Sociologist Jeroen Huisman, professor at Ghent University in Belgium, received an email from a representative of Zhengzhou University in China, asking if he would be interested in a stint at the university as a visiting professor. Huisman was curious and requested additional information. Much to his surprise, he received a draft contract that offered to pay him 300,000 yuan, equal to R$135,000, for producing three papers in indexed journals and declaring Zhengzhou as his home university. The contract required just two visits to Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province. He rejected the offer. “It didn’t seem illegal, but it was obviously unethical. It was merely a financial transaction,” he said. The journal Times Higher Education contacted Zhengzhou University, which declined to comment. Rui Yang, professor at the University of Hong Kong School of Education, told the journal that such contracts are common in Chinese universities and that he himself had rejected offers. “Some universities need good articles in English to earn high ratings in reviews performed in China.”
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