Anna Zhao

    anna.whizh@yahoo.com

    Ghostwriting is raising concerns since it is becoming a hot service for college students who are pressed to finish their dissertations before graduation.

    Online searches with the keywords “thesis ghostwriting” returns numerous service providers, most of which disguise themselves as text services.

    A few Taobao stores boast that they have writing expertise from graduates with master’s and doctoral degrees from prestigious universities. Some even claim that they are authorized to broker thesis publication.

    A veteran ghostwriter said he had been hired to write about economics and law studies ever since he was a college student. Generally, he was paid 50 yuan (US$8) for every 1,000 characters he wrote; the market price for that many characters ranges from 180 to 200 yuan, meaning that a ghostwriting brokerage could take a 70-percent profit from such transactions.

    China National Radio’s finance channel reported on Monday that the trend is spreading overseas, where many Chinese students took the opportunity to earn money from the trade.

    An unidentified student said ghostwriting among overseas students was not a new trade, and last year a friend of his was paid by other students to write homework and dissertations during the summer vacation.

    Professional ghostwriters reached their clients through email and social media. Students enrolled in undergraduate programs overseas were the biggest source of ghostwriting business.

    Despite the fact that ghostwriting goes against academic morality (it is plagiarism), there is no law in China that forbids thesis ghostwriting. A regulation by the Ministry of Education implemented in 2013 only stipulates penalties such as suspension of conferring degrees if a student is caught.

    Lanzhou University said last week that any students in the university who are involved in the ghostwriting trade would be expelled from the university.