ScienceGeist

A public talk that a PhD student, Orsolya Vasarhelyi, and I were scheduled to give on November 8, 2018 at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences' (HAS) "Hungarian Day of Science" was censored by the Academy's deputy secretary-general Beáta Mária Barnabás. In English, our talk's title could be translated

At IE, we are proud to celebrate women in STEM and in that spirit we have combined a list of our favorite seven female-lead YouTube science shows! You go girls!

Biochemist Lynn Kamerlin tells Nature why she has coordinated an open letter - signed by more than 950 scientists - objecting to Plan S.

Up to now, STI (Science, Technology, Innovation) studies are either rich but small scale (qualitative case studies) or large scale and under-complex. However, progress in the STI research field depends in our view on the ability to do large-scale studies with often many variables specified by relevant theories: There is a need for studies which are at the same time big and rich. To enable that, combining and integration of STI data and beyond is needed – in order to exploit the huge amount of data that are ‘out there’ in an innovative and meaningful way.
The aim of the Semantically Mapping Science (SMS) platform as the technical core within the RISIS EU project is to produce richer data to be used in social research – through the integration of heterogeneous datasets, ranging from tabular statistical data to unstructured data found on the Web.

Review, promotion, and tenure (RPT) processes significantly affect how faculty direct their own career and scholarly progression. Although RPT practices vary between and within institutions, and affect various disciplines, ranks, institution types, genders, and ethnicity in different ways, some consistent themes emerge when investigating what faculty would like to change about RPT. For instance, over the last few decades, RPT processes have generally increased the value placed on research, at the expense of teaching and service, which often results in an incongruity between how faculty actually spend their time vs. what is considered in their evaluation. Another issue relates to publication practices: most agree RPT requirements should encourage peer-reviewed works of high quality, but in practice, the value of publications is often assessed using shortcuts such as the prestige of the publication venue, rather than on the quality and rigor of peer review of each individual item.

New study says the evolving economy creates a greater need for their skills, but that many colleges could do better at thinking about what graduates can do and helping them translate that into jobs.

This year, more candidates with degrees in science, medicine and engineering ran for Congress than ever before. Of the nearly two-dozen new candidates in this crop, at least seven won seats in the House of Representatives.

A blog about the science of human behavior and the human behavior of scientists.

Academic publisher Elsevier has repeatedly made the news for its battle with Sci-Hub, the "Pirate Bay" of science. However, while Elsevier is using copyrights to protect its business, academic-insiders accuse the publisher of "anti-competitive" actions.

Competitive agency positions offer balanced and rewarding science careers.

The EUA Council adopted a statement expressing its concern about the lack of transparency and competition in the scholarly publishing business sector in Europe. 

The European Commission launched today the sixth edition of the EU Prize for Women Innovators. The Prize sheds light on the outstanding work of female entrepreneurs who have brought their ideas to market, and aims to inspire the next generation of innovators.

Programmes from high school through to graduate school are aiming to keep more women and people from underrepresented groups in the physical sciences.

Professor Mariana Mazzucato, who has lived in UK for 20 years, says application refused and Italian passport kept by UK's Immigration Home Office.

New research shows girls are more likely to take physical science or technology degrees if they play video games.

Unclear and incomplete journal guidelines are placing an additional burden on many scientists who don't speak English as a first language.

Presentation slides for Postgraduate Forum of the German Association for American Studies 2018. Alternative title: Selfish reasons for adopting open research practices in SSH research.

In October, Elsevier and ACS filed a new US copyright infringement lawsuit against ResearchGate [complaint]. Like the German ResearchGate lawsuit I wrote about last year, the basic premise of the suit is the same. This is how Elsevier and ACS describe ResearchGate's activities in the American lawsuit: In egregious violation of copyright law, ResearchGate provides … Continue reading ACS v. ResearchGate - 3,143 articles and a few lessons about their authors   →

Back in the summer, we wrote about the paleontologist Jon Tennant, who had submitted a formal complaint to the European Commission regarding the relationship between the publishing giant Elsevier and the EU's Open Science Monitor. Now Tennant has...

A new journal will allow academics to publish controversial articles under a pseudonym.

The project melds work in the College of Education and School of Journalism and Communication

Recent PhD graduate Lucy A. Taylor shares the advice she and her colleagues wish they had received.

Mozilla Science Mini Grants are now open for applications.

Open-access data from repositories around the world have enabled a clinical researcher working in Jordan to make a bigger contribution to science.

The social scientist Marita Haas explored the interdependence of female career paths and institutional norms by melding gender, profession and biography. Leaving behind traditional role models requires an encouraging environment and structural measures, concludes the expert. 

A letter was sent to UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid MP expressing ‘grave concern about the current visa application process for international academics and scholars to visit the UK for academic conferences’.

On Tuesday, eight new science-credentialed candidates were elected: one senator and seven members of the House.