China’s “paper mills” are selling fake authorship and fabricated data to researchers. And they’re making tens of millions of yuan in the process.

An exposé published Monday by domestic media outlet Hongxing News detailed the workings of two such fraudulent companies in southwestern China’s megacity of Chongqing from May.

To gain access, an undercover journalist posed as an “academic journal editor” and a “publication consultant” — code words for sales agents who peddle services to researchers — and found that half of all the two companies’ customers are doctors and nurses, for whom publication records directly affect promotions.

One of the companies charges between 800 and 3,000 yuan ($110 to $420) per paper and claims to handle submissions to 29 journals. Last year, it processed approximately 180,000 papers, successfully publishing 130,000, and boasted an annual revenue exceeding 80 million yuan ($11.2 million).

One “top sales” staff member reportedly handles nearly 600 orders a month, earning about 30 yuan commission per paper in addition to base pay, bringing their monthly income to around 20,000 yuan.

The other company investigated reportedly maintains partnerships with 110 journals. A single publication can be sold at up to 60,000 yuan. According to the manager, one partner journal rejects any manuscript not submitted through their agency.

The undercover journalist reported that sales performance at this company is evaluated by how many potential clients each worker adds on WeChat. They are also required to visit local hospitals to pitch their services door to door, which they term “promotion” assistance.

In addition, the company provides employees with spreadsheets listing tens of thousands of leaked personal details of doctors — including ID numbers, phone numbers, workplaces, and home addresses — to facilitate direct contact.

Neither company disclosed how they establish links with journals. 

Besides authorship, such companies also sell fake conference invitations and presentation certificates to help clients evade institutional misconduct checks.

Once an order is placed, the companies hire ghostwriters to produce the paper and fabricate data. Evolving AI technology has further facilitated the business, according to another investigation published by state-run CCTV on Monday. 

Such “paper mills” are threatening academia in numerous countries, driven by an overemphasis on quantitative metrics in academic evaluation systems, according to an investigation by science journal Nature this June.

China has intensified its attempts to crack down on research misconduct over the past two decades, announcing in 2017 that academic fraud would lead to the denial of promotions. 

In 2020, the central government announced that publication count would no longer be used as the “only” basis for promotions across the country, simultaneously ending cash rewards for published papers and instituting a three- to five-year ban on applying for national funding for researchers involved in such misconduct.

However, “paper mills” continue to operate in the shadows. In January 2025, in its latest move to counter academic fraud, China’s Supreme People’s Court issued a formal announcement urging harsher punishment of such fraudulent companies.

Editor: Marianne Gunnarsson.

(Header image: Visuals from VCG, reedited by Sixth Tone)