Northwest University strips teacher of title, qualifications over plagiarism

A teacher surnamed Jia had her master's degree revoked and was stripped of her associate professor title and teaching qualifications following findings of plagiarism in her thesis, according to a notice released by Northwest University on Wednesday.

The university did not specify the teacher's full name, but she is widely believed to be Jia Qianqian, the daughter of renowned Chinese writer Jia Pingwa.

According to a notice released on the university's official website, an investigation found that Jia had published 16 academic papers as the first author. Nine of them were found to contain multiple duplicated paragraphs and sentences from previously published works by others with no sources cited or proper attribution provided, including one case of duplicate publication. Six papers were found to contain isolated textual overlaps or irregular citation practices, while one paper showed no problems with citation or attribution.

The university said its academic committee determined that plagiarism had occurred and that the allegations of academic misconduct were substantiated. It found Jia's master's thesis to contain overlaps with previously published books and papers by other authors in terms of key arguments, evidence, and conclusions.

The academic committee of Shaanxi Normal University, which had awarded Jia her master's degree, reviewed the case and confirmed the plagiarism findings. As a result, the university revoked her degree in accordance with relevant regulations.

Northwest University said it had approved Jia's resignation request and terminated her employment.

Hu Qing contributed to this story.