For a scholar, having one’s manuscript being rejected was nothing unusual.
Regardless of the scholar’s reputation or past achievements, if the paper didn’t meet the requirements of publication, it would be rejected at any stage of the review process.
However, it was uncommon for a published paper to be withdrawn.
For papers that had already been published, withdrawing that paper was a huge blow to the credibility of the journal. Because that implied that there was a major publication error.
Therefore, generally speaking, journals were extremely cautious about withdrawing published papers, unless there was serious academic fraud that occurred.
Back in the day, the Nobel Prize-level academic fraud caused by Haruko Obokata shocked the biology field. The academic community had determined that her experimental results were altered. The Japanese Institute of Physical and Chemical Research could not withstand the pressure from the public. After they asked Haruko Obokata for permission to withdraw the paper on STAP cells, they asked Nature to withdraw the controversial manuscript.
Even though the biological field was different from the integrated circuit design field, the thesis being withdrawn immediately after the IEEE conference was a bit unusual.
Not only did Lu Zhou have his paper being rejected, but his paper was also now withdrawn. He felt like he had experienced everything he could as an academic scholar.
But then again, this was his first time submitting a paper to the IEEE journal. Also, the paper was in the electrical engineering field, not exactly his area of specialty. He had received emails from top engineering journals, asking him to submit his research on fusion energy. However, due to the sensitive nature of the technology, he politely declined.
He would have never imagined his first submission on IEEE to be withdrawn, based on the absurd reasons that it was “academic fraud” and “falsification of experimental data”.
After Lu Zhou read the withdrawal notice from IEEE, he was baffled.
Jesus Christ, do you guys really think I’m the type of person to publish fake experimental data?
He wasn’t sure how much influence the IEEE conference had on the industry. What baffled him was because he felt like the academic world was becoming more and more contaminated.
Back when the United States and the Soviet Union were in an arms race, the academic environment wasn’t like this at all…
Chen Yushan said, “I heard your paper was withdrawn?”
She was sitting on the sofa in the Institute for Advanced Study dean office, and she had a smirk on her face when she spoke.
Lu Zhou looked at her gloating smile and sighed. “Do you really have to gloat that hard?”
“What do you mean? I’m not gloating. It’s just rare to see you take a loss.”
Lu Zhou said, “Not exactly taking a loss. It’s just an unfortunate situation.”
Chen Yushan: “Did they ask you to revise the paper or anything?”
“In the withdrawal notice, they politely told me that some of the experimental data looks a little ‘exaggerated’ and told me to modify it. However, they didn’t even tell me which part looked exaggerated. I am certain they didn’t do verification experiments because they don’t have the means to.”
Chen Yushan curiously asked, “Then, do you plan on modifying it?”
“Modify it?” Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Why would I modify something that is correct?”
Cooperating with reviewers’ opinions to revise obvious errors was one thing, but this was equivalent to slander.
Chen Yushan looked at Lu Zhou and smirked.
“No wonder you’re a top scholar, that sentence is quotable.”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “What does this have to do with being a top scholar?”
“Of course it does! Think about it, the students who dare to argue with the teachers are all top scholars. The noob researcher wouldn’t dare to question the teachers.”
Lu Zhou sighed and said, “So you’re saying the IEEE is a teacher? I don’t think they’re even qualified enough to call them that.”
“Just an example…” Chen Yushan rolled her eyes and suddenly said, “Speaking of which, have you ever thought about creating a journal yourself?”
Lu Zhou nodded and said, “I was talking with the Huawei CEO about this yesterday.”
Actually, the Huawei CEO wasn’t the only one he talked to about this problem. A bunch of his friends in the Chinese academic community had mentioned this to him. However, Lu Zhou always thought it would be too troublesome.
After all, in his opinion, the journal itself wasn’t important. What was important was the paper itself. If the research was sophisticated enough, it would attract people’s attention even if it was only uploaded on arXiv.
On the other hand, insignificant research papers would require a well-known journal to prove its value.
But now, it seemed like his ideas were too optimistic.
Even though journals were just a platform for publishing academic research, it still had a certain amount of censorship. Even if these restrictions and censorship were not manifested under normal circumstances, it was clear that IEEE had crossed this line.
Maybe I should really think about starting my own academic journal.
“Wang Zhengfei talked to you about this?” Chen Yushan said with a surprised look on her face. She curiously asked, “What did he say?”
Lu Zhou thought about it and said, “He said that carbon-based chips are something we made ourselves and that it is difficult for others to review the manuscripts. Right now the international community has not done any research in this area beyond the theoretical level. It would be difficult for them to review the paper.”
Chen Yushan nodded and said, “I agree… What do you think?”
“I think he makes sense.”
Lu Zhou paused and smiled as he said, “I was thinking, the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study has been established for a long time, and it still doesn’t have a journal.
“I plan on setting up a science journal in the name of the Institute for Advanced Study… Of course, people outside of the institute can also submit theses, but we have to do the review ourselves.”
Chen Yushan: “Do you need my help?”
“Of course, I don’t understand this stuff, I can temporarily take on the editor-in-chief role, but you have to help with the specifics of the journal establishment.”
Chen Yushan smirked.
“Piece of cake, I’ll handle it.”
She suddenly remembered something important, so she spoke.
“Oh yeah, by the way, what do you want to name this journal?”
Lu Zhou spent a couple of seconds thinking before speaking, “Just call it…
“Future.”