We've all heard warnings to be careful with our credit card receipts, checks, and online passwords to avoid identity theft. But now it appears that academics with common names may have to be careful with their scholarly publications as well.
A faculty member at Beijing University of Chemical Technology falsely claimed seven publications of a Yale University researcher with a similar name, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education. The Beijing fraudster, who has since been fired, was applying for research funds that the Chinese government offers to scholars who have come home from overseas. Fang Zhouzi, an internationally known campaigner against academic fraud, exposed the identity theft.
(Incidentally, such abuses would be much more rare if a researcher ID system, such as ORCID, were widely adopted.)
A faculty member at Beijing University of Chemical Technology falsely claimed seven publications of a Yale University researcher with a similar name, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education. The Beijing fraudster, who has since been fired, was applying for research funds that the Chinese government offers to scholars who have come home from overseas. Fang Zhouzi, an internationally known campaigner against academic fraud, exposed the identity theft.
(Incidentally, such abuses would be much more rare if a researcher ID system, such as ORCID, were widely adopted.)
