Recent developments have emerged regarding the academic plagiarism case of Jia Qianqian, the daughter of Shaanxi writer Jia Pingwa. On July 15, Northwestern University announced that several of her academic papers were found to have plagiarized content. As a result, her master’s degree and associate professor title have been revoked, and her employment has been terminated.
According to the announcement on July 15 by Northwestern University, Jia Qianqian, as the first author, has publicly published a total of 16 academic papers, out of which 9 were found to have multiple instances of duplicated paragraphs and sentences from previously published works without proper citation. Additionally, 6 papers showed individual text duplication and improper citation of references.
The announcement stated that the main viewpoints, arguments, and conclusions in Jia Qianqian’s master’s thesis overlapped with works that had already been published by others. After review by the academic committee of Shaanxi Normal University, it was determined that plagiarism had occurred, leading to the revocation of her master’s degree. Furthermore, her associate professor title and teaching qualifications were also revoked. Her resignation application was accepted, and her employment relationship was terminated. Relevant authorities will take appropriate actions against those responsible according to regulations.
Jia Qianqian is an associate professor at the School of Literature at Northwestern University and also serves as the Vice Chairman of the Shaanxi Provincial Youth Literature Association. In mid-March this year, a blogger named “Forest of Emotions” made a series of posts on social media accusing Jia Qianqian of plagiarizing articles previously published by various authors.
On July 13, Renmin University of China also announced that Chinese young writer Jiang Fangzhou, who was similarly accused of plagiarism, was found to have committed academic misconduct, leading to the revocation of his master’s degree.