What’s in a Chinese name: scientists fight for identity when forced to use Latin alphabet

In academic research, identifying authorship is a unique challenge for Chinese researchers when their names are presented solely in pinyin and might be shared by other researchers whose names are spelled differently in Chinese characters.

Chinese scientists told the Post that publishing under just their pinyin name – in English-language journals in which Mandarin is represented in the Latin alphabet – was challenging when it came to academic exchanges, and they appreciated publications that accepted authors’ names written in Chinese.

To make identification easier, a team based in Vienna and led by a Chinese researcher is working to address the challenges of accurately identifying people from their pinyin names.

Their goal is to develop a better system to determine whether a series of papers published under a pinyin name were written by one scientist or more than one researcher bearing the same name, and to enable broader analyses of the scientific community, such as those related to gender equality.

“Without a Chinese name, it can be difficult to accurately identify authors in domestic academic exchanges,” said Yuan Bo, an associate professor who researches liquid metal at Beihang University in Beijing.

“Often, an author’s exact Chinese name could only be found through platforms like WeChat public accounts. It affects the systematic nature and recognisability of their work, especially for younger scholars who are building their reputation,” Yuan said, adding that she had published Chinese-language articles on social media to promote her work.