An empirical analysis on number and monetary value of ghostwritten papers in China

摘要

In recent years, ghostwriting phenomenon has reached a dangerous level in China, partly due to the great ease of making ghostwriting transactions through the internet. However, there has been little literature trying to answer such questions as how many ghostwritten papers are published each year and how much monetary value is generated in the ghostwriting business. In order to answer these questions, we performed an empirical analysis to find the number and monetary value of ghostwritter papers in China. Our results show that there are nearly 1800 full-time equivalent ghostwriters in China who produced nearly 8000 ghostwritten papers in 2011, which is 0.1% of the total number of papers published in the same year in the country. Furthermore, there was a total monetary value of more than 4.46 million US dollars generated in the ghostwriting business in 2011. Our estimated results will provide firm data support for policy-making related to ghostwriting.