The dual¹ authorship of an academic paper by an 18-year-old high school student and her monther has sparked a controversy². The papers show that the mother, a professor of Marxism at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan, is the secondary author. 

一个年仅18岁的高中生与母亲“联合发表”的学术论文在网上引发热议。身为中南财经政法大学马克思主义学院教授母亲仅是“第二作者”。

 

网民称母亲帮女儿以第一作者身份(the first author)发表论文，是为了让她获得两所当地高校的自主招生入围资格(to be qualified³ for independent recruitment in two local universities)。面对质疑，母亲辩解称，孩子出生于书香之家(was born and bred in a well-educated family)，有能力写这个文章。

 

虽不能一口断定高中生就写不出这样的论文，但公众对此事提出质疑，并掀起对学术道德的讨论（raise controversies⁴ and doubts about academic ethics⁵）也很正常。要回应质疑高校应对该学生的学术能力进行客观考核（obliged to get the student's real research capability⁶ validated⁷）。如证实造假，还应追究其母的学术不端（academic misconduct）行为。