The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) put forward a set of new regulations on Monday that it says will strengthen scientific honesty and curb academic fraud.

The regulations instill the basic principles for scientific conduct, such as honesty, publicity and fairness.

The regulations also define scientific misconduct, detail punishment and establish a science ethics committee to supervise scientific researches to deal with misconduct.

"Strict regulations and rules will be conducive to build a harmonious scientific academy. The most important thing is for researchers to be self-disciplined," said Lu Yongxiang, president of the CAS.

A declaration on the scientific conception of development was also publicized with the new regulations. It calls for the scientific community to respect the values and spirit of science, and uphold their moral and social responsibilities.

Following a string of scandals involving academic fraud and plagiarism, China issued a set of interim regulations on scientific misconduct late last year.

A national science ethics committee and a supervision office was also established in January to prevent academic fraud and plagiarism.

(Source: Xinhua News Agency February 27, 2007)