Why are there fees for papers on CNKI?

The charges for papers on CNKI are because CNKI is operated by a listed company and is not a government financial support project, so fees are required to support its operation.

CNKI’s “overbearing” charging logic

1. In recent years, CNKI’s popularity in the public opinion field has not diminished. For example, six universities including Peking University have issued announcements stating that they have suspended the use of CNKI due to excessive fees. Every graduation season, college students collectively complain about the exorbitant fees for plagiarism checks. At the end of 2021, CNKI was sued by retired professor Zhao Dexin for unauthorized inclusion of more than 100 papers, and was eventually ordered to pay more than 700,000 yuan.

2. For individual users, CNKI sells plagiarism checking services on the one hand, and the high fees of hundreds of yuan often make a large number of graduates complain. On the other hand, it collects papers at ultra-low prices or even "free notes" Results. What’s even more unreasonable is that paper authors need to pay to download their papers.

3. As a knowledge infrastructure and public welfare platform, CNKI should and must reflect certain public welfare attributes. But it backfired. At present, CNKI's profit-making impulse is, to some extent, changing its role from a "stepping stone" that facilitates academic development to a "stumbling block" that hinders academic development.

In today's increasingly technologically advanced world, the cost of sharing knowledge continues to decrease. However, CNKI, as a knowledge intermediary, continues to increase its charging prices. As a result, top academic research institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences are discouraged and have no choice. It is different from turning back the clock.