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Signing the ORCID Funder Open Letter
Launch of the ORCID funder open letter: Nine funding bodies are committed to expanding the use of ORCID in their grant applications.
EU Grants 14 Million to Swiss Researchers
An ERC Grant is the most prestigious award for excellent European research projects. A team with three researchers from the ETH Domain had also applied for such a grant. Today, Gabriel Aeppli from the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, Henrik Rønnow from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne EPFL and Nicola Spaldin from ETH Zurich, together with their colleague Alexander Balatsky from Nordita, Stockholm University, received the contract signed by the EU confirming the extraordinary 14 million euro funding.
Peer Review: How to Be a Good Referee
Peer review is lauded in principle as the guarantor of quality in academic publishing and grant distribution. But its practice is often loathed by those on the receiving end. Here, seven academics offer their tips on good refereeing, and reflect on how it may change in the years to come
Commission Frees 'Seal of Excellence' Research Projects from State Aid Unfair Competition Rules
Political Battles Force a Go-slow in EU Budget Negotiations
Commission concedes it will need more time to resolve long-term budget negotiations – but it remains committed to its plan boosting R&D subsidies
Practices and Patterns in Research Information Management: Findings from a Global Survey
Practices and Patterns in Research Information Management: Findings from a Global Survey
OCLC Research and euroCRIS, the international organization for research information, partnered to develop a survey and synthesize the results to examine how research institutions worldwide are applying research information management (RIM) practices.
How Sure Are You of Your Result? Put a Number on It
How Sure Are You of Your Result? Put a Number on It
Any scientist publishing a claim should quantify their confidence in it with a probability, argues Steven N. Goodman.
Postdocs Trying to Transition to Non-academic Careers Should Be Offered More Support by Their Supervisors and Universities
Postdocs Trying to Transition to Non-academic Careers Should Be Offered More Support by Their Supervisors and Universities
Despite the position being billed as a stepping stone on the way to tenure-track academic employment, many postdocs, discouraged by their poor prospects, are questioning their career choices and instead looking to non-academic jobs as an alternative. However, as Chris Hayter and Marla A. Parker reveal, making this transition is not as easy as it might first appear.
Gender Studies Scholars Say the Field is Coming Under Attack in Many Countries Around the Globe
Gender Studies Scholars Say the Field is Coming Under Attack in Many Countries Around the Globe
Scholars say their field is coming under increasing pressures from forces outside the academy who want to delegitimize it.
Aligning Strategies to Enable Open Access
The 14th Berlin Open Access Conference, hosted by the Max Planck Society and organized by the Max Planck Digital Library on behalf of the Open Access 2020 Initiative (oa2020.org), has just come to an end after two intense days with 170 participants from 37 countries around the world discussing where the research organizations and their library consortia stand in their negotiations with scholarly publishers in transitioning scholarly publishing to open access. The participants represented research performing and research funding organizations, libraries and government, associations of researchers and other umbrella organizations, many of them holding high-level positions at their organizations. In his welcoming address, Max Planck Society President Martin Stratmann captured the spirit of the meeting when he stated: "Open Access is the responsibility of all of us."
Netherlands Plans Overhaul of Academic Careers in Move Away from Metrics
The Netherlands will radically shake up how academics are assessed and promoted, including a shift away from relying on citations and journal impact factors.
Why an Age of Machine Learning Needs the Humanities
Why an Age of Machine Learning Needs the Humanities
If democracy depends on informed citizens, democracy is in trouble. This is a moment of crisis for many institutions, including higher education, especially in disciplines such as English, philosophy, and history, which promise to prepare students as citizens. To prepare students for a world where information is filtered by computers, we will need a stronger alliance between the humanities and math. This alliance has two reciprocal parts: cultural criticism of the mathematical models shaping our world, and mathematical inquiry about culture.
Plan S: Impact on Society Publishers
Plan S implementation guidance has not provided reassurance to anxious society publishers.
A Random Approach to Innovation
In 2019, innovation funding will be increasingly randomised.
The Case Against Quantum Computing
The proposed strategy relies on manipulating with high precision an unimaginably huge number of variables
ELife Supports SwipesForScience to Gamify Crowdsourced Research and Machine Learning
ELife Supports SwipesForScience to Gamify Crowdsourced Research and Machine Learning
By helping scientists gamify the crowdsourcing of data analysis, SwipesForScience will engage the community to speed up research.
Illuminating Dark Knowledge - Generation R
How innovation in search engines needs renewing with open working and open indexes.
What a Massive Database of Retracted Papers Reveals About Science Publishing's 'death Penalty'
What a Massive Database of Retracted Papers Reveals About Science Publishing's 'death Penalty'
Better editorial oversight, not more flawed papers, might explain flood of retractions
The CRISPR Baby Scandal Gets Worse by the Day
The alleged creation of the world's first gene-edited infants was full of technical errors and ethical blunders. Here are the 15 most damning details.
Talent Identification at the Limits of Peer Review: an Analysis of the EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowships Selection Process
Talent Identification at the Limits of Peer Review: an Analysis of the EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowships Selection Process
A study evaluating two aspects of the selection process of the top-ranked applicants to the EMBO Long-Term Fellowship program in 2007.
Researchers Sign Petition Backing Plans to End Paywalls
More than 1,400 researchers sign an online letter arguing that Plan S will not impinge on academic freedom, as some critics claim.
Does Science Have a Bullying Problem?
A spate of bullying allegations have rocked several high-profile science institutions. Here's how researchers, universities, funders and others are dealing with the issue.
Statistical Pitfalls of Personalized Medicine
Misleading terminology and arbitrary divisions stymie drug trials and can give false hope about the potential of tailoring drugs to individuals, warns Stephen Senn.
On the Value of Preprints: an Early Career Researcher Perspective
A perspective from an interdisciplinary group of early career researchers on the value of preprints, advocating the wide adoption of preprints to advance knowledge and facilitate career development.
Sci-Hub "Pirate Bay of Science" Blocked in Russia Over Medical Studies
Many of Sci-Hub's domains have been blocked in Russia following a complaint from academic publisher Springer Nature that three studies covering heart and brain health were offered without obtaining an appropriate license.
CRISPR Inventor Feng Zhang Calls for Moratorium on Gene-edited Babies
A leading scientist wants Chinese researchers to halt a project to create genetically modified children.
First Law of Leadership: Be Human First, Scientist Second
Want to get the best research from your team? Take these six steps to invest in stronger relationships.