My "academic genius" persona is so convincing!

Chapter 50 Academic Fraud?

"I've also dabbled in environmental science."

Xue Lin truly felt that this person had immense influence, as his knowledge of architecture spanned multiple fields.

At least he admires it, whether it's the building structure, architectural design, or anything else.

This big shot's presence can be found in all of them.

"This paper..."

Xue Lin paused for a moment, then continued flipping through the entire English paper.

The more I looked at it, the more something seemed off.

"Where's the picture?"

"Where's the architectural model?"

This is a paper on building energy conservation; how could it not include diagrams and models?

Two key models are missing.

He originally planned to just look at the picture and then scan it.

So, I didn't see the image?

"Never mind, let's look at the contents."

Although reading entirely in English isn't difficult, it's still a bit of a hassle.

He continued browsing.

This study uses on-site building tests to measure the energy consumption, wind environment, and lighting data of building designs, and ultimately draws conclusions on energy-saving optimization.

The most important of these are the building model and the measured data.

However, there is a lack of authoritative software models for architectural models.

He continued looking at the parameters.

"These parameters are wrong too. The data comparing the building's heating and cooling energy consumption, electricity consumption, and energy consumption seems fabricated?"

"No, this is just code, isn't it? There are no corresponding source files, no software operation logs, and no parameter debugging records."

"There's nothing here, what are you going to write a paper for?"

"Furthermore, these 10 sets of control experiment data also violate basic building physics principles. These optimal energy-saving data also differ from national standards?"

He carefully reviewed the national standards, including various design parameters for modern buildings.

At least we have a clear understanding of the situation, as the core data in these papers are vastly different.

It doesn't seem like something an architecture professional could do.

"And this chart is obviously edited too. The color scheme, the numerical scales, and the color gradients are clearly manually modified. Oh, and by the way, the template was just copied directly."

"And this actual data—there's no sampling or sample analysis at all? Are these percentages all fabricated?"

"At least be somewhat reliable."

Xue Lin was speechless for a moment and remained silent.

He glanced at the authorship of the paper; the first author was not Chen Jin, but one of his doctoral students.

Chen Jin, as the corresponding author, did not make any changes to this paper.

Or perhaps they didn't even read the paper carefully before publishing it?

Just by adding a name, it's published?

That architecture journal is really a makeshift operation, and yet it's a top-tier international publication.

He was also somewhat helpless. He hadn't read many of the other papers; he had only flipped through a few when he discovered this.

He could only shake his head.

I read the paper again, circled all the potentially fabricated data, and raised questions about them.

He sent the email directly to Chen Hui.

I'm just offering some of my own thoughts.

He felt that Chen Hui should be able to handle it properly.

At least at this critical juncture, he couldn't directly email Chen Jinfa. He had to be careful about things like doctoral students, lest it affect someone else's graduation.

What if they were just forced to falsify data?

After all, this is a PhD student from Tsinghua University, so the pressure of graduating must be immense.

Even though they are all high achievers, they still need data.

……

Chen Hui didn't see the email until evening.

"He emailed me, and with a paper no less? Does he have a new idea?"

Chen Hui opened the email with some anticipation.

"Who? A thesis from Tsinghua University?"

"Li Yuan? Isn't that the PhD student under Chen Jin at Tsinghua University?"

He had some recollection of it, after all, the top circles in architecture are only so small.

He was somewhat disappointed, because if Xue Lin had sent him some new ideas, he would have been extremely happy to do so.

But Xue Lin sending him things was definitely not without reason.

He read on carefully and then noticed some annotations circled on the paper.

"This parameter does seem to have some issues."

Chen Hui frowned slightly, but then carefully looked at the annotations Xue Lin had made to the paper.

"This paper...is Tsinghua University openly admitting to academic fraud?"

His expression changed instantly.

Although Jinling University and Tsinghua University have always been rivals, he never expected that Tsinghua University would commit academic fraud.

This is essentially unforgivable in academia.

While there are indeed some underground transactions in the academic paper industry, people at their level generally wouldn't make such basic mistakes.

After all, as long as you conduct on-site research and actually make some contributions, it won't prevent you from graduating.

However, the data in this paper is indeed abnormal, and not just in one place!

"This is a big deal. This paper was published last month? How come so many industry leaders didn't notice it?"

He frowned slightly.

This paper is published in a world-class architecture journal; while not the absolute top-tier, it is still considered a top-tier journal in architecture.

"This kid also told me to try my best not to affect this doctoral student's graduation."

"But how can academic fraud be tolerated?"

He shook his head slightly; the paper didn't even contain a model of the most basic building.

It's clear that this paper was written in a rush; otherwise, the data wouldn't have been fabricated so crudely.

"Let's investigate this privately."

Chen Hui made a phone call.

Are there any new standards for graduating with a PhD in Architecture from Tsinghua University recently?

"Yes, I heard that it's become much harder to graduate with a PhD at our school recently, and you need to publish several more papers in top journals." A professor across from me sighed softly, "The PhD students here are all rushing to do their experiments."

"Why?" Chen Hui asked, puzzled.

"The pressure is greater. We have to produce more academic results lately. After all, foreign countries are making rapid progress, and if we can't produce anything, we might be overtaken again."

"Tsinghua University's architecture program is currently ranked third in the world. To maintain this position, it naturally needs to produce more academic achievements."

……

After hanging up the phone, Chen Hui's face was gloomy.

Tsinghua University's architecture program is ranked third in the world, while Nanjing University's is ranked sixth.

Even so, Tsinghua University is still squeezing its doctoral students to produce more academic results.

He gently rubbed his temples, feeling somewhat irritated.

When did academia get into this mess?

"It's not like you can fabricate results just because you want to produce more academic output," Chen Hui said firmly. "Let's talk about this publicly."