Nature, one of the world's most prestigious academic journals, made an online apology to Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen on Monday, a few days after an article titled "Why great Olympic feats raise suspicions" on its website triggered a backlash. The controversial online article said Ye's performance at the London Olympics was "anomalous." It implied that her clean drug test did not rule out the possibility of doping.
Nature's apology came under an "Editor's note," saying it didn't single out Ye because of her nationality, but admitted that the combination of some errors in the article and the absence of a more detailed discussion of the statistics gave the impression that the journal was supporting accusations against Ye.
It is worth noting that Nature's apology was, to a large extent, driven by protests from some Chinese scholars, who wrote open letters to the editor-in-chief of the journal and demanded an apology. Some even called on Chinese scholars to boycott the magazine if the demands weren't met. It was reported that by Monday, over 1,500 scholars had signed an online petition supporting demands for an apology.
This takes great courage, since having articles published in the world's top academic journal is a great privilege.
