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Harold Varmus to resign as head of US cancer institute

Harold Varmus to resign as head of US cancer institute

The NCI call it the end of an era. Harold Varmus, director of the US NCI and former director of the NIH, announced on 4 March that he will be stepping down from his post at the end of the month.

Workshop held by the NRC last week

Workshop held by the NRC last week

A workshop held by the National Research Council in the US addressed statistical challenges in assessing and fostering the reproducibility of scientific results by examining the extent of reproducibility, the causes of reproducibility failures, and potential remedies. Here's the program.

Switzerland still heads the ranking in 2014

Switzerland still heads the ranking in 2014

While the Netherlands, France and the UK showed significant growth, other countries such as Finland, Switzerland and Spain declined. However, Switzerland still heads the ranking with 848 applications per million inhabitants.

Human Brain Project votes for leadership change

Human Brain Project votes for leadership change

Europe's ambitious but contentious €1-billion HBP has announced changes to its organization in a response to criticism of its management and scientific trajectory by many high-ranking neuroscientists.

Science research facilities prepare for shutdown

Science research facilities prepare for shutdown

Facilities prepare for shutdown as government refuses to secure funding. Up to 1,700 jobs at 27 facilities at risk from 30 June, with $150m in vital funding tied to the Coalition’s higher-education changes.

Momentum for European innovation and competitiveness

Momentum for European innovation and competitiveness

Carlos Moedas' speech, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, in Berlin last week in favor of open science, disruptive innovation and digital technologies.

To tweet or not to tweet?

To tweet or not to tweet?

Not only are scientific articles that have strong coverage in social media likely to be cited more in the future, social media is also the tool that allows us to communicate directly with the general public.

From Attention to Citation, What and How Does [kI9vhqGCQ8uznDo2yTnm_51c436c5e660e2acf449f72f5ec4b4d0_400x400.png]

From Attention to Citation, What and How Does [kI9vhqGCQ8uznDo2yTnm_51c436c5e660e2acf449f72f5ec4b4d0_400x400.png]

[24]Altmetrics Work?

The IUS as a tool to analyse national innovation capacities: The case of Switzerland [s9kRYq0oS8mXmF8Xd1kQ_oJ6dbPoR_400x400.jpeg]

The IUS as a tool to analyse national innovation capacities: The case of Switzerland [s9kRYq0oS8mXmF8Xd1kQ_oJ6dbPoR_400x400.jpeg]

This article investigates the Innovation Union Scoreboard (IUS) as a tool to carry out case studies about national innovation capacities in the case of given countries..

When right beats might

When right beats might

The final act in a long-running saga should bring tighter controls on unproven therapies, both at home and abroad.

New PLOS ONE Collection focuses on Negative, Null and Inconclusive Results

New PLOS ONE Collection focuses on Negative, Null and Inconclusive Results

"I never quit until I get what I'm after. Negative results are just what I'm after. They are just as valuable to me as positive results." - Thomas A. Edison.

Updated Open Science Peer Review Oath [OdWEbgJGTuegDl2APXt6__fMPwwQw_400x400.png]

Updated Open Science Peer Review Oath [OdWEbgJGTuegDl2APXt6__fMPwwQw_400x400.png]

We propose steps to help increase the transparency of the scientific method and the reproducibility of research results.

Altmetric partners with Paperity in measuring social impact of papers

Altmetric partners with Paperity in measuring social impact of papers

The cooperation will expose to Altmetric the metadata of all the Paperity articles for proper identification. In return, Altmetric will track social mentions of these articles and measure online attention they receive, with calculation of Altmetric score.

University Research Fellowships

University Research Fellowships

Why only 2 of 43 young scientists receiving the prestigious University Research Fellowships in the UK were women.

Addressing systemic problems in the biomedical research enterprise: An Update

Addressing systemic problems in the biomedical research enterprise: An Update

Last spring, the four of us published an essay in PNAS in which we described the severe problems now faced by scientists working in the US biomedical research system, recommending several steps that might be taken to improve the situation...

Why there is no iTunes for science papers [j0wXuoeTr60Z5v2U8pvQ_mfenner_400x400.jpg]

Why there is no iTunes for science papers [j0wXuoeTr60Z5v2U8pvQ_mfenner_400x400.jpg]

Scholarly articles are distributed almost exclusively in digital form. While there is an increasing number of journal articles freely available via green or gold open access, the majority of them still can only be read if the reader works at an institution with a subscription to the journal..

Authoring scientific papers: a perspective from the trenches

Authoring scientific papers: a perspective from the trenches

It has taken a while, but the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences (SAAS) have come out with a valuable booklet on authorships of scientific manuscripts. This recommendations, published now also as a special article in the Swiss Medical Weekly, aspire to serve as a practical guide for principal investigators confronted with the task of assigning authorships to the individuals contributing to scientific manuscripts.

Systematic inequality and hierarchy in faculty hiring networks

Systematic inequality and hierarchy in faculty hiring networks

A quantitative understanding of faculty hiring as a system is lacking. Our study suggests that faculty hiring follows a common and steeply hierarchical structure that reflects profound social inequality.

Collective credit allocation in science [MuDVn3d4SQSYQl1lC44Y_xVubZLal_400x400.jpeg]

Collective credit allocation in science [MuDVn3d4SQSYQl1lC44Y_xVubZLal_400x400.jpeg]

The paper develops a credit allocation algorithm that captures the coauthors’ contribution to a publication as perceived by the scientific community.

The bachelor's to Ph.D. STEM pipeline no longer leaks more women than men: a 30-year analysis

The bachelor's to Ph.D. STEM pipeline no longer leaks more women than men: a 30-year analysis

The leaky pipeline metaphor partially explains historical gender differences in the U.S., but no longer describes current gender differences in the bachelor’s to Ph.D. transition in STEM.