Master's students' theses in China are showing less academic worth these days, according to a public survey jointly conducted by China Youth Daily and Net Ease (163.com).

People who took the survey said plagiarism is becoming serious in published theses and that masters students' paying to publish is increasingly prevalent because of publication pressure imposed by universities.

The reason for the trend is the limitation in the current evaluation system that emphasizes the "publish or perish" principle said Prof. Xiong Bingqi from Shanghai Jiaotong University.