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Open Research Glossary by the Right to Research Coalition

Open Research Glossary by the Right to Research Coalition

A glossary of open research terms to inform people about the culture of ‘open scholarship’.

Germany vs Elsevier: Universities Win Temporary Journal Access After Refusing to Pay Fees

Germany vs Elsevier: Universities Win Temporary Journal Access After Refusing to Pay Fees

Elsevier is allowing researchers in Germany to access its paywalled journals without a contract until a national agreement is hammered out.

Is Reproducibility Really Central to Science?

Is Reproducibility Really Central to Science?

The Neuroskeptic commentary on a new paper by Chris Drummond about the ‘reproducibility movement’. Assuming that what really matters is the testability of a given hypothesis, how fundamental is reproducibility to science?

What Do You Do When They Say "No?"

What Do You Do When They Say "No?"

After unanimous recommendations for Promotion with Tenure from both the department and college committees, the Dean overturned the committees' votes. He would not be recommending me for tenure.

 

Prestige and Inequality in the Ivory Tower

Prestige and Inequality in the Ivory Tower

Inequalities in academic citation distribution are analyzed using Thomas Piketty's approach to analyzing economic inequality, with some fascinating results.

What Does It Mean to Read the Literature, Really?

What Does It Mean to Read the Literature, Really?

In a profession rewarding productivity in the form of papers and grants, sitting down to deeply read journal articles can feel like wasted time. Professor logs every paper she read over multiple years to gain insight on personal research practices.

Attitudes and Norms Affecting Scientists' Data Reuse

Attitudes and Norms Affecting Scientists' Data Reuse

Article showing that the perceived efficacy and efficiency of data reuse are strong predictors of reuse behavior, and that the perceived importance of data reuse corresponds to greater reuse.

Pharma Could Cut Its Losses with a Bit of Sharing

Pharma Could Cut Its Losses with a Bit of Sharing

Efforts to engage life science companies in open innovation have been hampered by the industry’s continued reticence to share. The result is shrinking pipelines, a wave of drug patent expirations ending in sudden drops in revenue, and poorly served public health.

ReMediate Your Research: Taking Your Scholarship Public

ReMediate Your Research: Taking Your Scholarship Public

Tips for grad students: the options for communicating your research beyond the dissertation or journal article are nearly endless and range from video games to comic books, but two of the easiest to work with are podcasts and infographics.

Pre-print Open Access Site arXiv Surpasses Billion Download Mark

Pre-print Open Access Site arXiv Surpasses Billion Download Mark

The pre-print database for scientists to test the peer-review waters was set up in 1991 as a relatively simple electronic bulletin board on a single computer. Twenty-six years later, the site arXiv.org has surpassed a full billion downloads of papers and receives more than 10 million submissions each month.

Can Science Save Humanity? The Debate Between HG Wells and George Orwell Is Still Relevant Today

Can Science Save Humanity? The Debate Between HG Wells and George Orwell Is Still Relevant Today

There is no shortage of problems facing humankind. What role science has in tackling them has long been debated.

Fallibility in Science: Responding to Errors in the Work of Oneself and Others

Fallibility in Science: Responding to Errors in the Work of Oneself and Others

For science to progress, we have to accept the inevitability of error.

The Replication Crisis in Science

The Replication Crisis in Science

There have been two distinct responses to the replication crisis – by instituting measures like registered reports and by making data openly available. But another group continues to remain in denial.

There Is No Ban on Words at the CDC. But What’s Actually Happening to Science Is Scarier.

There Is No Ban on Words at the CDC. But What’s Actually Happening to Science Is Scarier.

They’re not hiding behind language - they’re acting in plain sight.

The Relative Influences of Government Funding and International Collaboration on Citation Impact

The Relative Influences of Government Funding and International Collaboration on Citation Impact

International collaboration improves the impact of average research papers, whereas more government funding tends to have a small adverse effect when comparing OECD countries.

Reply to Arguelles and Arguelles-Prieto, "Are the Editors Responsible for Our Obsession with the Impact Factor?"

Reply to Arguelles and Arguelles-Prieto, "Are the Editors Responsible for Our Obsession with the Impact Factor?"

The preoccupation with journal IF is generated by the scientists comprising the review committees responsible for hiring, promotion, or funding decisions.

Precision Medical Treatments Have A Quality Control Problem

Precision Medical Treatments Have A Quality Control Problem

The goal is to customize treatments for cancer and other diseases to a patient's own biology. But something as simple as failing to take care of tissue samples en route to the lab can derail that.