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A recent investigation by Science Magazine exposes a rise of paper mills resorting to bribery and corruption to secure publication of fake or substandard papers. These organizations pay off journal editors, leading to a network of deceitful practices that threaten the integrity of scholarly publishing. The investigation reveals widespread involvement of editors and prestigious institutions in accepting bribes. Such unethical practices bypass the peer-review process, undermining the quality and reliability of published research.

University officials at Hong Kong Polytechnic University – a publicly funded institution – have been scrambling to explain its use of companies registered in secretive offshore tax havens, after revelations in the Panama Papers that it set up two companies offshore to channel funds. The university, known locally as PolyU, had not declared in any of its financial reports that it set up two companies in the British Virgin Islands in 2012 and 2013 as wholly owned subsidiaries of the university, raising questions about its financial transparency and reporting.

Students and academics from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong researching the working conditions of student interns at factories in China have said that an officially agreed investigation into working conditions at Foxconn factories, which produce Apple iPads, did not provide a "full picture" of the extent of abuse of the internship system.