizations, websites, and individuals that buy and sell papers are only generally prescribed by the competent unit.
As a matter of fact, the penalties for essay writing and investment incidents are often only the "in-system" subjects who purchase and write on behalf of the paper-like school students, teachers, scientific researchers, etc., for external operators-especially third-party intermediaries. Institutions still lack adequate regulatory means.
In civil judicial practice, it is basically considered that the trading of proxy writing belongs to the category of autonomy of will, and it is rarely considered that trading papers violate the provisions of the Copyright Law due to the exclusive consideration of authorship rights.
Only when the papers bought and sold are suspected of plagiarism, can the infringed party be held liable for the joint infringement of both parties.
Regarding the legitimacy of the paper sale agreement itself, judging from past case precedents, as long as the paper seller provides the buyer with essay writing and investment services in accordance with the contract, the courts often take a more relaxed attitude and determine that the agreement is valid.
Only in individual cases involving professional titles and essay writing, the court held that the agreement violated public order and good customs, harmed the public interest, and deemed the contract invalid.
"Furthermore, under normal circumstances, as long as'pay with one hand and deliver with one hand', who will report to the intermediary?"
A reporter from the Science and Technology Daily also saw from the China Judgment Documents website that some researchers who had purchased papers on behalf of investment services from intermediaries believed that the contract signed by the two parties violated Guobanfa (2015) No. 94, "The General Office of the State Council on Optimizing the Academic Environment" In the “Guiding Opinions”, “it is not allowed to use intermediary agencies or other third parties to write or write papers in disguise, or to publish papers in domestic and foreign journals through monetary transactions”, which also violates the spirit of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Science and Technology, The "Five Prohibitions" Notice for Publishing Academic Papers jointly issued by the seven departments of the Health and Family Planning Commission, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Engineering, and the Natural Science Foundation, is a contract that violates national regulations and policies and harms the public interest and should be invalid.
However, the court held that the notice was a policy document and was not an administrative regulation. The scientific research personnel lacked evidence to prove that the agency contract harmed the public interest. This defense was not accepted and the agency contract should be valid.
In Yinbo's view, my country's existing relevant laws and regulations are still unable to effectively punish the behavior of buying and selling papers, and they are not enough to generate sufficient deterrence against third-party intermediaries.
He bluntly said that the criminal law should be used to regulate this behavior that disrupts the order of scientific research.
"Punishment should become a powerful means to crack down on organizing the sale of essays and writing on behalf of others." Yinbo has studied some foreign practices.
In 2018, Irish legislation prohibits falsification of essays, writing essays for students or taking examinations on behalf of others has become a crime, and those who publish advertisements related to these services also constitute a crime.
The aforementioned "Several Opinions on Further Strengthening the Construction of Scientific Research Integrity" also pointed out that it is necessary to actively carry out theoretical research on criminal regulations that seriously violate the requirements of scientific research integrity, and promote the legislative and judicial departments to introduce corresponding criminal sanctions in a timely manner.
However, in criminal matters, our country does not have any legal provisions that directly target the crimes of essay writing and proxy submission.
Except for the crimes of illegal business operations, copyright infringement, contract fraud and fraud that can be investigated for criminal responsibility in the process of thesis buying and selling, many acts of writing and submitting papers in real life cannot be regulated by criminals.
"There are obstacles to the application of relevant crimes stipulated in the criminal law to a large extent." Yinbo pointed out.
The sale and purchase of papers and the writing of papers generally include three types of subjects: one is the demander of the paper, the other is an intermediary agency, and the third is the agent of the paper.
Yinbo believes that compared with the three, the organizer, the intermediary agency that sells and writes essays, is the most harmful, and there is a gap in supervision, and criminal regulation is more urgent.
Yinbo suggested that new provisions can be added in the legislative method of the criminal law amendment, and the crimes of organizing trading and writing essays should be listed in the sixth chapter of the criminal law "crimes against social management order."
In addition, the essay category of the crime of organizing the sale and writing of essays should be limited to dissertations, title essays, journal essays, and applications and closing reports related to national science funds.
In terms of sentencing, the crime of cheating in organizing examinations can be referred to, and a combination of free punishment and fines can be adopted.
“Organizing the sale of papers and writing on behalf of others not only disrupts the order of scientific research, wastes scientific research resources, but also tramples on the principle of academic fairness, causing a lot of practical harm.” Yinbo told a reporter from Science and Technology Daily that having a corresponding crime can constitute a deterrent to such behavior.
However, to truly build a clean and upright scientific research environment, it is necessary to simultaneously exert efforts from the three aspects of the writing subject's own academic ethics, industry self-discipline and supervision, and legal regulation.