Students Turn Academic Burnout Into Parody: “Rubbish” and “SHIT” Bottom Journals Go Viral

A satirical response to publish-or-perish

Huxiu (虎嗅) reports that a cohort of Chinese graduate students, exhausted by the grind of thesis revisions and academic competition, have launched a string of parody “bottom journals” — most prominently Rubbish and SHIT — as a form of collective stress relief. Reportedly started on the lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu (小红书) by a user known as @野生的乌托邦建设者, Rubbish solicits rejected, half-finished or deliberately absurd papers and promotes what its founders call “degradable academic garbage.” Is this protest, therapy, or simply satire?

What these journals publish — and why it matters

The content is intentionally frivolous: mock-research on whether spaghetti can be mixed with concrete, pseudo-quantum treatments of taste, and comparative fast-food “hamburger recommendation indices.” Readers will find spoofs that mimic scholarly form while stripping away rigor. It has been reported that editorial rules explicitly discourage genuine, reproducible results — academic value must approach zero. The movement is a tongue-in-cheek critique of the global publish-or-perish ecosystem that prizes quantity and high-impact venues like Cell, Nature and Science; here, students invert prestige into parody to reclaim agency and laughter.

Spread, platforms and public reaction

The phenomenon has spread beyond Xiaohongshu to wider social platforms. Reportedly the aggregator “web of nothing” (WON) lists hundreds of these mock journals — Huxiu cites a figure of 361 — and Bilibili (哔哩哔哩) hosts video rundowns of SHIT and other “bottom journal” writings. The reception is mixed: many users celebrate the release valve and dark humor, while some critics worry the trend further blurs lines around research integrity and public trust in science. For Western readers: think of it as a campus meme culture response to an entrenched global incentives system, not a formal publishing movement.

Context and takeaways

This is not just online mischief. It reflects deeper stressors in China’s and the world’s academic systems — intense competition, career precarity, and the symbolic power of “impact.” Reportedly, the creators frame their work as harmless catharsis; detractors worry about the long-term effects on norms. Whether Rubbish and SHIT remain ephemeral jokes or evolve into a broader statement against academic metrics, they have already highlighted how young scholars — fatigued by rejection and rhetoric — can weaponize satire to cope.