《自然》杂志日前以Chinese journal finds 31% of submissions plagiarized 的标题报道了《浙江大学学报（英文版）》发现31%的投稿存在剽窃，一时在科学网上议论纷纷，有人以为这是在给中国学术界抹黑，也有不少人欢呼雀跃，认为这下中国学术界总算有救了。学者们未免有点孤陋寡闻少见多怪了吧？海外名校曾发生过超过95%的硕士论文存在剽窃，而且在消息见报时220名文抄公中已有上百人荣获学位。只不过这事不是发生在中国，没必要大惊小怪，人家《自然》杂志不报道而已。 这所大学是澳大利亚的新英格兰大学（The University of New England），正式建校是在1954年，是正规的老牌大学，绝不属于那些80年代末那一大批由技校改建的大学。别有用心的人写的大学的情况介绍中有这么一段（更详细的报道附于文后）： On 29 July 2009, the Australian Higher Education Supplement reported that the University was involved in the largest plagiarism scandal in Australian academic history. According to the former Chancellor, John Cassidy, 220 out of 230 master's theses checked as part of an internal investigation were plagiarised. The University was notified of the problem in November 2006, but still allowed dozens of students with plagiarised theses to graduate. http://www.infinitecourses.com/SADetails.aspx?University=University-of-New-England-%28Australia%29UniversityID=11594 220 out of 230就是超过了95%，是31%的3倍多! 所以没必要对《自然》一宣扬中国杂志有31%的投稿剽窃就那么在乎。如今对张月红主任的《自然》文章一事已有比较详细的解释，我就此说说个人的理解。 《自然》编辑的行为 《自然》编辑对张月红主任的投稿做了两处移花接木画龙点睛的改动：一是将unoriginal material改为 plagiarized；二是将浙江大学学报改成Chinese journal。《自然》编辑的做法是老谋深算，在程序上无懈可击。 Plagiarized可以有两种不同深度的解读：其一是根据字典理解为抄袭，抄了半句也算；其二是根据美国诚信办公室定义的学术不端行为的剽窃，是处心积虑的欺骗行为。张月红主任的投稿中显然是指抄袭，因为第二种解读的剽窃是弥天大罪，不是可以随意给人扣帽子的，而《自然》编辑对此也是心知肚明。《自然》编辑的标题中的plagiarized却让人首先想到是作为刻意欺骗的剽窃。 至于将浙江大学学报改成Chinese journal，从字面上看也是无可挑剔，只是在说一家中国杂志，但却暗示了说的就是中国的杂志。 尽管《自然》编辑在程序上做得并无破绽，不会让自己吃官司，在道德层面上《自然》编辑的行为却体现出一种阴暗的心理。应该指出，在西方国家不少人对中国有很深的成见，张月红主任的稿件正是投《自然》编辑之所好，于是事情发展成现在的闹剧。 《自然》编辑的行为应该受到谴责的另一理由是推行双重标准。科学网不久前刚编译过 《自然》社论：公开指控行为扰乱科学界 ，而如今却是唯恐天下不乱，把张月红主任的稿件改写为对Chinese的公开指控。按《自然》社论的观点，公开指控具体某个人是大逆不道罪该万死的行径，但《自然》编辑以为一旦把此人的名字换成Chinese就成为合法行为。如果《自然》坚持对张月红主任的稿件的处理做得得体，那么《自然》的上述社论就是在胡说八道。 科学网上曾流传《自然》编辑为此已道歉了，看他们给张月红主任的回复原文，根本不是道歉，字里行间反而透出《自然》编辑算计人得手后的洋洋得意。如果要说这次事件是否让《自然》连和三把满贯，我的看法是未必。在中国对《自然》迷信的人不少，这件事显然会让一些人对《自然》的看法发生改变。 张月红主任的行为 我们其实没有必要再指责或称赞张月红主任，她显然并不是被有些人所喝彩的勇士，而只是被《自然》编辑捉弄了，是受害者。应该说，张月红主任的was the first in China to sign up for CrossRefs plagiarism screening service CrossCheck 沾沾自喜有点可笑，不就是用了那个软件吗？又不是自己发明的。怪不得有人说是在为那软件做广告。 张月红主任的to work against cultural misunderstandings和In ancient China, for example, students were typically encouraged to copy the words of their masters的说法却是不好理解。我猜大概是在说寻章摘句，引经据典，卖弄典故吧？如果中国文化背景的读者不能正确理解，那么不知道老外们又会作何种解读？会不会理解为中国的传统文化就是教人剽窃？ 张月红主任不愿把自己的文章刊登在自己的杂志上，而要千方百计去巴结《自然》，这就清楚地向读者和作者坦白了自己的杂志不入流，不值得投稿，只适合登被其他杂志清退的稿件。我还可以想像，别的编辑会对31%的抄袭稿件深恶痛绝，把剽窃作者列入黑名单，而张月红主任说不定为了自己的文章更能吸引读者，愿意看到剽窃稿件多多益善，而不采取有效措施改变这种状况。吴王好剑客，百姓多创瘢；楚王好细腰，宫中多饿死，以上两点或许可以解释为什么投向张月红主任的杂志的剽窃稿件的比例如此惊人。 另一让《自然》编辑始料不及的效果是，虽然张月红主任的文章是在宣传那款软件如何效力宏大，但如果再看张月红主任以前的文章，说明用了那软件后剽窃稿件的比例有增无减，对纠正学风毫无帮助，事实上就是说购买那软件完全是劳民伤财。 UNE accused of allowing plagiarists to graduate Bernard Lane July 29, 2009 Article from: The Australian MORE than 100 overseas students graduated from the University of New England with copied masters theses, creating one of Australia's biggest plagiarism scandals after an academic whistleblower tried to raise the alert. Some students were allowed to graduate after UNE began an investigation that remains unfinished after more than two years. The masters program, begun with a commercial partner in 2004, turned out 220 plagiarised theses of the 230 that were checked. To date, no UNE staff member responsible for the program has been publicly held to account. The HES can reveal that the whistleblower, mathematician Imre Bokor, was told by UNE he could face charges of academic misconduct for allegedly failing to raise the alert immediately and directly after he had detected suspect theses. He told the HES he had nothing to do with the design or delivery of the program, apart from once vetting a maths exam for errors, and had made himself unpopular with superiors for opposing the program as unsound from the outset. Former UNE chancellor John Cassidy has described the scandal as the worst case of plagiarism in Australian history. Last week UNE vice-chancellor Alan Pettigrew, who inherited the program when he took office in 2006, said the plagiarism case had been handled as fairly, thoroughly and quickly as possible. It's been very, very complex, he said. We have taken every possible step we can and sought extensive legal advice on all the steps we have taken. He could not comment on individual cases but allegations have been raised against a number of staff and that process of investigation is nearing its completion. http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Foreign-students-in-Oz-varsity-accused-of-plagiarism-Report/496001/
晚上读到这篇文章： 张月红发表说明称《自然》未经同意擅改其文章标题 那个声明就免了吧，因为你在人家那里发文章就得看人家的规矩。看看人家杂志是如何讲的： http://www.nature.com/nature/authors/gta/others.html#correspondence 2. Correspondence These items are 'letters to the Editor' : short comments on topical issues of public and political interest, anecdotal material, or readers' reactions to informal material published in Nature (for example, Editorials, News, News Features, Books Arts reviews, and Commentaries). 【此初略去N段文字】 All accepted contributions are edited for publication . Proofs are sent by e-mail . Occasionally, letters have to be cut after proofs have been sent. Nature will endeavour to ensure authors see these changes, but cannot guarantee to do so. Titles of letters are chosen by Nature . 上面的文字清楚地说明了人家有权做修改，并且不能保证通知作者。 一般人都不容易注意这种细节，不过经历过一次的人就会印象深刻。我在2006年给Nature写过一封短信，被接受了，而且文章的标题被修改了，不过，比我原来的标题强多了，自然没有必要做任何形式的抗议。 http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v442/n7099/full/442132a.html Misconduct: forum should not be used to settle scores 【学术腐败：论坛不应该被人用来打击报复。】
Issue raised by the nature correspondence Chinese journal finds 31% of submissions plagiarized . The author is Zhang yuehong, the editor of the journal of Zhejiang university-science, and title submitted by Zhang is Policing plagiarism in China is helped by innovative software. However, the title was subjected to a last-minute change by one of the senior editors. Because your letter mentions only JZUS, we expect it will be clear to the majority of readers that the 31% figure refers only to that journal. I'm sorry that I cannot be of more help. BTW, Plagiarize is defined in the dictionary as the wrongful appropriation, close imitation, or purloining and publication, of another author's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions, and the representation of them as one's own original work. The modern concept of plagiarism as immoral and originality as an ideal emerged in Europe only in the 18th century, while in the previous centuries authors and artists were encouraged to copy the masters as closely as possible and avoid unnecessary invention. (wiki) editors of the Nature journal is .................
中国期刊的抄袭现象是存在的，原因不是张编辑原文的部分： for instance, in ancient China, some students were encouraged to repeat the words of their masters in their own writing. 更不是 Nature 编辑说的： In ancient China, for example, students were typically encouraged to copy the words of their masters. 而是当代官僚主义，与老祖宗没有太大关系。 for instance ： 来一个当代的顶头上司的文章，编辑不能不登。而当代中国大量官员伸手学术职称，抄袭文章，然后通过威胁利诱发表文章。 现代中国官员型学者（不一定当官而是具有官僚主义思想的）评审人不懂装懂，只会用流行的政府关注热点评价文章，为了维护自己的地位，装腔作势，而官员型学者习惯于听从上级，对抄袭的辨别力几乎为零。 由于官话、套话流行，官员型学者在看到没有套话、官话时，往往否定稿件，结果把创新排斥掉。在这种情况下，当编辑慢慢滋生了官僚主义作风，不允许申辩时，特别是一些缺少经验和训练的编辑，缺少敬畏科学的职业思想，把编辑作为一种政治地位，缺少服务精神，结果逼着论文作者写官话、套话。 但是无论怎么说，我不相信《浙江大学学报》可以代表中国期刊，也不相信《浙江大学学报》抄袭达到31%，也不相信没有个别期刊抄袭达到31%，更不相信软件可以判断创新。 在反抄袭问题上，有的学者说我们是讳疾忌医，实际的问题是我们既不能无病呻吟或小病大呼；也不能病急乱投医，指标不治本。
这些天一直在辗转出差，断续看了一些科学网上有关张月红 Nature 之文的博文和评论，忍不住也啰嗦几句。 在 9 月 8 日 上海的中国科技期刊发展论坛上，杨卫校长在其大会报告中提到《浙江大学学报》张月红编辑即将发表于 Nature 的文章内容，并 在 PPT 中展示了该文的题名，会间我碰到张月红，向她索要全文，她表示刚看完校样， would email me as soon as possible. 9 月 10 日 收到月红的 email ，其中除了附寄 Nature 的文章外，还转发了与 Nature 编辑 argue 的信件及作者校样稿： Nature 的编辑在最后一刻擅自更改了这篇文章的题名，理由是为了使文章更有影响力 (This was a last-minute change by one of the senior editors, who felt that the new title would have more impact and encourage more people to read the letter.) 校样的题名 : Policing plagiarism in China is helped by innovative software. 发表的题名 : Chinese journal finds 31% of submissions plagiarized 发表的题名显然更有吸引力，但它难免令人望文生歧义，也在一定程度上给作者带来了压力。当然，获得的效果也许正是这位 senior editor 所期望的 J 全文阅读
标签: 张月红
