Following the case of 55 male patients with uterine fibroids in a nurse’s thesis at Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, the national-level journal “Chinese Medical Guide” was exposed to male cases in gynecology papers. The journal later issued an apology, dismissed the editor involved, and sparked online attention.
According to reports from The Paper, gynecological papers containing male cases were found online, with two articles published in the “Chinese Medical Guide” journal.
One article, titled “Effect of Laparoscopic Radical Hysterectomy Combined with Ovarian Displacement and Vaginal Lengthening on the Quality of Sexual Life and Endocrine Levels of Patients,” was authored by Zhi Xiufeng, a gynecology outpatient clinic doctor at Chaoyang City Central Hospital in Liaoning Province. It was published in the “Chinese Medical Guide” journal in September 2015. On May 5th, The Paper made several phone calls to the gynecology department and office of Chaoyang City Central Hospital but did not get through.
Another article, “Analysis of the Significance of Nursing Intervention in Preventing Amniotic Embolism in High-Risk Pregnant Women,” was authored by Wang Zhonghong from the Obstetrics Department of Fushun City Central Hospital. It was published in the “Chinese Medical Guide” journal in February 2018. On May 5th, Wang Zhonghong told the media that the male cases in the article were due to a mistake, “They made a mistake, it should have been a female, but it was written as male. They sent it to me after publication, but I didn’t verify it. She will contact the publisher to discuss this issue.
Screenshots circulating online show that Wang Zhonghong’s paper mentioned selecting 140 high-risk pregnant women with amniotic embolism treated at the hospital from September 2014 to September 2017, where the experimental group had 31 female patients and 34 male patients… while the control group had 32 female patients and 33 male patients, with the youngest patient being 28 years old and the oldest 48 years old.
According to online reports, there are four implicated papers published in the “Chinese Medical Guide,” including the mentioned two articles and two additional ones: “Clinical Characteristics and Therapeutic Effects Observation of Conservative Laparoscopic Surgery for Uterine Adenomyoma,” authored by Meng Lili from Haicheng City Central Hospital’s Obstetrics Department, published in June 2018.
The paper mentioned, dividing 60 uterine fibroid patients receiving treatment into two groups, each with 30 cases, where the experimental group had 18 male patients and 12 female patients; the control group had 20 male patients and 10 female patients.
Another paper, “Nursing Experience on the Treatment Compliance and Quality of Life of Prostate Patients,” was authored by Wang Yuyan from the Urology Department of Dandong City Hospital, published in May 2019.
Among other things mentioned, 52 patients with prostatitis were selected and divided into two groups of 26 based on different nursing methods. In the experimental group, the ratio of male to female patients was 14:12; in the reference group, it was 16:10.
According to a report from the”Modern Express,” a netizen named “@Li Dahai” recently reflected that he found more than 30 medical papers on the internet that were absurd and suspected of academic fraud. For example, in gynecology-related papers on uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts, amniotic embolism, etc., there were numerous male patients. The authors of these “problematic papers” are from hospitals in several provinces like Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Fujian, including rural health centers and tertiary hospitals like Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated People’s Hospital, Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Second Affiliated Hospital.
On May 6th, the “Chinese Medical Guide” issued a statement stating that the occurrence of academic misconduct was due to loopholes in the review process, where reviewers had not conducted a rigorous and detailed examination of the content, failing to promptly identify the errors. Some editors and reviewers lacked a sense of responsibility and did not strictly adhere to the standards and requirements of academic publishing during their work.
The statement mentioned that the editor involved had been dismissed, offering sincere apologies to readers, authors, and the academic community.
Founded in 2003, the “Chinese Medical Guide” is a national comprehensive medical academic journal sponsored by the China Health Care Association.
This incident has sparked heated debates on the internet.
Netizens questioned, “The editors are held accountable, but what about the authors?” “It’s not just about lax reviewing; the real issue lies with the writers, right?” “Domestic medical journals are quite loose, it’s all about doing business, paying to get published. Strict measures should be taken against academic journals charging authors for publication, cutting off the profit chain of paper publishing, and allowing claims for wasted academic resources due to fake papers.”
Tech blogger and Weibo influencer “Zhuang Jianjian” stated, “While the editors have made mistakes in lax reviewing, shouldn’t the blame be more on the authors of the papers? It’s like a chef poisoning the food, and the waiters, unaware of the situation, serve the poisoned food. Whose responsibility is greater here?
“No matter who poisoned it, just firing the waiters seems to misplace the blame. Who wrote it? Who were the supervisors? In a gynecology paper with male cases, the writer thought it was normal, the supervisor also saw no issue, and it went all the way to the editor and got published. Isn’t it absurd?
“It seems it’s not just specific hospitals; these issues are everywhere.”