In 2020, nobody was barred from applying for a master's degree or above at Tsinghua University for want of published papers, the university's president, Qiu Yong, said recently. "Even in the future, applications for an academic degree or for academic evaluation will no longer be subject to the number of papers published."

Qiu was just denoting a policy change at Tsinghua University, but the short video of his speech went viral on social networking sites, winning widespread support. It also indicates that relevant departments had asked for delinking the evaluation of scientific research papers from "published papers, titles, academic qualifications and awards".

Qiu's remarks have undoubtedly come as good news for students and teachers who were weighed down by the mandatory publication of a certain number of papers.

Master's degree students and doctoral candidates applying for degrees are supposed to be judged on the basis of their completed dissertations. They are awarded degrees if their dissertations pass peer review and they can defend them before a panel of experts. So, it is unreasonable to require them to publish a certain number of papers in designated journals before granting them a degree.

Actually, universities follow this mechanism because they rely on their master's or doctoral students to boost their academic output and reputation by doing well in evaluations organized by higher authorities. However, there is now a consensus that the practice is affecting the development of China's higher education, the reason why Qiu also stressed that universities should not delegate academic power to journal editors and reviewers.

In recent years, with published work becoming compulsory, academic journals have become a hot property for some teachers and students. And that has created room for academic frauds as some journals charge publication fees.

While academic journals should not be discredited, published papers should not be the only yardstick to judge students' or teachers' academic abilities.

It is hoped Tsinghua and other universities can take solid steps toward setting up a more open system, because this is not just about the reasonable rights and interests of teachers and students, but also about improving China's innovation ability.