China To Screen COVID-19 publications In China
As per the CNN report, the Chinese government is trying to muzzle research on the origin of the novel Coronavirus.
The government has directed that all academic papers on COVID-19 be subjected to additional scrutiny before being submitted for publication.
The central government’s notice was posted online by the China University of Geoscience in Wuhan and the Fudan University in Shanghai, before deleting it. But the cached version of the notice remained in geoscience university.
The CNN report said the issue has become “politically sensitive”. There is a coordinated effort from the Chinese government to paint it as if the outbreak did not originate from China, a source told CNN.
A Hong Kong researcher who collaborated with two mainland researchers for their paper said they did not face any restrictions in February, suggesting this is a new development.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has received the publication to comment on the story.
“Academic papers about tracing the origin of the virus must be strictly and tightly managed,” said the notice from the Ministry of Education’s science and technology department, which was later removed from the web
From now on, the task force under the
State Council will evaluate the COVID-19 related publications forwarded to the ministry’s science and technology department. The papers can be sent to journals for publication only after receiving the feedback from this task force.The report added that the academic value of the study and timing of publishing will be assessed in other coronavirus and COVID-19 papers also.
David Hui Shu-cheong, a Chinese researcher who published a clinical analysis of COVID-19 cases with a team of two mainland researchers in the New England Journal of Medicine in February said there were no restrictions back then.
It is no surprise that the government seeks to control related scientific research, it will further undermine the credibility of the government narrative, making accusations of underreporting and misinformation more convincing, Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations told CNN when asked about China’s move to screen COVID-19 related publications.
According to Wang Lan, the editorial director of the Chinese Journal of Epidemiology, research papers on the coronavirus are already subjected to layers of vetting in China after they are submitted to Chinese academic journals.
