The unfolding scandal involving a Chinese Academy of Sciences academician who is accused of plagiarism and copying technology for profit exposes flaws in the system that awards special titles to elite professors, observers said.

An academician is a professor who has received special acclaim in his field, an honor only few receive each year.

CAS academician Wang Zhengmin is said to have purchased an Australian-made artificial cochlea - a spiral tube in the inner ear that is essential to hearing - and copied the technology for a product produced in China, China Central Television reported on Jan 2.