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Conflicting Academic Attitudes to Copyright Are Slowing the Move to Open Access

Conflicting Academic Attitudes to Copyright Are Slowing the Move to Open Access

The open access movement has prompted a shift towards retention of rights and the use of creative commons licenses to control how works are used by publishers. However, in many cases, researchers continue to agree to standard assignment terms offered by publishers without fully investigating or understanding them.

The Unhappy Postdoc: a Survey Based Study

The Unhappy Postdoc: a Survey Based Study

In this study, among a large number of factors that can enhance life satisfaction for postdocs (e.g., publication productivity, resources available to them) only one stood out as significant: the degree to which atmosphere in the lab is pleasant and collegial.

Open-Access Model Is a Return to the Origins of Journal Publishing

Open-Access Model Is a Return to the Origins of Journal Publishing

Until recently, many university and society journals operated at a loss. To return to their earlier significant role in scientific dissemination, scientific societies and universities will have to return to their earlier acceptance of knowledge sharing as part of their broader public service, rather than their more recent exploitation of publications as revenue generators.

Nature Says It Wants to Publish Replication Attempts. so What Happened When a Group of Authors Submitted One to Nature Neuroscience?

Nature Says It Wants to Publish Replication Attempts. so What Happened When a Group of Authors Submitted One to Nature Neuroscience?

Over the past few years, Nature has published editorials extolling the virtues of replication, concluding in one that “We welcome, and will be glad to help disseminate, results that explore the validity of key publications, including our own.” Mante Nieuwland, of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, and colleagues were encouraged by that message and submitted one such replication attempt to Nature Neuroscience. In a three-part guest post, Nieuwland will describe what happened when they did and discusses whether reality lives up to the rhetoric. 

I’d Whisper to My Student Self: You Are Not Alone

I’d Whisper to My Student Self: You Are Not Alone

Twenty years on, Dave Reay speaks out about the depression that almost sunk his Ph.D., and the lifelines that saved him.

An Empirical Study of the per Capita Yield of Science Nobel Prizes: Is the Us Era Coming to an End?

An Empirical Study of the per Capita Yield of Science Nobel Prizes: Is the Us Era Coming to an End?

For the USA, this study finds, the entire history of science Noble prizes is described on a per capita basis to an astonishing accuracy by a single large productivity boost decaying at a continuously accelerating rate since its peak in 1972.

Funding for Fundamental Research Is Under Threat

Funding for Fundamental Research Is Under Threat

The US now faces a dilemma over the future of this national achievement and the supporting arrangements making it sustainable. The ‘social contract’ for science and research now looks more tentative than at any time since the Space Race.

Australian Budget Delivers for Science Facilities and Medical Research

Australian Budget Delivers for Science Facilities and Medical Research

Research facilities and medicine were among the winners for science in Australia's 2018/19 national budget. The government will push to invest almost Aus$1.9 billion (US$1.4 billion) over the next 12 years in shared research infrastructure. Scientists welcome relative windfall after years of stagnating funds.

Introducing a New Standard for the Citation of Research Data

Introducing a New Standard for the Citation of Research Data

The Identifiers Expert Group of the FORCE11 Data Citation Implementation Pilot (DCIP) has achieved a significant step toward the harmonization of identifier resolution standards for data citation in research articles. 

Wikidata: a Platform for your Library’s Linked Open Data

Wikidata: a Platform for your Library’s Linked Open Data

Wikidata offers a low-barrier, high-result method of making data not only visible but reusable.

Women and Lung Disease. Sex Differences and Global Health Disparities

Women and Lung Disease. Sex Differences and Global Health Disparities

There is growing evidence that a number of pulmonary diseases affect women differently and with a greater degree of severity than men.

For Open Science, but up a Different Path

For Open Science, but up a Different Path

According to Wikipedia, Open Science is "the movement to make scientific research, data and dissemination accessible to all levels of an inquiring society, amateur or professional." That definition raises a number of questions.

European Commission Proposes EUR100B for Research Programme

European Commission Proposes EUR100B for Research Programme

The European Commission outlined a €100 billion budget for its new research programme, running between 2021 and 2027. The figure includes €97.6 billion for Horizon Europe, that’s an increase of almost 30%.

A Landscape Study on Open Access and Monographs: New Summary and Survey

A Landscape Study on Open Access and Monographs: New Summary and Survey

The state of affairs with regard to policies, funding and publishing Open Access monographs in eight European countries.

R and Python Are Joining Forces, in the Crossover Event of the Year

R and Python Are Joining Forces, in the Crossover Event of the Year

For programmers, this is a blockbuster announcement in the world of data science.

All Science Should Inform Policy and Regulation

All Science Should Inform Policy and Regulation

In the context of a recent proposal to exclude research from consideration at the Environmental Protection Agency, John Ioannidis points out that "perceived perfection is not a characteristic of science, but of dogma" and envisions how governments can promote a standard of openness in science.

OAPEN-CH - the Impact of Open Access on Scientific Monographs in Switzerland

OAPEN-CH - the Impact of Open Access on Scientific Monographs in Switzerland

Pilot study found that providing a digital edition that is freely available on the Internet increases the trackability, visibility and use of monographs. The study also finds that open access does not have a negative impact on printed book sales.

Open Access Negotiators Prepare for a Future Without Publishers

Open Access Negotiators Prepare for a Future Without Publishers

At the invitation of Horst Hippler, chair of the German conference of university rectors and the Projekt DEAL initiatives, representatives from multiple countries met in Berlin to share their views and tales of the ongoing negotiations on open access.

U.S. Climate Scientists Flee For France To 'Make Our Planet Great Again'

U.S. Climate Scientists Flee For France To 'Make Our Planet Great Again'

Fourteen climate researchers, including six from U.S. universities, have been selected for French President Emmanuel Macron’s “Make Our Planet Great Again” initiative. The scientists applied to move to France to carry out climate science projects in the country’s top research laboratories.