The phrase "academic chicken" refers to academic work of poor quality in which you are essentially daring your professor or teacher to give you a bad grade.

“学术鸡”指的是质量很差的学术论文，如果交上去你的教授很可能给你个差评。

Example:

I just submitted the worst paper I have ever written. It is nothing short of academic chicken.

我刚把自己写过的最差的论文交上去了。那篇论文是个不折不扣的“学术鸡”。