On May 10, the "Academician Electronic Encyclopedia", which covers hundreds of scholars around the world, was taken offline, which is the response taken by the European Academy of Natural Sciences after being caught in the "academician blowout" controversy. At the same time, a number of domestic units and institutions have also urgently deleted the news that relevant personnel were awarded medals.
The European Academy of Natural Sciences has been labelled as a "pheasant academy" and has been accused of "paying to participate". The staff of the China Development Research Institute told Nandu and N video reporters that the president of the institute was invited to participate in the evaluation and denied the "payment". And they found that many experts and scholars in China have obtained the title, and they think that "there should be no problem, and they really didn't think so much". There are also many schools and government departments that cannot distinguish between the European Academy of Natural Sciences and the prestigious European Academy of Humanities and Natural Sciences.
Nandu reporters found that there are many foreign colleges and institutions, which often make it difficult to distinguish their "gold content", and there are even "study abroad agents" on the Internet who make "applying for foreign academicians" a business, and the application fee ranges from hundreds of thousands of yuan to millions of yuan. "Foreign academicians" release a kind of anxiety - it not only represents honor, but also may become a bargaining chip to obtain academic resources and make money to seek fame.
The European Academy of Natural Sciences, which is accused of "academician blowout".
In the past few days, the discussion around the "blowout of academicians" and "the value of the title" of the European Academy of Natural Sciences has continued to ferment.
It is reported that spending 400,000 yuan can "buy" the title of academician, and some people say that "more than one-third of the members of the official website of the European Academy of Natural Sciences are suspected to be Chinese", including "the only post-90s academician in the world".
Official website of the European Academy of Natural Sciences.
On May 8, the official account of the China Association for Science and Technology released "What does the blowout of "Academician of the European Academy of Natural Sciences" reflect? ", directly pointed out that "all departments and institutions should not stand on the platform for 'speculators'" and "strive to clean up all kinds of 'pheasant universities'", "copycat titles", "illegal evaluations" and "fee commendations".
Is the European Academy of Natural Sciences "pheasant" or not?
Nandu reporters found that the European Academy of Natural Sciences was established in Hannover, Germany, in 2001, with a declared mission to "help integrate the international scientific community". On December 20, 2022, the academy's official website mentioned that the European Academy of Natural Sciences is a cross-regional, non-profit scientific organization that brings together experts in the field of humanities from European countries, with the goal of supporting scientific research and establishing long-term partnerships.
President Vladimir Timinsky wrote a letter to academicians from China on May 3 this year, in which he said, "We are an independent public organization. Unlike the state-owned Chinese Academy of Sciences or the Russian Academy of Sciences, we invite scientists of academic value whose research results benefit the people. ”
The president of the European Academy of Natural Sciences once wrote a letter to the Chinese academician.
Vladimir Timinsky was a geophysicist who graduated from the Moscow Institute of Geological Prospecting in 1961 and worked in the Soviet Ministry of Geology and the institutions of the Academy of Sciences before being sent to Germany to establish the European Academy of Natural Sciences, where he was also the chief scientific secretary of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.
According to public information, there are 425 members of the European Academy of Natural Sciences, including 320 full academicians and 105 corresponding academicians, of which 5 academicians are Nobel laureates and more than 30 academicians are winners of well-known European science and technology awards.
The European Academy of Natural Sciences currently has branches and offices in 33 countries, including Germany, Russia, Georgia, Hungary, Israel, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Japan.
According to the official website, the scope of work of the institute includes registering scientific findings and hypotheses, holding symposia on medical issues, organizing cultural tours, publishing academic works, the international medical bimonthly magazine Arhiv Euromedica, and the encyclopedia of the European Academy of Natural Sciences.
In addition, in order to "recognize the greatest scholars", the board of trustees of the academy initiated a selection of commemorative medals, including Leibniz, Gauss, Roentgen, Wilchen, Freud; Nobel laureates Schweizer, Ehrlich, Koch, and European geniuses Leonardo da Vinci, Beethoven, Goethe, etc.
On March 25, 2023, the presidium of the Academy decided to delete members who had not paid their annual fees in the past three years from the website.
In this regard, Wu Jihua, the interim representative of the European Academy of Natural Sciences, responded to the reporter of Nandu that the operation of the Academy of Sciences mainly depends on the donations and fees of academicians, and academicians have to pay a certain annual fee every year, usually 150 US dollars or euros. "The charter stipulates that donations are voluntary." Due to problems with payment operations, academicians in China are currently unable to pay fees.
In Wu Jihua's view, the European Academy of Natural Sciences has built a platform to facilitate communication between Chinese scholars and overseas scholars. The Academy of Sciences is a civilly registered scientific society, "equivalent to a club".
A Chinese scholar in the midst of the turmoil
"Foreign academicians" were suddenly exposed to "water injection", and experts and scholars with this title and their institutions also fell into controversy.
Ceremony for awarding certificates to new members of the European Academy of Natural Sciences.
On May 9, the staff of the China Development Research Institute responded to the reporter from Nandu that they had noticed the doubts about the European Academy of Natural Sciences on the Internet, and would pay close attention to the progress of the situation and deal with it accordingly in a timely manner.
Wang Tong, president of the institute, is one of the new academicians announced by the European Academy of Natural Sciences this year, and attended the ceremony of awarding certificates and medals in Beijing on the afternoon of April 21, and received the "academician" certificate and gold medal from Academician Egorov, vice president of the European Academy of Natural Sciences, and Professor Sudhoff, a Nobel laureate.
Not only did the official website of the China Development Research Institute once put the news in a prominent position on the front page, but the print newspaper in Wang Tong's hometown also made a big report on it on the front page on May 4.
In an interview with a reporter from Nandu, the staff of the China Development Research Institute denied the "paid participation". According to his introduction, Wang Tong received an invitation from the European Academy of Natural Sciences last year, provided relevant information according to the guidelines of the other party, and was informed that he was elected at the beginning of this year and was invited to attend the certificate awarding ceremony held in China.
Because Wang Tong has been engaged in national macroeconomic policy research for a long time, has been employed as a visiting professor by many universities at home and abroad, and has also won many awards and honors, the staff of the office "did not feel particularly surprised" when they received the invitation to participate in the evaluation of academicians of the European Academy of Natural Sciences. Through online searches and other means, they found that many experts and scholars in China have obtained this title, and some official institutions have claimed and publicized it. "We thought at the time that there should be no problem, and we really didn't think about it that much."
Nandu reporters inquired and found that before May this year, a number of academic institutions did release the good news of "elected academicians of the European Academy of Natural Sciences", from well-known media in the field of science and technology to local official media and government websites, and there are also propaganda articles around the title of "new academician". In some cases, there have been cases of conflating the "European Academy of Natural Sciences" with the "European Academy of Humanities and Natural Sciences", which is a completely different academic organization.
She Moumou, a professor at Zhejiang University of Technology, was elected as an academician of the European Academy of Natural Sciences in 2022, but in some official reports and personal information about him, this identity is written as "academician of the European Academy of Humanities and Natural Sciences". Nandu reporters checked the latter's official website and did not find She's name.
According to incomplete statistics, in July 2022, Dalian University of Technology issued a message to congratulate the school's alumnus She Moumou for "being elected as an academician of the European Academy of Humanities and Natural Sciences in 2022"; In September of the same year, the Alumni Association of Wuhan Institute of Technology also mentioned She Moumou as "current academician of the European Academy of Humanities and Natural Sciences" in the "Alumni Deeds" column on the official website; In November of that year, She Moumou was hired as a distinguished professor at South-Central University for Nationalities, and his title was also written as "Academician of the European Academy of Humanities and Natural Sciences" in the official website.
In the past two years, She Moumou has gone to Shaanxi, Hubei, Chongqing, Guangdong and other places to give lectures and carry out guidance on the application of the National Science Foundation, etc., and the same statement has also appeared in the activity reports of these schools.
On May 9, a reporter from Nandu contacted the host department of one of the academic exchange activities, and one of the colleges replied on the phone: "We asked (She Moumou) not to see that he is an academician of the European Academy of Humanities, but to understand that he is more influential in the field of food safety, and he is also very experienced in how to write the application materials for the national fund." ”
When a reporter from Nandu reminded that the previous news report had written the wrong title of academician for She Moumou, the leader said: "Then we will correct it." He added that title controversy aside, She's "academic level is still very high."
On the 10th, on the official account of Zhejiang University of Technology, where She Moumou worked, his "wrong version of his profile" could still be retrieved. On the same day, the school's propaganda department responded to the reporter from Nandu that it had informed She's department of the situation.
The "foreign academician" whose gold content has been questioned
There are many institutions of foreign academies of science, which often makes it difficult to discern their "gold content".
The European Academy of Humanities and Natural Sciences (Academia Europaea) mentioned above is an international scientific organization including Eastern and Western European countries, which is headquartered in London, England, and was founded in 1988 by the European ministers of science. In the scientific advisory mechanism created by the European Commission, the Academy is the official adviser of the European Union.
The selection process for candidates for membership of the European Academy of Humanities and Natural Sciences is rigorous. Candidates are first recommended to the Ministry of Science by academicians from different countries, and after the preliminary review by the Division, they are recommended to the Nomination Committee for correspondence review, and finally approved by the special committee of the European Academy of Sciences.
In April this year, Wang Hui, a professor at Tsinghua University's School of Humanities, was elected a member of the European Academy of Humanities and Natural Sciences. Tsinghua News wrote, "The academicians of the academy are mainly selected from academicians from European countries, and the pass rate of foreign academicians does not exceed 5%, which is a high international academic honor." Since its inception, nearly 5,500 Fellows (MAEs) have been elected, including nearly 90 Nobel laureates. ”
Similar to the controversy faced by the European Academy of Natural Sciences, there were also bloggers on Station B who previously posted videos questioning the selection criteria for academicians of the Russian Academy of Engineering, believing that "there is a lack of excellent scientific achievements". Ding Moumou, who was questioned, is the chairman of a technology company.
Nandu reporters inquired and found that in the "academic achievements" column of Ding's introduction, only in December 2008 he won the national award for introducing foreign intellectual contributions.
According to public information, on December 24, 1991, the "Russian Academy of Engineering" was registered as an all-Russian public organization by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. The highest academic institution in the Russian Federation is the Russian Academy of Sciences, founded in St. Petersburg in 1724 as the leading center for basic research in the natural and social sciences throughout Russia.
The difference in the selection threshold and criteria makes "applying for foreign academicians" a gray business.
Many "study abroad agents" list recommended foreign academician institutions on the Internet, including the European Academy of Engineering, the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, the Ukrainian National Academy of Engineering, etc., and the application fees range from hundreds of thousands of yuan to millions of yuan.
Wu Jihua told the reporter that the European Academy of Natural Sciences has set up an application email on its official website, and applicants are required to submit relevant self-certification documents by themselves, and it will take about "six to eight months" from application to confirmation of the selection results.
The admission application from the Department of Biotechnology and Natural Medicine of the European Academy of Natural Sciences shows that applicants must have at least a higher education degree, and a college degree can be considered for individual majors (such as traditional medicine), and special consideration can be given to monographs, patents, etc.
In addition, applicants need to be recommended by three members of the European Academy of Natural Sciences, and must have a certificate of employment and a letter of recommendation from their current employer. Applicants should sign the application form in Chinese, English and other languages. The department can provide a sample application.
As far as Wu Jihua knows, many agents will get stuck in time to promise applicants, "If there is no result in six months, they will be refunded." Wu Jihua denied that "the Academy of Sciences took the initiative to invite scholars to apply for academicians", and also said that the Academy of Sciences and intermediaries had no contact.
Anxiety and excessive "magicalization"
In this questioning, "foreign academicians" released a kind of anxiety - it not only represents honor, but also may become a bargaining chip to obtain academic resources and make money for fame.
The mainland has promoted the construction of academician and expert workstations, and various localities have also issued corresponding management measures to support it.
The reporter from Nandu found that some places clearly only open applications to academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, while some places also allow academicians of the Academy of Foreign Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering to apply in addition to academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. However, there is no unified standard for which foreign academic institutions are included.
Taking the Yunnan Provincial Academician Expert Workstation Management Measures as an example, the academicians who establish the academician workstation should be academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering; Winner of the Nobel Prize, Turing Award, Fields Medal, etc.; Academicians of the Academy of Surgeons and the Academy of Engineering (other categories of academicians shall be submitted to the Management Committee for deliberation).
In order to encourage station building units, Yunnan provides service guarantee and carries out collaborative innovation work according to the principle of "government guidance, market entities, and combination of production, education and research", with workstations as the carrier, and in accordance with the model of "1+4" (that is, for an academician and expert, supporting "a learning service team, a demonstration base, an apartment, and a scientific research fund").
Anhui Province will give 1 million yuan to the new registration and filing academician workstation. The subsidy funds are generally allocated to the contractor in three years in the proportion of 40%, 30% and 30%. At the expiration of the validity period, the comprehensive performance evaluation grade is an excellent academician workstation, and a one-time reward of 800,000 yuan will be given.
Unlike Yunnan, Anhui has published a list of major scientific and technological developed countries and academies of sciences and engineering, including the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Academy of Humanities and Sciences, the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the German National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Science and Engineering, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Engineering, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Japanese Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Engineering, etc. The Russian Academy of Engineering, which has raised doubts, is also among them.
In addition, in the introduction of talents, in addition to academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, some colleges and universities have also thrown olive branches to academicians from abroad (territory).
According to the 2023 talent introduction notice of the National University of Defense Technology, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, or experts elected as academicians of developed countries can apply for leading talents in science and technology, and the school will give a maximum of 1 million yuan in settling-in subsidies and a maximum of 5 million yuan in scientific research start-up fees.
In February this year, Qingdao University of Science and Technology also issued a document to introduce academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences or talents at the same level outside the country (territory). "According to the specific situation, a case-by-case approach will be adopted, and special policies will be given in terms of salary, housing, scientific research funds, spouse work arrangements, academic team building, etc. Working hours can be divided (3 months, 6 months or more) and full-time. ”
Nandu reporters found that some experts and scholars have indeed set up workstations after winning the title of academician of the European Academy of Natural Sciences.
In April this year, the Institute of Xi'an Medical College of the European Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine and the workstation of an academician surnamed Jiao of the European Academy of Natural Sciences were established and unveiled. According to the relevant article, the establishment of the academician workstation has injected new impetus into the technical leading role of academicians and experts in Xi'an Medical College, cultivating an "industry-university-research" innovation team, carrying out close cooperation between "industry-university-research", promoting the strategy of strengthening the school with talents, building a high-level characteristic school, and achieving high-quality development.
Professor Jiao pointed out that the Institute of Xi'an Medical College of the European Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine is the first establishment of the European Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China, and hopes that the establishment of the Institute can promote the school to achieve new breakthroughs in medical research and teaching, talent training and other aspects, and cultivate more Chinese medicine professionals for the motherland.
Behind the "blowout of foreign academicians", some scholars have pointed out that the title of academician has been excessively "magicalized".
In a 2013 paper, two scholars from the University of Science and Technology of China pointed out that "historical experience has repeatedly proven that morality and self-discipline alone are not enough." A good scientific system and institutional design are the driving force for the continuous stimulation of the growth of scientific knowledge. The rational positioning and reasonable publicity of the title of academician will help motivate the scientists who are elected as academicians to continue to contribute, which is the institutional guarantee for the sustainable development of science. ”
In 2021, a professor at the Institute of History of Science and Science Culture at Shanghai Jiao Tong University pointed out that "as a reward system, the ultimate purpose of the academician title is to promote the production and growth of knowledge, and at the same time, as a social institution, we also hope that the academician system will be fruitful compared with similar systems in other countries, which is also the basic condition that must be met to achieve leapfrog development and catch-up strategy, otherwise it must be reformed." ”
On May 10, the China Development Research Institute removed Wang Tong's photo of the European Academy of Natural Sciences' award from the homepage of the academy's official website. On the same day, the European Academy of Natural Sciences also removed the "Academician Electronic Encyclopedia" from its official website.
Wu Jihua told reporters from Nandu that the "Academician Electronic Encyclopedia" is only a public page for academician candidates, "after an individual is determined to be rated as an academician, we will provide me with a certificate, and the number and date will be displayed on the certificate."
In the interview, Wu Jihua stressed to the reporter that the European Academy of Natural Sciences will not give money to the academicians, nor will they give them privileges, saying, "First, there is no salary increase, second, there is no housing allowance, and third, there is no priority to publish papers and take scientific research projects."