The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) has blacklisted 13 academicians for fraud, sources with the foundation said Friday.

This is the NSFC's fourth round of "naming and shaming" of scholarly fraudsters since 2005.

The fraudulent practices included unattributed quotes, plagiarism, falsifying signatures, fabricating personal information and scientific data and violating application procedures to gain access to scientific research funds.

Ai Yong, professor from Wuhan University, and Zhang Lianshun, professor from the Civil Aviation University of China, were criticized and suspended from research funding for three years. No further details were given.

According to a regulation on scientific misconduct issued at the end of last year by the Ministry of Science and Technology, people involved in these acts will be given punishments ranging from warnings, suspension of research projects, confiscating project funding and being expelled from research organizations.

"The heaviest punishment will be disqualification from state science projects for life," said Mei Yonghong, director of the policy and regulation department of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

As the country has been advocating innovation, a series of high-profile scientific scandals at China's top universities last year raised public concern over the supervision of academic research.

In March 2006, Liu Hui, a professor at Tsinghua University, was removed from his post for fabricating his academic achievements and work experience.

(Xinhua News Agency August 4, 2007)