Why the Coronavirus Seems to Hit Men Harder Than Women
Women mount stronger immune responses to infection, scientists say. And in China, men smoke in much greater numbers.
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Stop Making Graduate Students Pay Up Front for Conferences
John Malloy shares his experiences of risking debt to travel - and discusses what to do about it.
PLOS and the University of California Announce Open Access Publishing Agreement
PLOS and the University of California Announce Open Access Publishing Agreement
The Public Library of Science (PLOS) and the University of California (UC) announced a two-year agreement that will make it easier and more affordable for UC researchers to publish in the nonprofit open access publisher’s suite of journals.
Reforming Research Assessment: A Tough Nut to Crack
Alison Mudditt looks at the recently released TOP Factor from the Center for Open Science, and the bigger picture of shifting the nature of research assessment.
Wikipedia Is the Last Best Place on the Internet
People used to think the crowdsourced encyclopedia represented all that was wrong with the web. Now it's a beacon of so much that's right.
Scientists Call for Reform on Rankings and Indices of Science Journals
Scientists Call for Reform on Rankings and Indices of Science Journals
Researchers are used to being evaluated based on indices like the impact factors of the scientific journals in which they publish papers and their number of citations. A team of 14 natural scientists from nine countries are now rebelling against this practice, arguing that obsessive use of indices is damaging the quality of science.
'Eugenics is Possible' is Not the Same As 'eugenics is Good'
Rows over eugenics reveal how difficult it is to 'decouple' controversial concepts in our heads.
Scientists Are Curious and Passionate and Ready to Argue
A robot career adviser's personality assessment, based on analysis of tweets.
OPERAS Survey on SSH Scholarly Communication
OPERAS Survey on SSH Scholarly Communication
OPERAS runs a survey to find out more about social sciences and humanities (SSH) scholarly communication.
We're Reading the Coronavirus Numbers Wrong
Up-to-the-minute reports and statistics can unintentionally distort the facts.
Statement in support of the scientists, public health professionals, and medical professionals of China combatting COVID-19
Statement in support of the scientists, public health professionals, and medical professionals of China combatting COVID-19
Public health scientists who have closely followed the emergence of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are deeply concerned about its impact on global health and wellbeing.
Stagnation and Scientific Incentives
This paper presents a simple model of the lifecycle of scientific ideas that points to changes in scientist incentives as the cause of scientific stagnation. It explores ways to broaden how scientific productivity is measured and rewarded, involving both academic search engines such as Google Scholar measuring which contributions explore newer ideas and university administrators and funding agencies utilizing these new metrics in research evaluation.
Let's Be FAIR! ALLEA Presents Recommendations for Sustainable Data Sharing in the Humanities
Let's Be FAIR! ALLEA Presents Recommendations for Sustainable Data Sharing in the Humanities
A new ALLEA report provides key recommendations to make digital data in the humanities. The document is designed as a practical guide to navigate the shift towards a sustainable data sharing culture.
Open Access and Plan S: 5 Key Activities
In this short piece Robert Kiley, Head of Open Research at Wellcome and interim cOAlition S Coordinator provides an update on five key activities cOAlition S is currently supporting.
What to Do when Your Grant is Rejected
What to Do when Your Grant is Rejected
Failed funding applications are inevitable, but perseverance can pay dividends.
'The Disruption is Enormous.' Coronavirus Epidemic Snarls Science Worldwide
'The Disruption is Enormous.' Coronavirus Epidemic Snarls Science Worldwide
Experiments lost as labs remain closed; scientific meetings canceled or postponed.
Researchers Call on EU Institutions to Ensure Free Circulation of Scientific Knowledge
Researchers Call on EU Institutions to Ensure Free Circulation of Scientific Knowledge
Scientists call on the EU to inshrine a legal right for researchers to share their research findings without restrictions.
Plan S Does the Wrong Things to the Wrong People
UKRI and other funders must prevent good intentions on open access from undermining good science, says Lee Cronin.
I Don't Miss Being A Scientist, Except When I Do
Science was a place I ultimately left, not so much because I wanted to, but because I had to.
Your DNA is a Valuable Asset, So Why Give It to Ancestry Websites for Free? | Laura Spinney
Your DNA is a Valuable Asset, So Why Give It to Ancestry Websites for Free? | Laura Spinney
DNA testing companies are starting to profit from selling our data on to big pharma. Perhaps they should be paying us, says science writer Laura Spinney.
Understanding the Key Dimensions in Developing SSH Research Societal Impact
Understanding the Key Dimensions in Developing SSH Research Societal Impact
Impact is increasingly important for science policy-makers. Science policy studies have reacted to this heightened urgency by studying these policy-interventions.
Normal Versus Extraordinary Societal Impact: How to Understand, Evaluate, and Improve Research Activities in Their Relations to Society?
Normal Versus Extraordinary Societal Impact: How to Understand, Evaluate, and Improve Research Activities in Their Relations to Society?
How can science–society relations be better understood, evaluated, and improved by focusing on the organizations that typically interact in a specific domain of research.
Metrics of Inequality: The Concentration of Resources in the U.S. Biomedical Elite
Metrics of Inequality: The Concentration of Resources in the U.S. Biomedical Elite
Academic scientists and research institutes are increasingly being evaluated using digital metrics, from bibliometrics to patent counts. These metrics are often framed, by science policy analysts, economists of science as well as funding agencies, as objective and universal proxies for scientific worth, potential, and productivity.
Racial Microaggressions In Science
What are racial microaggressions and how do they appear within science communities?
The Research Literature Looks Too Good to Be True
Standard reports paint a much rosier picture of the research landscape than may be warranted. In this analysis, the first hypothesis of standard articles reported was supported by the data 96% of the time, while that rate was only 44% in registered reports.
EPA Can't Kick Scientists Off Science Advisory Panels, Court Says
In a victory for science and public health, a federal court determined that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cannot exclude scientists who have received EPA research grants - who happen to be mainly academic scientists from research universities - from serving on its advisory panels.
Academic Publishing Must Better Serve Science and Society
Reversing the relationship between authors and publishers would ease perverse incentives that impede progress, say Hilal Lashuel and Benjamin Stecher
Humanities Scholars Warn over UKRI's Plan for Open-access Books
Proposals to mandate open access monographs from 2024 will make it harder to publish and will limit career chances, says professor
Researchers Call on EU Institutions to Ensure Free Circulation of Scientific Knowledge
Researchers Call on EU Institutions to Ensure Free Circulation of Scientific Knowledge
A joint statement calling on EU institutions to ensure the right of researchers to share their research findings without embargoes or restrictions has today been issued by the Young Academy of Europe and other organisations representing early-career and senior researchers in Europe and beyond.
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