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An Empirical Analysis of Journal Policy Effectiveness for Computational Reproducibility

An Empirical Analysis of Journal Policy Effectiveness for Computational Reproducibility

New guidelines from many journals requiring authors to provide data and code postpublication upon request is found to be an improvement over no policy, but currently insufficient for reproducibility.

Why Do Girls Lose Interest in STEM? New Research Has Some Answers - And What We Can Do About It

Why Do Girls Lose Interest in STEM? New Research Has Some Answers - And What We Can Do About It

Despite the high priority that is placed on STEM in schools, efforts to expand female interest and employment in STEM are not working as well as intended. Ways to better support young women include interactive projects, and mentoring from parents and community members. "We need to teach girls that it is all right to sit with the discomfort of not knowing the right answer right away."

'Bronze' Open Access Supersedes Green and Gold

'Bronze' Open Access Supersedes Green and Gold

The largest share of open-access articles belongs to a new category described as “bronze”: articles are available on websites hosted by their publisher - either immediately or following an embargo - but are not formally licensed for reuse.

22 National Science Academies Urge Government Action on Climate Change

22 National Science Academies Urge Government Action on Climate Change

The scientists, from the UK, Canada, Australia and other Commonwealth countries, warn that stronger measures are needed to keep global warming under 2 degrees.

Women and Men in STEM Often at Odds Over Workplace Equity

Women and Men in STEM Often at Odds Over Workplace Equity

Women in STEM jobs are more likely than their male counterparts to have experienced discrimination in the workplace and to believe that discrimination is a major reason there are not more women in STEM.

Bridging the Gender Gap: Why Do so Few Girls Study Stem Subjects?

Bridging the Gender Gap: Why Do so Few Girls Study Stem Subjects?

To attract more girls to study Stem subjects at university, we need to tackle the stereotypes they are exposed to early on.

The Enemy Within - Why the Narrative About Universities and Students Went So Wrong

The Enemy Within - Why the Narrative About Universities and Students Went So Wrong

From Margaret Thatcher to Generation Snowflake, Keith Joseph to Sam Gyimah, why and how have universities and students found themselves so firmly on the wrong side of public opinion? And what are we going to do about it?

UZH Researchers Embrace Open Access

UZH Researchers Embrace Open Access

Around half of researchers already publish their work with open access, according to a comprehensive survey carried out by the Main Library of the University of Zurich. Besides a number of positive results, the survey also revealed a need for more information.

Lies Travel Faster Than Truth on Twitter—and Now We Know Who to Blame

Lies Travel Faster Than Truth on Twitter—and Now We Know Who to Blame

A major new study published in the journal Science finds that false rumors on Twitter spread much more rapidly, on average, than those that turn out to be true. Interestingly, the study also finds that bots aren’t to blame for that discrepancy. People are.

 

Not So Fast. Who Really Leads the World in Science?

Not So Fast. Who Really Leads the World in Science?

China produces the most scientific articles, but lags on other measures. 

Edge Factors: Scientific Frontier Positions of Nations

Edge Factors: Scientific Frontier Positions of Nations

The United States and South Korea have the highest tendencies for novel science. China has become a leader in favoring newer ideas when working with basic science ideas and research tools, but is still slow to adopt new clinical ideas. Many locations remain far behind the leaders in terms of their tendency to work with novel ideas.

Why Do Female Academics Publish Less Than Their Male Peers?

Why Do Female Academics Publish Less Than Their Male Peers?

Editors and peer reviewers impose tougher standards on women. This is evident from the fact that female-authored economics papers take around six months more to go through the review process than male-authored papers. As a result, female academics come to experience peer review as a much tougher process and those who progress on the career ladder adjust their expectations about what is required. Female researchers publish less than their male peers do but what they publish is much more readable and better written.

The Balance Between Bibliometric and Societal Impact

The Balance Between Bibliometric and Societal Impact

An interview with Kai Chan and his strategies to seek the combination of both kinds of impacts.

A Brief Guide To Writing Your First Scientific Manuscript

A Brief Guide To Writing Your First Scientific Manuscript

Some thoughts on how to approach writing manuscripts based on original biomedical research.

The Spread of True and False News Online

The Spread of True and False News Online

To understand how false news spreads, Vosoughi et al. used a data set of rumor cascades on Twitter from 2006 to 2017. About 126,000 rumors were spread by ∼3 million people. False news reached more people than the truth; the top 1% of false news cascades diffused to between 1000 and 100,000 people, whereas the truth rarely diffused to more than 1000 people. Falsehood also diffused faster than the truth.

Perish Not Publish? New Study Quantifies the Lack of Female Authors in Scientific Journals

Perish Not Publish? New Study Quantifies the Lack of Female Authors in Scientific Journals

Women are underrepresented in academic science. New research finds the problem is even worse in terms of who authors high-profile journal articles – bad news for women's career advancement.

Artificial Intelligence Could Identify Gang Crimes—and Ignite an Ethical Firestorm

Artificial Intelligence Could Identify Gang Crimes—and Ignite an Ethical Firestorm

A new algorithm is trying to automate the process of identifying gang crimes. But some scientists warn that far from reducing gang violence, the program could do the opposite by eroding trust in communities, or it could brand innocent people as gang members.