The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) put forward a set of new
regulations on Monday that it says will strengthen scientific
honesty and curb academic fraud.
The regulations instill the basic principles for scientific
conduct, such as honesty, publicity and fairness.
The regulations also define scientific misconduct, detail
punishment and establish a science ethics committee to supervise
scientific researches to deal with misconduct.
"Strict regulations and rules will be conducive to build a
harmonious scientific academy. The most important thing is for
researchers to be self-disciplined," said Lu Yongxiang, president
of the CAS.
A declaration on the scientific conception of development was
also publicized with the new regulations. It calls for the
scientific community to respect the values and spirit of science,
and uphold their moral and social responsibilities.
Following a string of scandals involving academic fraud and
plagiarism, China issued a set of interim regulations on scientific
misconduct late last year.
A national science ethics committee and a supervision office was
also established in January to prevent academic fraud and
plagiarism.
(Xinhua News Agency February 27, 2007)