Northwest University investigates professor for alleged plagiarism

Northwest University announced on Thursday that it has set up a working group to investigate allegations of academic misconduct involving a faculty member from the university.

In a notice published on its official website, the university said the working group will look into claims that a teacher surnamed Jia may have engaged in plagiarism in academic papers.

The faculty member is widely believed to be Jia Qianqian, an associate professor at the College of Liberal Arts and a member of the Shaanxi Provincial Youth Literature Association. She is also the daughter of the renowned Chinese writer Jia Pingwa.

The controversy surfaced recently after a blogger alleged that a paper published by Jia in July 2014 contained material suspected of being plagiarized from works by four different authors, according to a report by Xiaoxiang Morning Herald, a news outlet based in Hunan province.

In its statement, the university stressed that it maintains a "zero-tolerance" stance toward academic misconduct, adding that any violations, once confirmed, would be dealt with seriously in accordance with relevant regulations to safeguard academic integrity and uphold a sound scholarly environment.