After being rejected 10 times, did a “crazy” researcher spawn an ‘academic bottom journal’ on Chinese social media?

What happened

A swarm of bot accounts on Xiaohongshu (小红书) has reportedly moved beyond meme culture and into the academic realm, creating a cluster of parody “bottom journals” that collect what their founders call academic garbage. The first and most prominent of these is Rubbish (垃圾), which it has been reported was set up to archive papers repeatedly rejected by mainstream outlets — “those refused ten times,” its manifesto jokes — and to lampoon conventional peer review. The wave followed earlier bot growth on Weibo (微博), and it has been reported that some 240 related accounts proliferated in the weeks around the 2026 Lunar New Year.

What’s in the pages

Rubbish and its imitators reportedly adopt mock‑serious editorial structures — editorial boards, submission formats, even a “double‑blind” review process decided by dice and closed eyes — while openly discussing taboo topics in academic publishing such as multiple submissions, relationship‑based acceptance and AI assistance. The content mix is equal parts satire and genuine artefact: examples cited by observers range from a quantitative comparison of hamburger brands aimed at solving late‑night student dining dilemmas, to a professor‑guided study of in‑game economics in the mobile game Honor of Kings, to a controversial piece on whether the human anus has respiratory function (a topic that, it has been reported, previously drew attention after appearing in lighter‑side outlets and Ig Nobel–style lists).

Copycats and infrastructure

The joke has metastasized. It has been reported that more than 40 sister “bottom journals” have emerged, some parodying elite titles — Call, Noture, Silence riffing on Cell, Nature and Science — others focusing on humanities and social oddities with names such as Shi (史) or Nonsense (废话Nonsense). Enthusiasts have even built a mock indexing service, Web of Nothing, positioning it as a cheeky counterpoint to the global academic index Web of Science. Rubbish’s founders, reportedly inspired by a late‑2024 idea from a philosophy user known online as @野生的乌托邦建设者, have used their platform to promote followers rather than hoard attention.

Why it matters

Is this prank, protest or a symptom of deeper pressures? Against a backdrop of intense publication pressure in China’s research system and rapid adoption of AI and automation in online life, the movement can be read as both a satirical critique of publish‑or‑perish incentives and an online cultural moment driven by anonymity and bot amplification. It raises real questions about peer review, research evaluation and platform moderation. For Western observers unfamiliar with China’s social media ecology, the episode is a reminder that digital subcultures there can rapidly invent their own institutions — earnest, absurd and sometimes troubling — that blur the line between parody and practice.