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Regarding the incident of "Faculty and staff were reported by Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and retracted 8 papers after the author of the fictitious paper", on July 18, Jiangnan University responded to Peng Mei Technology, saying that the school had submitted the investigation report to the National Natural Science Foundation of China ; All units of the school have carefully carried out self-examination, and no similar situation has been found.

What will happen to those involved? Relevant scientific research funds were recovered?

On the 18th, the person in charge of the relevant department of Jiangnan University told Peng Mei Technology that Zhang Cong, the faculty member involved, had resigned and "is not one of us anymore"; the National Natural Science Foundation of China has now made a decision to deal with the incident.

However, the person in charge said that the relevant handling decisions are in the hands of relevant personnel of the school's academic committee, and he does not have control.

In response to this incident, on the 18th, the staff of the Propaganda Department of the National Natural Science Foundation of China told The Paper that they have not been informed of the relevant situation yet. Generally speaking, functional departments handle similar incidents, and if the results of the processing are deemed acceptable by relevant leaders, they will be announced on the official website of the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

In 2019, Jiangnan University, as the supporting unit, and Zhang Cong, as the project leader, received 250,000 yuan from the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

According to a previous report by The Paper, the relevant webpage of the National Natural Science Foundation of China shows that in 2019, Jiangnan University, as the supporting unit, and Zhang Cong, as the project leader, received 250,000 yuan in funding. The project name is "Hybrid fiber self-compacting concrete tunnel segment fire high temperature Burst mechanism and mechanical property degradation law research". The acknowledgments of the eight involved papers all mentioned that the relevant research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51908247) and the Open Project of Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Environmental Disaster and Structural Reliability in Civil Engineering (KFJJ202007).

Jiangnan University’s reply letter stated that the time when the school became aware of the above-mentioned academic misconduct was April 17, 2023. The school received the National Natural Science Foundation of China’s four papers marking Zhang Cong’s funded youth science fund project as suspected scientific research. Inappropriate letter, followed by an investigation. But in February 2023, Zhang Cong resigned from the School of Environment and Civil Engineering of the school. On April 26, Zhang Cong's current unit reported that he had contacted the relevant journals and withdrew his paper. After verification, Zhang Cong made up the fact that Toshiyuki Bangi of Nanyang Technological University was the author of the four papers. " The school formed an investigation report and submitted it to the National Natural Science Foundation of China. "

Why Jiangnan University checked 4 papers as "true", but 8 papers were withdrawn?

The above-mentioned head of the relevant department of Jiangnan University responded to Peng Mei Technology, saying that the previous letter from the National Natural Science Foundation of China to Jiangnan University only mentioned 4 problematic papers ; in addition, Zhang Cong has resigned.

According to a previous report by The Paper, as of June 27, 2023, three international academic journals have published identical retraction statements online, and eight papers have been withdrawn. The retraction statement stated that because the paper involved fabricated a signed author who did not actually exist—Toshiyuki Bangi, a researcher at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, the editorial department of the relevant journal received a complaint from the Research Integrity Department of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. The paper involved was withdrawn. The corresponding authors of the papers involved are all Zhang Cong, and their signature unit is the School of Environment and Civil Engineering of Jiangnan University.

The aforementioned reply letter from Jiangnan University stated that for a long time, Jiangnan University has attached great importance to academic integrity education and has zero tolerance for various academic misconduct.

According to the official website of Jiangnan University, Jiangnan University is directly under the Ministry of Education, a national "211 Project" key construction university and a "Double First-Class" construction university. It has achieved excellent results in the latest round of national first-level discipline evaluation organized by the Ministry of Education.