Writing Away Responsibility

How Physicians and Ghostwriting Agencies Legitimise Academic Misconduct in China's Healthcare System

Bibliographic Data

ID17675878
AuthorsYang Zhao (0000-0003-4913-8505, Department of Communication Studies University of Antwerp Antwerp Belgium, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume80
Issue2
Publication date2026-04-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHigher Education Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0951-5224 • E-ISSN: 1468-2273
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/hequ.70123
OpenAlexW7147142444
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited36

This paper examines how physicians and ghostwriting agencies in China's healthcare system legitimise academic misconduct through strategic discourse. Integrating governmentality and accounts theories, it analyzes how participation in ghostwriting is constructed as an inevitable response to contradictory institutional demands. Critical discourse analysis of social media posts reveals three dynamics: parties position services in a grey zone between professional assistance and misconduct through boundary‐drawing techniques; frame involvement as unavoidable rather than voluntary; and create complementary discourses enabling institutional requirements to be met without challenging contradictions. The study extends accounts theory by showing how neutralisation techniques serve as identity‐protective mechanisms in professional contexts. It introduces ‘mediated responsibility displacement’ to explain how market actors, as intermediaries, partially assume responsibility while redirecting moral blame to systemic factors, showing how professionals navigate impossible requirements through market solutions rather than resistance

Blame · Governmentality · Health care · Legitimacy · Misconduct · Moral responsibility · Academic Freedom and Politics · Academic integrity and plagiarism · Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare

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