Chen Chien-jen, Minister of the National Science Council and an academician in the Life Sciences Division, said that the law in Taiwan requires salaries for assistant research fellows and associate research fellows at Academia Sinica to be paid on a civil service scale. The system was rigid, and only senior researchers could be hired as distinguished fellows or earn "outstanding speaker" fees to supplement their salaries.
國科會主委、生命科學組院士陳建仁指出，台灣受限於法令，中研院聘用助理研究員、副研究員待遇須比照公務員，制度僵化，只有「特聘研究員」的待遇具國際水準，資深研究者可獲得傑出講座經費支持。