The Chinese Academy of Sciences stopped using CNKI because of high costs? On the 18th, the library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and HowNet responded to this with their own opinions.
Recently, a news that the Chinese Academy of Sciences stopped using the China HowNet spread on the Internet. On April 8, the document and information center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced that tongfangzhiwang Technology Co., Ltd. (CNKI database publisher) suspended the access of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to the CNKI database, from now on, the CNKI scientific and technological journals and doctoral and master’s degree thesis database cannot be downloaded.
Screenshot of network transmission
Subsequently, the topic was posted on the Internet, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences responded to the deactivation of the HowNet and other topics, which were posted on the microblog hot search, triggering a great discussion among netizens.
both parties hold their own words
CAS response: true; HowNet response: untrue
The above notice mentioned that “in 2021, the total subscription cost of CAS group’s China HowNet database has reached the level of tens of millions, and the high subscription cost has become a ‘Big Mac’ in the introduction of CAS group resources.” In 2022, the two sides had an active discussion on the cost and ordering mode. However, after several rounds of arduous negotiations, HowNet still insisted on the renewal cost of nearly 10 million. The group group scheme given by HowNet was quite demanding in terms of the number of members and the price of each family.
According to the report of Red Star News on the 18th , the relevant person in charge of the library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said that the suspension news was true. “It has been out of service since the 20th and can still be used now. Because the Academy of Sciences has not reached a unified procurement cooperation with CNKI. Now Wanfang and VIP have been opened, which can be replaced.” According to the Red Star capital Bureau, the reporter confirmed the matter from a number of insiders of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on the 17th.
on the same day, HowNet responded that the above news was “untrue” in addition, Zhongxin Jingwei called the official website of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the literature and information center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences respectively, and their staff said they were not clear about the matter and were not responsible for relevant business.
HowNet has been boycotted by colleges and universities for frequent price increases
Previously, HowNet was boycotted by colleges and universities due to frequent price increases.
According to Red Star News, in the 10 years from 2012 to 2021, at least six colleges and universities announced that they would suspend the use of HowNet, all because the increase of HowNet was too high. However, after being out of service for a period of time, due to the uniqueness of HowNet database resource content and the one-stop search of its resource integration, it is difficult to realize in other databases. Most colleges and universities continue to cooperate with HowNet under various pressures.
HowNet Homepage
In addition to being sued frequently for the rise in the price of papers, the author has also been sued by the intellectual network of colleges and universities.
In December 2021, “HowNet recorded the 90 year old professor’s thesis without authorization and compensated more than 700000” also triggered a heated debate in public opinion it is reported that CNKI collected more than 100 papers by Zhao Dexin, a retired professor of Zhongnan University of economics and law, without authorization. Zhao Dexin didn’t get a penny of the manuscript fee and had to pay for his own download. Zhao Dexin finally won all the lawsuits and won a total compensation of more than 700000 yuan.
After the fermentation of the event, the media and academic circles unanimously criticized the monopoly business model of HowNet.
On April 18, Professor Zhao Dexin said again: “after HowNet issued an explanation and apologized to me, he never discussed with me about putting the paper on the shelf.” More than four months have passed since HowNet made a public apology, and more than 100 papers of Professor Zhao Dexin that were taken off the shelf are still not found on HowNet.
HowNet how to collect money
When it comes to HowNet, many people’s first reaction is two words – thesis. In public cognition, HowNet has complete knowledge resources and powerful service functions, and its massive literature data has become a “necessity” for paper writing.
From the undergraduate stage, students need to read a large number of relevant subject papers to write courses or dissertation and do literature review. Browsing and downloading papers on HowNet is an inseparable link in the process of collecting data.
However, the vast majority of college teachers and students do not feel obvious about the “charging for downloading papers” on HowNet. This is not that HowNet did not charge them, but that major universities and scientific research institutes directly paid the subscription fee to HowNet.
According to the 2020 annual report published by Tsinghua Tongfang Co.Ltd(600100) public, tongfangzhiwang’s main business income exceeded 1.1 billion yuan, net profit exceeded 190 million yuan and gross profit rate reached 53.93%.
Tsinghua Tongfang Co.Ltd(600100) public screenshot of 2020 Annual Report
But in sharp contrast to the high profit, it is the author’s meager income. According to Xinhua Daily Telegraph, when the doctoral thesis and master’s thesis are published on HowNet, the author himself can only get 100 yuan in cash and 400 yuan of search and reading card as remuneration. However, every time the author’s paper is downloaded on HowNet, the platform will charge 15 yuan / copy or even 25 yuan / copy.
Zhang Hongbo, director general of China Copyright Association, also said in an interview earlier that according to his understanding, HowNet generally pays a certain fee to cooperative journals. “This includes two parts, one is because journals provide digital resources, and the other is the cost to authors. But compared with the amount of profits made by HowNet, this is too small.”
“For a large number of journals, especially many academic journals, the fee that HowNet really pays to authors is not high. Some journals can only get two or three thousand yuan a year. If it is shared with all the authors of the journal this year, how can we share such a small amount of money?” Zhang Hongbo felt that such an amount was not enough to identify it as the “copyright fee paid by HowNet”.
is suspected of industry monopoly
Is CNKI suspected of industry monopoly? According to Wuhan Evening News, on March 9, the first antitrust Department of the State Administration of market supervision said in an online message: “the State Administration of market supervision is verifying and studying.”
Sun Jin, a professor at the Law School of Wuhan University, said in an interview: “the anti-monopoly law is a very professional and important law. Only the anti-monopoly law enforcement agency or judicial organ can judge whether the HowNet constitutes a monopoly. The law enforcement or judicial authorities should follow three steps when making judgments: the first step is to define the relevant market; The second step is to determine whether it has a dominant market position; The third step is to determine whether it abuses its dominant market position.
Another expert said: “having a dominant market position itself is legal, and only the abuse of this position may violate the anti-monopoly law”. Whether HowNet is suspected of industrial monopoly generally takes a long time to investigate.
