1. [para. 1] Prominent Chinese medical oncologist Xu Ruihua faces allegations of severe academic misconduct after an independent science blogger, known as Geng Tongxue, exposed duplicated images across multiple research papers, raising suspicions of involvement with illicit paper mills.
2. [para. 2] The controversy began on July 14 when Geng posted a video detailing image reuse in studies led by Xu, alleging data duplication both within individual papers and across studies published over several years.
3. [para. 3] Xu, a respected specialist in medical oncology, has served as director of the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center and president of its affiliated hospital, and was elected to the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2025.
4. [para. 4] The allegations focus on a June 2013 paper published in the Journal of Hematology & Oncology. On PubPeer, comparisons showed that Western blot bands in Figure 6A were mirrored, with identical outlines, band positions, and even background noise—an exact match deemed impossible to attribute to accidental errors.
5. [para. 5] Geng’s video highlighted that cell lines BGC-823 and SGC-7901 used in the study have been confirmed by Cellosaurus to have HeLa contamination, marking them as problematic.
6. [para. 6] Images from the 2013 paper reappeared in studies over nine years: a 2017 paper in Cell Death & Disease by Xu’s team, a May 2018 paper in the International Journal of Oncology by Li Zeng’s team at Xi’an Jiaotong University, a February 2019 paper in Cell Death & Disease by Peng Gang’s team at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and a December 2021 paper in Molecular Cancer by Xu’s team.
7. [para. 7] These studies involve multiple independent research groups at top universities. Several sets of Western blot bands, cell experiment images, and related images were reused but labeled as different experimental conditions, with modifications limited to rotation, flipping, or cropping.
8. [para. 8] Because the 2018 and 2019 papers have no overlapping authors with Xu’s team and come from independent institutions, Geng argued that internal data sharing is unlikely. A more plausible explanation is that the images came from a shared asset library operated by a third-party paper mill, which sold fabricated data to multiple buyers.
9. [para. 9] Born in February 1967 in Fengcheng, Jiangxi, Xu graduated from Jiangxi Medical College and earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in oncology at Sun Yat-sen University. He was a visiting scholar at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, focusing on digestive system tumors and earning the National Science and Technology Progress Award.
10. [para. 10] Caixin’s calls to the public relations departments of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Sun Yat-sen University went unanswered.
11. [para. 11] These allegations come amid a government crackdown on academic fraud. In February 2026, the National Health Commission launched a three-year campaign to eliminate paper mills and fake research, with penalties including a lifetime ban from state-funded research for individuals who purchase papers or fabricate data.
12. [para. 12] Since April 2026, Geng has exposed academic misconduct by several biomedical scholars. In such cases, universities typically dismiss first authors, while corresponding authors face removal from administrative posts and temporary bans on promotions or research grants.
13. [para. 13] Prior to targeting Xu, Geng raised concerns about Zhong Nanshan (Chinese Academy of Engineering) and Song Erwei (Chinese Academy of Sciences). In December 2023, Geng questioned a paper on Lianhua Qingwen by Zhong’s team for lacking a positive control group. In January 2024, Geng accused Song of image duplication in a Cell paper and questioned multiple other papers by his team.
14. [para. 14] Zhong, a respiratory disease expert, served as president of Guangzhou Medical College from 1992 to 2002 and was elected to the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 1996. Song currently serves as dean of Sun Yat-sen University’s medical school and was elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2019.
AI generated, for reference only
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