Doctors fake articles in British journal

As many as 41 of the articles were written by doctors who worked in Chinese hospitals including the highly-respected Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Shanghai Chest Hospital, People's Liberation Army 452 Hospital and Shanghai East Hospital.

According to the UK's Committee on Publication Ethics, the authors used the services of agents involved in "selling pre-written manuscripts to fabricate contact details for peer reviewers."

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An associate chief physician of Hangzhou First People's Hospital, Yang Jianmin, admitted paying $3,200 to an agency to get an article written and published.

He stated that having a large number of surgeries meant little time for research which would affect his chances of promotion if he did not have articles published in respected medical journals.

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According to a survey of 1,920 doctors carried out by Zhengzhou-based newspaper Orient Today, 80 per cent believe that fabrication of research and peer reviews is a major issue.