Subscribe to our newsletter

Send us a link

Major Global Research Funders Take Strong Lead on Clinical Trial Transparency

Major Global Research Funders Take Strong Lead on Clinical Trial Transparency

Some of the world’s largest research funders and NGOs today agreed to adopt the WHO's strong standards on clinical trial transparency.

Gender Equality Figures Promising but Not the Full Story

Gender Equality Figures Promising but Not the Full Story

Relying just on numbers to assess gender equality is insufficient because companies and researchers are smart enough to game the system.

Biology Needs More Staff Scientists

Biology Needs More Staff Scientists

Independent professionals advance science in ways faculty-run labs cannot, and such positions keep talented people in research, argues Steven Hyman.

Experts Call for ‘People Before Projects’ Revamp

Experts Call for ‘People Before Projects’ Revamp

New report from influential group recommends ditching large-scale projects in favour of funding outstanding individual researchers, getting rid of submission deadlines and awarding smaller grants to make the pie go further.

Physicists Can’t Agree on What Science Even Means Anymore

Physicists Can’t Agree on What Science Even Means Anymore

Recently, a trio of mainstream physicists accused hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other mainstream physicists of Not Doing Science.

Why We Need Centralized Services

Why We Need Centralized Services

While preprints have been around since before arXiv.org launched in 1991, fields outside of physics are starting to push for more early sharing of research data, results and conclusions.

The Quantified Self and the Gamification of Academic Research Through Social Networks

The Quantified Self and the Gamification of Academic Research Through Social Networks

ResearchGate and similar services represent a “gamification” of research, drawing on features usually associated with online games, like rewards, rankings and levels.

Defining Open Peer Review

Defining Open Peer Review

Recently, our colleagues at OpenAIRE have published a systematic review of ‘Open Peer Review’ (OPR). As part of this, they defined seven consistent traits of OPR, which we thought sounded like a remarkably good opportunity to help clarify how peer review works at ScienceOpen. At ScienceOpen, we have over 31 million article records all available for …

Sci-Hub Study Suggests Publishers’ Embargoes ‘Not Viable’

Sci-Hub Study Suggests Publishers’ Embargoes ‘Not Viable’

Analysis of scholarly publishing’s ‘Napster’ shows that academics are not prepared to wait to access research. 35 per cent of articles downloaded from Sci-Hub were less than two years old when they were accessed.

NIH to Cap Grants for Well-Funded Investigators

NIH to Cap Grants for Well-Funded Investigators

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced plans last week to impose a new grant scoring system that would cap how much support an investigator can receive from the agency.

Artificial Intelligence Can Expedite Scientific Communication and Eradicate Bias From the Publishing Process

Artificial Intelligence Can Expedite Scientific Communication and Eradicate Bias From the Publishing Process

Although automated publishing would allow researchers to share their findings faster, while also removing human bias, there are obvious ethical dilemmas related to this dehumanisation of the process.