z-bio 2025-10-30 2877

　　When submitting papers to academic journals while studying for undergraduate or master's degrees, they often encounter hidden "academic qualification thresholds" - either they are told that undergraduates or master's students will not be accepted as first authors, or they are asked to change the first author to a supervisor after the quality of the paper is recognized. Some students bluntly said, “Master’s students don’t even dare to think about writing a solo work.” Others were temporarily asked to adjust the order of author signatures when the manuscript was ready for proofreading.

　　This kind of situation is not an isolated case. Some journals even clearly stipulate that the first author must be a doctoral student or someone who has received a doctoral degree. One journal even directly stated that it "does not publish master's papers, regardless of the number of signatures."

　　Journals need to cope with evaluation pressure. Core journals, EI and other retrieval systems affect the journal's ideas. EI selection needs to consider indicators such as journal citation rate; in order to increase the impact factor, journals are more willing to publish articles by senior scholars - such results have a higher citation rate and can also enhance the reputation of the journal. A survey by the Book and Newspaper Information Center of Renmin University of China shows that among 165 well-known journals, 101 have not published a single doctoral or master's degree paper from 2022 to 2024.

　　"The teacher's name is a work" is not a good interpretation

　　The one-size-fits-all rule of "rejecting only one work for a bachelor's degree or a master's degree" has given rise to the helpless choice of "one work under the name of the tutor", but this violates the basic principle of "signature according to contribution".

　　The policy level has long been clear against naming: the 2019 documents of the two offices require that "it is opposed to the naming of persons without substantial contributions, and tutors shall not infringe on the rights and interests of students"; in 2022, eight ministries and commissions proposed to break the "circle" culture and prohibit tutors from naming students' independent achievements; in 2024, "Tianfu New Theory" even reminded that "it is not recommended for master's and doctoral students to have their tutors name one work, and those who have made substantial contributions can be credited with two works."

　　Exploration of the “One Work + Communication” Model

　　In order to balance the rights and interests of students and the needs of journals, Liu Ning, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, suggested that journals in the humanities and social sciences should learn from the "first author + corresponding author" model in science and engineering, allowing students to be the first author (reflecting the main contribution) and the tutor to be the corresponding author (responsible for communication, guidance and financial support).

　　Currently, this model is commonly used in the field of natural sciences, but in the humanities and social sciences, due to the emphasis on personal reflection and simple division of labor, there are fewer corresponding authors. To implement this model, two prerequisites need to be met: first, the tutor has made substantial contributions, and second, the humanities and social sciences assessment mechanism recognizes the value of the corresponding author. However, whether this model will give rise to new signature issues still needs further discussion.

　　The core of paper evaluation should be quality rather than the author’s academic qualifications. Only by breaking the “academic qualifications only” filter can more valuable research results stand out.