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If we want to improve peer review, we'll need to invest in training

If we want to improve peer review, we'll need to invest in training

New reviewers are anxious to get some formal coaching before they start commenting the work of fellow academics.

Automatic Generation of Scientific Paper Reviews

Automatic Generation of Scientific Paper Reviews

Peer review is widely viewed as an essential step for ensuring scientific quality of a work and is a cornerstone of scholarly publishing. In this work we investigate the feasibility of a tool capable of generating fake reviews for a given scientific paper automatically.

Bias against novelty in science

Bias against novelty in science

Novel breakthroughs in research can have a dramatic impact on scientific discovery but face some distinct disadvantages in getting wider recognition.

Why scientists are losing the fight to communicate science to the public

Why scientists are losing the fight to communicate science to the public

Scientists and science communicators are engaged in a constant battle with ignorance. But that’s an approach doomed to failure, says Richard P Grant.

A Simple, Low-Cost, Effective Method for Increasing Transparency

A Simple, Low-Cost, Effective Method for Increasing Transparency

Badges that acknowledge open practices significantly increase sharing of reported data and materials, as well as subsequent accessibility, correctness, usability, and completeness.

Science in the age of selfies

Science in the age of selfies

A time traveler from 1915 arriving in 1965 would have been astonished by the scientific theories and engineering technologies invented during that half century. One can only speculate, but it seems likely that few of the major advances that emerged during those 50 years were even remotely foreseeable in 1915.

The Untold History of Women in Science and Technology

The Untold History of Women in Science and Technology

Listen to women from across the Administration tell the stories of their personal heroes across the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

A Different Kind of Scientific Revolution

A Different Kind of Scientific Revolution

Barbara A. Spellman on the role of technological and demographic changes

A Systematic Identification and Analysis of Scientists on Twitter

A Systematic Identification and Analysis of Scientists on Twitter

Metrics derived from Twitter and other social media are increasingly used to estimate the broader social impacts of scholarship. Such efforts, however, may produce highly misleading results, as the entities that participate in conversations about science on these platforms are largely unknown.

Nasa to make all its research available free on the Internet

Nasa to make all its research available free on the Internet

The American space agency, Nasa, is to make all its research available free of charge.

The Post-Embargo Citation Advantage

The Post-Embargo Citation Advantage

Many studies show that open access (OA) articles are downloaded, and presumably read, more often than closed access/subscription-only articles. This study addresses those factors and shows that an open access citation advantage as high as 19% exists, even when articles are embargoed during some or all of their prime citation years.

The Unpredictable Art of Science — and a Tentative Manifesto to Foster It

The Unpredictable Art of Science — and a Tentative Manifesto to Foster It

If we continue on the current path of adding ever tighter controls and conformities to research without understanding their effects on the impact and quality of that research, then we will likely be wasting money.

How not to respond to reviewers: Eight simple tips

How not to respond to reviewers: Eight simple tips

Responding to reviewer reports is a key part of publishing academic work in peer reviewed journals. But if you’ve received mixed reviews of a paper or are publishing for the first time, where do you start?

Should writing for the public count toward tenure?

Should writing for the public count toward tenure?

The American Sociological Association is starting a conversation to include “public communication” -- work often largely ignored -- in the assessment of a scholar’s contributions. Why does it matter?

Progress lies in precision

Progress lies in precision

If we want to achieve the ambitions set out by the United Nations for global health and development by 2030, we need to bring two worlds closer together through a new concept—precision public health.

Fabricating science: discussing fraud can rebuild community confidence and deepen understanding of how science works

Fabricating science: discussing fraud can rebuild community confidence and deepen understanding of how science works

Openly discussing the history of science, where is has gone wrong, and the incredible efforts individual scientists go to uncover fraud should inspire confidence in its self-correcting nature.

Donald Trump's Lack of Respect for Science Is Alarming

Donald Trump's Lack of Respect for Science Is Alarming

The U.S. presidential election shows how far the political conversation has degenerated from the nation's founding principles of truth and evidence.