Academic Integrity in China

Abstract

The chapter will explore academic integrity in relation to the research (mis)conduct of academic faculty in universities in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan). The academic profession in China is state sponsored rather than autonomous and has one of the lowest basic salary levels internationally. The rapid growth of higher education in China, allied with performative pressures in the ranking race, has led to increasing concerns about research integrity focused mainly on the conventional misconduct categories of falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism. However, research integrity in China also needs to be understood by reference to cultural norms, including the building of relationships and courtesy toward and respect for authority. Norms based on a Western conceptualization of research integrity do little to challenge or alter practices associated with guanxi and the intensive norms of reciprocity which dominate academic life in China. Weak professional self-regulation and poor academic socialization have also contributed to the current problematic situation of academic integrity in China.