Cell publisher investigates editor accused of soliciting bribes from China

Cell Press, one of the world’s leading scientific publishers, has launched an investigation after prominent Chinese biologist Rao Yi accused the editor-in-chief of a top medical journal of soliciting bribes from mainland authors.“Several important international academic journals have seen editors, and even editors-in-chief, soliciting and accepting bribes,” said Rao, a tenured chair professor at Peking University who stepped down as president of Capital Medical University last year, in a social media post last Tuesday.“Chinese scientists should collectively boycott such editors,” he added.Rao’s post singled out Steve Mao, the Chinese-born editor-in-chief of Cancer Cell – a peer-reviewed medical journal published by Cell Press – in the bribery allegation.