When will public knowledge resources return to public welfare attributes

　　A few days ago, eight years after defending rights, Zhao Dexin, a retired professor at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, who was nearly 90 years old, finally waited for CNKI's apology and more than 700,000 yuan in compensation.

Since 2013, Zhao Dexin sued CNKI for infringing on the information network dissemination rights of her works, and won all cases.

　　HowNet collects academic papers by scientific researchers at low prices or even for free, and there has been controversy over the paid use of scientific research institutions and university teachers and students and the continuous increase of prices.

　　"The 700,000 yuan compensation to Professor Zhao Dexin is that CNKI assumes the responsibility for copyright infringement and belongs to the nature of compensating for losses." Cong Lixian, Dean of the School of Intellectual Property of East China University of Political Science and Law, said that from the court's judgment, the author did not have permission or existed permission. When there is a flaw, HowNet collects a large number of academic papers and makes profits from it is a tort.

Under normal circumstances, the copyright of these papers within the copyright protection period still belongs to the author himself.

　　At present, the incident has caused a chain reaction, and Professor Zhao Dexin's student Su Shaozhi has also filed a lawsuit with CNKI and won.

However, the reporter contacted several experts and scholars, and they were strongly dissatisfied with CNKI's behaviors. “Those who need papers have to pay to download them, but the authors can’t get a penny”, but they all refused to accept further interviews.

A young scholar told reporters: “For us, if papers cannot be posted on HowNet because of rights protection, academically, we will face great losses.”

Duplicate checking opportunities are "clearly marked" on the Internet, and the burden on students has risen sharply

　　In recent years, schools at all levels and types of schools have strict requirements for thesis checking, and the demand for thesis checking function has skyrocketed among graduates.

　　Compared with platforms such as VIP Consulting and Wanfang Data, the number and type of academic papers included in CNKI have significant advantages. The exclusive journals included in it are far superior to other platforms in the same field in terms of coverage of disciplines and paper quality.

　　In the fifth issue of "Modern Law" in 2019, the article "Regulation Dilemma and Its Solution to the Unfair High Price Behavior of Academic Database Operators" was published. According to the author's statistics, the CNKI full-text journal database includes exclusive and only authorized journals. 3964 types, accounting for 43% of the total number of journals in my country; among them, 778 core journals, accounting for about 42% of all core journals; including 194 journals ranked top 3 in various disciplines, accounting for 64% of the total number of top 3 journals.

Therefore, many colleges and universities require the duplicate check results of HowNet to prevail.

　　At present, colleges and universities generally provide students with two CNKI duplicate checks for free, one is the initial check, and the second is the professional check, that is, the final check.

And after using up the free paper checking opportunities provided by the school, many students are willing to spend money to purchase more paper checking services.

　　One time 168 yuan, one time 760 yuan. After spending nearly 1,000 yuan to purchase thesis review service, Zhang Yiling, a graduate of a college in Hunan Province, submitted the final version of her graduation thesis to the school, and the results were close to the end of the school review As a result, it was 5.1%, "If the money is used for food, it can be eaten in the cafeteria for more than a month."

　　Regarding students’ questions about the high fees, CNKI has repeatedly issued notices stating that the duplication check function has never been opened to individual users, and only users from institutions such as universities and scientific research institutions have this right.

　　In April 2020, CNKI issued a "Notice" stating that “criminals use technical means to embezzle or obtain testing accounts through illegal means to sell CNKI academic misconduct testing services to individuals through the Internet for profit-making behaviors,” and they will adopt “regulatory measures”. In case of improper disclosure or reselling, the annual subscription users will cancel the annual subscription service model and re-approve the annual service quantity" and other penalties.

　　On the eve of this year’s graduation season, the online platform’s fees for rechecks have increased again, making it “unacceptable” for graduates.

A reporter found on an e-commerce platform that merchants claimed that the price of re-checking papers based on CNKI was on the rise, and the higher the price, the more complete the database content behind it, and even one-time quotations of 1,800 yuan and 2,000 yuan appeared.

　　In addition, in order to ensure that papers do not encounter problems with the repetition rate, some e-commerce platforms have also derived "weight reduction" services, which help authors reduce the repetition rate of papers.

　　Jing Yi, an undergraduate graduate from a university in Nanchang, purchased the weight check and artificial intelligence "weight reduction" service on an e-commerce platform, spent 1,500 yuan, and received "papers below the school's repetition rate limit" within five days. .

　　In response to an undergraduate paper with a full text of about 23,000 words and a repetition rate close to 30%, businesses that provide duplicate checking and "weight reduction" services replied to reporters, "Reduced to less than 15%, the charge is 530 yuan, and the price is reduced to less than 10%. 660 yuan. Feedback within 2 days, using China HowNet system."

　　According to the business, reducing the repetition rate ensures that the main idea of ​​the article, academic views, content framework, and structure remain unchanged, the sentence logic is smooth, and the content will not be added or deleted. "We will find a corresponding professional revision teacher to reduce repetition by changing the way of expression. Pursue the purpose and ensure the professionalism of the article."

　　"The opportunity to check the weight is treated as a commodity, and it also generates a'weight reduction' service, which severely undermines academic norms and academic ecology." said Li Yu, a humanities and social science scholar in a central university in the central part of China.

　　On the one hand, HowNet clearly stipulates that the service of duplicate checking is not open to individuals. On the other hand, students have the need for duplicate checking. Why can't the school provide students with multiple duplicate checking opportunities?

　　"The school provides free duplication checks to warn students not to plagiarize, not to help students evade the monitoring of plagiarism." Li Yu said the school's considerations.

So far, CNKI and the school have their own reasons, but they have pushed some graduates' need to check the thesis into the market.

HowNet's continuous price increase is unbearable for colleges and universities

　　Previously, many universities have raised questions about the excessively high prices of CNKI services and the continuous price increases.

　　In January 2016, Wuhan University of Technology stated that the school would suspend the use of HowNet because the renewal price was too high, and the quotation was increasing every year. Between 2010 and 2016, the use fee of HowNet increased by about approx. 132%, an average annual increase of about 19%, "schools can no longer afford."

　　Because the price of renewing HowNet has risen sharply, “the school cannot reach an agreement with HowNet on the renewal price”, Peking University and Taiyuan University of Technology have also issued notices about the imminent discontinuation of HowNet.

This turmoil has also affected many universities in Hebei, Shandong, Yunnan and other places.

According to the reporter's understanding, these colleges and universities in question re-subscribed to the CNKI service soon, but this does not mean that related issues have been properly resolved.

　　"Students and teachers have to use it, and CNKI is the only one, and we are also forced to be helpless." The person in charge of the aforementioned university library told reporters.

　　In the tug-of-war with universities, Zhiwang adjusts prices, and the direct and indirect costs borne by universities, teachers and students are getting higher and higher.

　　A former person in charge of the Beijing University Library told reporters, “The school has given CNKI hundreds of thousands every year, and this year it has exceeded 800,000 yuan, and it has risen every year, exceeding the acceptable range.”

University library resources are mainly divided into paper books and periodicals, Chinese and foreign language databases. "Purchasing HowNet accounts for more than one-third of the Chinese database purchase cost, and it can only reduce the purchase of some other sub-libraries."

"Compared to market monopoly, knowledge monopoly is more worthy of vigilance"

　　Because of the signing of contracts with universities, teachers and students in universities can use CNKI to download papers on campus for free.

But for social users, you need to pay to download.

Currently, downloading journal articles on Zhinet is about 0.5 yuan per page.

Master's thesis 15 yuan / article, doctoral thesis 30 yuan / article.

　　According to the "People's Political Consultative Conference" report, during the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in 2020, Ni Minjing, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, submitted a proposal that CNKI has basically completed the integration and integration of large-scale knowledge and information resources and built knowledge resources. Internet diffusion and value-added service platforms have become the leader in providing information services for resource sharing, digital learning, and knowledge innovation for the entire society. It is easy to ingest high profits through a monopoly, which causes the cost of knowledge acquisition to continue to increase.

Therefore, he suggested that CNKI should be included in the scope of government procurement services.

　　More than 20 years ago, CNKI built the "CNKI Digital Library" with the strong support of the state, and its official website icon indicated that it was "China Knowledge Infrastructure Project".

At the end of 2018, its holding company, Tongfang, issued an announcement stating that Tsinghua Holdings intends to transfer all its holdings of Tongfang's holding stocks to China Nuclear Capital, and China Nuclear Capital will become the company's controlling shareholder.

　　The financial report of Tongfang shares shows that in the first half of 2021, the company's main business income was 496 million yuan, the net profit attributable to the parent was 18.927 million yuan, and the gross profit margin was 51.30%.

　　The journal papers, dissertations, conference papers and other resources collected and stored by HowNet come directly from universities, scientific research institutes and their scholars and students. As public products, these academic documents have public welfare attributes, but HowNet’s business operation model is based on this But it has always been questioned.

　　"In essence, CNKI is building a public knowledge database, but now the public welfare attributes are getting weaker and the commercial flavor is getting stronger." Cong Lixian said that at present, CNKI's pricing mechanism is not transparent, and the main benefits are still derived from Copyright revenue.

　　Although there are costs in technology construction and website operation, should we charge a fee?

How to charge a reasonable fee?

The reporter of this newspaper issued an interview letter to its marketing department through the official website of HowNet.

As of press time, no response has been received.

　　"The products provided by academic databases are different from general commodities. Once the copyright resources of academic literature form a monopoly and the supply method is single, the abuse of market dominance by operators using this monopoly advantage will cause great harm." Competition Law and Competition of Wuhan University Sun Jin, director of the Policy Research Center and professor of the School of Law, reminded, "However, compared with market monopoly, knowledge monopoly is more worthy of vigilance."

　　In Sun Jin's view, in order to maximize profits, academic database operators increase prices, which not only damages public knowledge resources, but also raises the audience threshold of these journals, making it impossible to spread knowledge widely and making it easier to form a "knowledge monopoly."

　　Some scholars told reporters that the knowledge resources collected by HowNet come from society and their resources are of significant social nature. The resources taken from the society should not be used solely as the basis for profiteering, but should be “taken from the society and used by the society”. To the society", adhere to the universality and public welfare of services.

Therefore, as a national knowledge infrastructure, the services provided by HowNet should be open to the public, meet the public's demand for knowledge, and provide equalized services.

　　In 2012, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences established the National Philosophy and Social Science Database to promote the non-profit use and open sharing of academic resources. Excellent journals funded by the National Social Science Fund are open for access and free access here.

Li Yu said frankly: "It's just that the current influence is limited, because there are not many journals included, and there is a bottleneck in the gathering of resources."

　　“In foreign countries, there are many databases funded by public welfare associations or governments, and the research results should also be obtained by taxpayers for free.” Li Yu said, “From this point of view, the government must strengthen policy support and financial support, and adopt effective markets. Intervene and guide, actively carry out the exploration of open access mode, remove the barriers to scientific research and knowledge sharing to the greatest extent, in order to encourage more academic innovation."

(Some interviewees use pseudonyms)

(Reporter Chen Peng)