(Yicai Global) Dec. 27 -- China National Knowledge Infrastructure has said it will thoroughly reform its practices after the operator of the largest and most accessed academic online library in the country was found guilty of anti-trust behavior yesterday by market regulators and fined 5 percent of its revenue last year.

CNKI laid out 15 ways yesterday in which it will overhaul its services, including slashing prices, protecting authors’ rights and relinquishing a monopoly on certain publications, after the database was slapped with a CNY87.6 million (USD12.6 million) fine by the State Administration for Market Regulation.

A probe launched by the watchdog in May found that CNKI, which has compiled a unique collection of masters’ theses, doctoral dissertations, research papers, journals and university proceedings that serves as an indispensable resource for university students and academic researchers, has been abusing its dominant market position by wantonly hiking prices and violating authors’ rights since 2014.

CNKI has been charging unfair prices through repeated large price hikes and it has split its main database into several smaller ones, the probe found. It has also been signing exclusive cooperation deals with publishers of academic materials, meaning that they are only permitted to give CNKI use of the materials.

“China’s anti-monopoly law clearly states that big market players must not manipulate prices, oppress suppliers or squeeze out the competition, the State Administration for Market Regulation said earlier.

CNKI will not sign any more exclusive cooperation deals, will not renew any such contracts that have expired and will try to terminate existing ones as soon as possible, it said.

It will slash charges for access to its database by more than 30 percent over the next three years but will keep the level of services unchanged. It, together with journal publishers, will improve remuneration to authors. And it will offer plagiarism check services at a price no higher than mainstream products on the market.

Editor: Kim Taylor