New regulation passed by the State Council will see the National Natural Science Fund gain new fund outlay oversight aiming to deter any potential fraud.

Xinhua News Agency on Monday released the full text of the regulation, following the State Council's final review after the collection of public submissions as to the management of science projects.

Composed of 43 articles ranging across seven chapters, the regulation states that anyone found guilty of embezzling or misappropriating funding will be banned forthwith from any further funding application for life. Further punitive methods will see any who falsify research banned from applying for funding for up to seven years.

The regulation, to come into effect on April 1, states that the Natural Science Fund is establish to directly assist with basic research and will be primarily funded by state financing. However, although the Natural Science Fund's budget will be centrally decided, any donations from individuals and organizations will be welcomed.

A State Council managing body will both manage and supervise sponsored projects. It will further lay out plans and guidelines for the use of funds in accordance with national economic and social development strategies. Its remit will also extend to prioritizing fields or projects to receive preferential sponsorship.

For example, special financial assistance will be attributed to training young talent in the fields of science and technology.

This move comes following a series of scandals which erupted at several of China's top universities last year, stirring up doubt as to the quality of supervision of academics at higher-learning institutions.

In May, Chen Jin, a dean at Shanghai Jiaotong University, was fired after it was discovered he had faked state-funded research on the Hanxin computer chip, while Liu Hui, of Tsinghua University, was also dismissed as professor in March for forging academic achievements and work records.

China's investment in science and technology has risen consistently in recent years, reaching an estimated 71.6 billion yuan (US$8.95 billion) in 2006, up 19.2 percent year-on-year, revealed Minister of Science and Technology Xu Guanhua last year.

The National Natural Science Fund was established in 1981 to sponsor research in critical areas. It has since gone from strength to strength aiding close to 100,000 research projects with over 20 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion) in funding.

(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2007)