A Beijing-based academic economics journal has been accused of publishing articles by anyone who paid it.

Business Modernization is estimated to have collected nearly 10 million yuan (US$1.46 million) in "page fees" last year by selling the 400 pages of each edition of the magazine. The journal is published three times a month, China Youth Daily reported yesterday.

The page fees were attractive to postgraduate students and junior professionals who need to have research results published in academic journals, an editor told a China Youth Daily reporter. The reporter had posed as a postgraduate student seeking to publish an article.

The reporter was told he could have his article published for 600 yuan for each 2,400-word page.

The price was a bargain, the magazine's editor, Wang Haitao, told him. It had been halved after the magazine was downgraded from a national core academic journal to an ordinary academic journal.

Though the editor said the magazine scrutinized articles to prevent plagiarism, the reporter managed to obtain a publishing agreement for an article he copied from a Website.

Li Fan, deputy president of the magazine, said charging fees was common practice among many academic journals throughout the nation. He declined to reveal the annual income from page fees.

(Shanghai Daily April 23, 2009)