iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Some of the evidence the Inquiry relies upon for these conclusions, as well as a broader analysis of Nous Group and its UniForum business can be found in our submission to the same inquiry. 👇 files.parliament.nsw.gov.au/fileapi/Parl...

Screenshot of conclusion to the linked submission. The full text does not fit the alt text but here is an extract:

Through UniForum, Nous exercises an enormous influence over Australian and NSW universities. UniForum’s power lies in the appearance of facticity and objectivity that Nous has built around it, as well as in the naturalisation of efficiency as the ultimate value of university administration. Once both of those things are taken for granted, UniForum data can be left to speak for itself: the real power of their benchmarking system is that it lets Nous convince universities they need to change without ever having to make an explicit case for change. …
The success of this business is reliant on the maintenance of two key ideological premises: that efficiency is a defining quality of a well-run university; and that university governance should be driven by quantitative measures of that efficiency. The question is therefore not simply about whether UniForum is the best or most objective available way of measuring efficiency. It is about how and why university executives have so readily accepted efficiency, defined on Nous’s terms, as their central focus; and why university executives place such faith in the ability of crude quantitative benchmarks to tell them what is right or wrong with the institutions they govern. These are questions that raise as many concerns about those who run our universities and our departments of education as they do about the consultants who take their money.
…
These concerns about UniForum sit, moreover, alongside concerns about how consultants like Nous are permitted to self-manage the multitude of concerning conflicts of interest that their work generates. In the absence of any meaningful oversight of this industry, all we are left with is a ‘trust us, we are trustworthy’ model of self-oversight. ...

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

A NSW Parliamentary Inquiry has concluded that Nous Group did not give honest testimony to them about their UniForum business and suggests this may constitute contempt of Parliament. Yet another reason to get consultants out of our universities. files.parliament.nsw.gov.au/fileapi/Parl...

Extract from linked inquiry report saying:

2.76 The informed and detailed suggestions that Nous Group misled this committee, as well as a Senate Committee, are also deeply concerning. As noted above, the submission authors Drs McLellan and Chitra raised questions about whether evidence provided by Mr Orton of Nous Group is consistent with documentary records concerning university benchmarking, consulting engagements and management of conflicts of interest. On the material presented to us, we conclude that Mr Orton has not given honest evidence in his written answers to the committee. Rather, in respect of two separate matters the standards of integrity in his firm to which he has attested have been shown to be untrue by evidence subsequently provided to the committee.

2.77 The committee underscores how very seriously it, and the broader Parliament, takes any provision of misleading evidence. Such actions go to the very heart of the integrity of Parliament as an institution, and indeed, may constitute a contempt. Additionally, when any witness appears before a committee they swear to speak truthfully and are bound by this solemn undertaking. The same concerns in respect of Mr Dewar are discussed in relation to KordaMentha, below.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Thank you to @yixuanli623.bsky.social for your very generous commentary and to @metasciencejournal.bsky.social for publishing the review.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Belatedly discovering this review of my book: "McLellan synthesises the book’s critical insights by asking what kind of science is possible under contemporary bureaucratic constraints and what it would mean to reconstruct science as a site of relational, ethical, and creative vulnerability."

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Dr Lachlan Clohesy @lachlanclohesy.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Universities target individuals in redundancy processes. We've all seen it. They see some people as too difficult, too female, too diverse, too disabled, too outspoken, too union... Proud of @nteunion.bsky.social. Shame on #MacquarieUni. Solidarity Jo & Jumana! ✊ www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06...

abc.net.au

'Punched in the guts': Sacked academics take uni to Fair Work Commission

Two senior academics from Macquarie University allege they were targeted for redundancy because of their union activity.

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Kimberlé Crenshaw @kimberlecrenshaw.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

The systematic dismantling of Black Studies in the United States is mirroring a dangerous parallel in the United Kingdom, where the discipline now faces the threat of total erasure. We call upon the university management to reverse course immediately.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Sorry, still haven't gotten round to collating all these resources, but in case its of interest, here's a few more Nous reports from 2024 that ANU have just been coaxed into publishing. Safe bet these are pretty similar to the reports they selling Queen Mary around the same time.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

And a few more.... these directly part of the design for Renew ANU www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/down... www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/down... www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/down... www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/down... www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/down...

Cover of a Nous-branded report dated October 2024 and titled: "Renew ANU: Research Functions Future State Design Workshop Pre-reading"

Cover of a Nous Report from October 2024, titled: "Renew ANU: Marketing and Communications Functions Future State Design Workshop Pre-reading"

Cover of Nous report from October 2024 titled "Renew ANU: Academic Functions Future State Design Workshop Pre-reading"

Nous document titled "Project initiation documents: Australian National University Services Transformation", dated 12 September 2024

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Nous Group told the Senate they didn't work on Renew ANU until after it launched in Oct 2024. Documents released today show not only were Nous engaged earlier, their Sept 2024 deliverables included a "Communications Plan" for the cuts. www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/down... www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/down...

Screenshot of a Nous document linked in the post. It shows a "project charter" with various deliverables for Nous to deliver to ANU in later September and October

Screenshot from the linked Nous document. Page is titled "Example interview guide for Executive sponsors."

List of deliverables for Nous work on Renew ANU. These include a "Communications Plan including key messaging and communications channeles" due 27 September

Screenshot of Senate Hansard in which Nous Group's Tim Orton and Paul Taylor tell Senator David Pocock that Nous weren't involved in Renew ANU until after it launched.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

For those curious to see first hand the genius insights that universities pay Nous Group all that money for… ANU have just released some of the research that Nous produced for them in the lead up to Renew ANU www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/down... www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/down...

Cover of a Nous-branded report titled “A Winning Business Model: what it takes to achieve sustainable quality and excellence at a modern university”

Cover of a Nous-branded report titled “Understanding strategic decisions across the Australian HE Sector”

Cover of Nous-branded report titled “How does the sector achieve margin in its activities?”

Cover of Nous-branded report titled “Getting ahead of the curve: building partnerships and challenging orthodoxies”

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NTEU ACT @nteuact.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

"The former chancellor has made two significant decisions which I support: the first was to accept the resignation of the former vice-chancellor, Genevieve Bell. The second was today." @nteunion.bsky.social's @lachlanclohesy.bsky.social on #ANU.

abc.net.au

Julie Bishop bows to pressure, resigning as ANU chancellor

The former foreign minister had previously rejected calls from university staff and students to resign.

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NTEU ACT @nteuact.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Want to know what's going on at #ANU? We've got you covered. TLDR: the problem is ANU Council, not the IVC. #sackANUcouncil Join @nteunion.bsky.social today to stand up for better university governance at www.nteu.au/join. ✊️ youtu.be/Jn9DtvnjYNc

youtu.be

The problem is ANU Council, not the Interim Vice-Chancellor: here's what's going on at the ANU

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Link in my original reply👆 has only the Nous reports and a few Qs put to ANU. There’s more on Nous in the wider Federal Senate inquiry (www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentar...) and ongoing NSW inquiry (www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/committees/i...). Will try to do a proper 🧵detailing what’s there at some point…

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Australian federal and state senate inquiries have generated some useful resources on Nous, including details of how much unis pay for UniForum (and how little they understand it), and some largely underacted copies of a small number of reports Nous prepared for ANU: www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStor...

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Prof Hackett is also a former principal at Nous Group, and we all now how much they’ve done to advance higher education…

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Yet another Nous Group hatchet job. So depressingly familiar.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

My new open access article in @sthv.bsky.social reflects on empathy as a research method shared by anthropology/STS and environmental science. It also features a glow-in-the-dark mushroom hunt 🍄 #EnvironmentalHumanities #Nature-basedSolutions #agroforestry doi.org/10.1177/0162...

Cover page of article in ST&HV.
Title: The Time Politics of Agroforestry Science
Author: Timothy McLellan

Abstract: This article examines the time politics of agroforestry science through an ethnographic study with scientists at the Institute for Farms and Forests (IFF) in China. IFF researchers seek to design complex agroforestry systems that emulate the regenerative cycles and evolutionary adaptations of natural forests, a goal which challenges the dominant temporalities of industrial agriculture and modernist development. Yet these aspirations are continually reshaped by the fast tempos and short horizons of scientific institutions and donor organizations. Drawing on environmental humanities scholarship, I argue that agroforestry science is animated by temporal empathy—an attentiveness to the temporalities of more-than-human worlds—but that this empathy is systematically constrained by institutional regimes of speed, measurement, and impact. Through case studies of agroforestry projects in China and Myanmar, I trace how scientists negotiate the dissonance between ecological time and developmental or donor time, and I show how their work both reproduces and contests neoliberal logics of value and progress. I propose temporal empathy not only as a feature of environmental science but also as a method for science and technology studies: as a mode of inquiry that can help us to apprehend, and potentially find common cause with, the aspirations and frustrations of scientists striving to imagine more livable futures.

Keywords: agroforestry, environmental humanities, fast science, institutions, nature-based solutions, temporal empathy

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Check out Nous Group proudly celebrating the return of one of its principals “after an eighteen-month chief of staff stint at Griffith University”. This is the same Nous Group who have $6 million of current consultancy contracts with Australian universities. www.consultancy.com.au/news/amp/115...

consultancy.com.au

Nous Group appoints new principals across Australian offices

Australian management consultancy Nous has added three new principals to its Canberra headquarters and offices in Brisbane and Sydney: David Hallinan, Jean-Paul Cardoso, and Craig Hutchinson.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Adelaide University just revealed that in the past two and half years they have paid Deloitte $185m for their ‘expertise’. $185 million … wtaf 🫠 www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStor...

aph.gov.au

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Here is a clip from the exchange on UniForum between ANU exec and Senator Mehreen Faruqi. Apologies for video quality and big thank you to Senator @mehreenfaruqi.bsky.social for continuing to be such a fantastic advocate for better university governance. 3/3

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Second, ANU’s COO admitted “we don’t have access to the underlying formulas and the raw data, we have access to the [Nous authored] reports”. This suggests university executives are making huge decisions based on proprietary UniForum data and methodology that they have no way of scrutinizing. 2/3

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Some very interesting revelations about UniForum at Senate Estimates last night. First, ANU exec appears to have misled the Senate by implying they gave staff access to the underlying UniForum data and methodology. In fact, they gave staff little more than opaque scatter plots like this one👇 1/3

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Rick Morton @squigglyrick.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

University of Technology Sydney ordered a spreadsheet from KPMG targeting individual academics by research income, which might contravene the bargaining agreement. They repeatedly denied it even existed for several info requests. But that wasn't true. www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/educati...

thesaturdaypaper.com.au

Exclusive: University sought secret KPMG staff spreadsheet

The University of Technology Sydney denied the existence of a KPMG spreadsheet ranking the research performance of academics, in breach of its EBA, until it was forced to release it.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Absolutely, this is one of the concerns I raise in the Senate submission. I’m also planning to dig deeper into this by running interviews with staff who are asked to respond to UniForum’s surveys. In the broader project, I’m very keen to engage with the experiences staff have these things.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Put simply, where universities have competent leaders and are governed through robust structures, one would not expect to find them relying on UniForum data or external consults to the extent that we see at so many universities in Australia and beyond.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

These problems include: senior executives lacking the appropriate skills, character, and expertise to run universities; excessive emphasis on cost-cutting; and toxic workplace cultures that are inconducive to upward feedback or collaborative governance.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

I argue that we need greater transparency about and scrutiny of the role of external consultants in university governance. More fundamentally, however, reliance on consultants reflects much deeper problems with how universities are run.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Nous’ simultaneous contracts with unis and the Dep. of Education create conflicts of interest. e.g. in 2024, DoE paid Nous to summarize public feedback on a University Accords discussion paper. Nous’ 80-page summary fails to mention feedback criticizing the role of consultants in uni governance.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

University restructures often follow a similar playbook. If restructures are based on UniForum data, then its blind spots and biases may be hardwiring a flawed, one-size-fits-all model of governance across the sector — a model that undermines educational quality and institutional diversity.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

UniForum is operated by Nous – a firm who charge unis millions a year to tell them how to operate. One wing of Nous provides "independent" UniForum data that shows the case for change at a uni, then a second wing of the same company swoops in to sell a program of cuts to deliver that change.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

If you begin to open the UniForum black box, however, it’s clear that: ❌UniForum’s underlying data and methodology are poor ❌Data analysis is selective, inconsistent and opaque ❌UniForum benchmarks create perverse incentives I also ask how UniForum fits into Nous’ wider business model:

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Nous and uni execs use scientific-looking graphs and scientific-sounding jargon to imply UniForum data is grounded in rigorous methods and expert consensus. This performance of authority lends UniForum data an air of credibility and facticity that makes acting upon its results irresistible.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

UniForum is a “benchmarking service” that Nous provides to universities globally. University executives frequently invoke UniForum as an objective justification for cuts and redundancies. This UniForum graph, for example, was a centerpiece of the case ANU’s ex-VC made to Council for Renew ANU. 👇

Image of a scatterplot graph titled, “Overall effectiveness score vs normalised cost – parts 1 & 2 services.”
Graph subtitle: “Net Satisfaction (-100 to +100), Parts 1& 2 Services 2017 – 2023”
Vertical axis is titled: “increasing effectiveness score”
Horizontal axis is titled: "increasing normalised cost for services assessed”.
Each point on the graph represents a university. ANU is highlighted in the bottom right of the graph implying that it have poor service effectiveness and high cost.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Private consultants are taking control of how public universities are evaluated and run. My submission to the Senate university governance inquiry raises concerns about the impact of Nous Group and their dodgy UniForum data on our universities. www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStor... A thread

Image shows a screenshot of the conclusion of the linked Senate inquiry submission. This text can be found on page 10.

The text is too long for alt text, but here is the first three quarters of the text:

Conclusion

Over the past decade, Nous Group’s UniForum data has quietly taken on the status of authoritative benchmark for the quality of a range of professional and academic services performed by public universities in Australia and across the world. This authoritative status is performed through scientific-looking graphs and scientific-sounding jargon designed to imply UniForum data is generated through rigorous methods and backed by expert consensus. This performance of authority is significant: it lends UniForum data an air of credibility and facticity that makes acting upon its results irresistible.

When one begins to open the black box and examine how UniForum data is actually produced, however, it becomes difficult to justify the degree to which Australian university executives are relying upon it in their decision-making. My analysis is based on a review of publicly available documents, and it is therefore possible that Nous or its clients would point to things not in the public domain that address some of the conceptual and methodological flaws that I have highlighted in UniForum. But the fact that the underlying UniForum data and methodology is not in the public domain is itself one of the key causes for concerns. When the stakes are so high, it cannot be acceptable for Nous Group and its clients to simply tell university staff and governing councils, ‘trust us, these numbers are based on rigorous methods and analysis.’ The lack of rigor, external scrutiny, and transparency in UniForum’s underlying data and methodology would be a cause for concern in any public institution, but it is especially concerning in the context of universities where rigorous, transparent, and accountable knowledge production is a core part of what we do. ...

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Maureen Gallagher @maureenogallagher.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

I am one of the staff members impacted by this. I truly thought when I first read the email that it might mean my job is safe because I have not yet been made redundant, but, no, I am still facing the axe. It was a maliciously cruel email to send.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

Good on you Francis! Thank you for your courage and integrity, and for all the work you’ve done to stand up for our university and our community.

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Katie Freund @katiedigc.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

@drdemography.com Thank you for your words and for speaking up. We are with you.

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Katie Freund @katiedigc.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Check in with your colleagues this week, and please submit feedback about these damaging and unnecessary cuts. Support from academics and students is critical.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

This is based on an interview I did last week. For days, I’ve been anxious about repercussions for speaking to media. I was totally overwhelmed to discover today that my colleagues have all stuck their necks out with me. I have the best colleagues! www.canberratimes.com.au/story/901572...

canberratimes.com.au

'Hunger Games scenario': four ANU lecturers and only three jobs

Four lecturers going for three jobs speak out about the stress and the cost.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

Day after this puff piece went out, I was called into a meeting to tell me I'm in a spill and fill along with three amazing friends and colleagues. To the meeting, I wore Nanyang 205S Sneakers. For those who know, they are as much a style item as a Tesco Bag for Life. 👟

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Dr Liz Allen @drdemography.com · 06/06/2025

ANU VC made a serious allegation against NTEU ACT division secretary today on ABC radio, totally unchallenged. Asked why the VC hadn’t met with the union head, Bell claimed Clohesy screams out front the VC’s building for the VC to rot in hell. Gobsmacking allegation. It’s untrue.

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NTEU @nteunion.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

NTEU supports the Australian Council of Trade Unions call for an end to the occupation of Palestine and a just and sustainable peace. Read the full statement here: nteu.info/actustatement @australianunions.bsky.social

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

By deskilling household surveys, AR4D produces poor social science, devalues field officers and perpetuates colonial hierarchies of knowledge. Ben Eyre and I argue that to challenge this we need alternative repertoires of 'scientific rigor' like 'situated knowledges'. doi.org/10.1177/0030...

doi.org

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

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Dr Liz Allen @drdemography.com · 01/05/2025

ANU Council vote is a damning indictment on the leadership & governing body. Staff have had enough. I believe Dr Francis Markham is best-suited. Francis is a fearless & formidable advocate who will stand up for the ANU community & hold Council to account www.anu.edu.au/about/govern...

anu.edu.au

Election to Council of one academic staff member

Election to Council of one Academic Staff MemberCouncil Election 2025 - Academic Staff (Faculties Member) – Casual Vacancy Following a call for nominations to elect one casual member of the academic s...

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Narratives of research misconduct in China reproduce Orientalist prejudices and romanticize science in the West. In my new article, I suggest some starting points for a more inclusive and less nostalgic conversation about audit cultures and the futures of global science. doi.org/10.1080/1875...

doi.org

Asian Tricks and Research Misconduct: From Orientalism and Occidentalism to Solidarity against Audit Cultures

Science journalism and academic commentary often paints China as a nation plagued by publication misconduct and beset with an immature culture of research ethics. Aspects of this commentary are ech...

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