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Triennial review of the RCUK

Triennial review of the RCUK

Triennial review examining the form, function and governance of the UK’s seven Research Councils.

Changing winds in science funding

Changing winds in science funding

Bias can taint scientific research, as conclusions are sensitive to the conscious and unconscious choices scientists make in study design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation.

We can fix peer review now

We can fix peer review now

Scientists are asked to comment on static, final, published versions of papers, with virtually no potential to improve the articles. This is the state of post-publication peer review today.

Investing in partnerships in research and innovation

Investing in partnerships in research and innovation

The EU Parliament has adopted a package of public-private and public-public research partnerships worth up to €22bn.

A change in the resubmission policy

A change in the resubmission policy

The NIH is to allow researchers to base new grant applications on ideas that have previously been rejected for funding.

Foreign aid turns to research

Foreign aid turns to research

The UK has launched a five-year US$630 million fund to support science and innovation partnerships with researchers in developing countries that will focus on economic development.

The cost of academic publishing

The cost of academic publishing

What could the UK academic community do with £14.5 million? That is what just 19 Universities in the UK are spending in total during a single year on journal subscriptions to a single publisher.

Science tools anyone can afford

Science tools anyone can afford

"Today people look at these extraordinary labs and forget that in the 1800s they could still do the exact same science." -- Manu Prakash

Tobacco industry-funded research, peer review, and nannying

Tobacco industry-funded research, peer review, and nannying

Aside from the occasional cigar (once every five years or so), I'm one of those smug "never smoked" gits. You then might think that I'm all for plain packaging, not publishing tobacco industry-funded research, and completely against the " normalization" of smoking via the evidently evil medium of e-cigarettes.

Credit where credit is due

Credit where credit is due

Liz Allen, Amy Brand, Jo Scott, Micah Altman and Marjorie Hlava are trialling digital taxonomies to help researchers to identify their contributions to collaborative projects. Research today is rarely a one-person job.

Ein Fünftel der Schweizer Stiftungen unterstützt Wissenschaft

Ein Fünftel der Schweizer Stiftungen unterstützt Wissenschaft

Ein Studie zeigt, dass immer mehr Stiftungen in der Schweiz die Wissenschaft fördern.

The post-doctoral situation: interview with Gregory Petsko

The post-doctoral situation: interview with Gregory Petsko

Gregory Petsko discusses some of his own findings about the post-doctoral situation: "We asked institutions to tell us how many post-docs they had. Almost without exception, they couldn't do it."

Nations chasing Harvard merge colleges to ascend rankings

Nations chasing Harvard merge colleges to ascend rankings

Countries from Finland to Portugal are shaping their higher education policies based on outside rankings, eager for the validation and attention the annual lists bestow, even while they are criticized as flawed or misleading.

Member states told to welcome researchers

Member states told to welcome researchers

Researchers and students are struggling with obstructive rules on immigration to the EU that urgently need updating: scientists from countries outside the EU are not being made welcome and often face problems in moving freely between member states.

The sexiest job of the 21st century

The sexiest job of the 21st century

The sudden appearance of data scientists on the business scene reflects the fact that companies are now wrestling with information that comes in varieties and volumes never encountered before.

Science funding and short-term economic activity

Science funding and short-term economic activity

New data show the short-term economic activity generated by science funding, by Julia Lane.