Chinese medical student's degree revoked over plagiarism

Ningxia Medical University has revoked the master's degree of a medical student who was accused of dissertation plagiarism, the university said in a statement on Monday.

After investigation, the university found that Xu Tingting's dissertation was plagiarized from Zhou Junjun's piece.

Xu and Zhou were both students of the medical school located in Yinchuan City in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Xu graduated in 2013 while Zhou graduated five years earlier.

The title of Xu's dissertation was, "A Study on the Analgesic Effect of Oxysophocarpine and Mechanism Related," slightly different with Zhou's dissertation entitled, "A Study on the Analgesic Effect of Oxymatrine-carbenoxolone Sodium Inclusion and Mechanism Related."

Xu's tutor Ma Hanxiang was temporarily disqualified from recruiting students. The degree program and the organization which Xu belonged were asked for a self-check and improvement.

It is not the first time Chinese medical academics have faced accusations over plagiarism.

The journal Tumor Biology had retracted 107 research papers in April, most of which purportedly came from China.

Springer, the publisher, announced they had discovered that the authors faked the peer review process.

So why is plagiarism relatively rampant among Chinese medical academics?

"The promotion of doctors is closely connected with their publications of dissertation," said Professor Zhou Zijun from the School of Public Health under Peking University.

An established industry of plagiarism is alleged to offer chances and convenience to those in need. More than 10,000 pages related to "dissertation publication" can be found online, with ghostwriting companies hiding in the back, reports China Central Television.

Plagiarism is also a growing problem for medical academia throughout the world, but in somewhat rare occasions.

"Doctors in other countries are not forced to publish dissertations because they don't suffer the burden of getting professional titles," said an anonymous expert. "If they are involved in academic fraud, their reputation will be ruined."