China legislates for failure - August 28, 2007
In an effort to cut research fraud China is considering legislation permitting scientists to fail. According to state news agency Xinhua a proposed amendment to the Law on Science and Technology Progress would allow scientists to report experiments that fail without jeopardising future funding. “It's difficult to make achievements in independent innovation if the scientific research departments and scientists don't tolerate failures,” said Bai Chunli, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The amendment would state: “Scientists and technicians, who have initiated research with a high risk of failure will still have their expenses covered if they can provide evidence that they have tried their best when they failed to achieve their goals” (Xinhua). This story has already been picked up by Reuters, which notes that this month alone 13 academics have apparently been blacklisted for falsifying research data. AP notes that a dean at a top Chinese university was fired for fraud last year.
According to China Daily (which credits Xinhua as a source) researchers will also be able to own the intellectual property rights of government-sponsored work under the proposed legislation, unless the work is military or “concerning major social issues and public interest”.
