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Scientific journals should stop trying to be exciting - and focus on being right

Scientific journals should stop trying to be exciting - and focus on being right

Scientists desperate to have an "impact" in their field are cherry-picking and misrepresenting their results. It's the natural result of a desperate scramble to publish. Science, according to a recent Nature article, is like Battleship. You fire shots into the dark and mostly miss your target.

How to fix peer review

How to fix peer review

Peer review, many boffins argue, channelling Churchill, is the worst way to ensure quality of research, except all the others. The system, which relies on papers being vetted by anonymous experts prior to publication, has underpinned scientific literature for decades.

The DIY dilemma

The DIY dilemma

The do-it-yourself-biology movement has an image problem. More commonly called DIYbio, it tends to conjure up pictures of T-shirt-clad misfits marshalling limited scientific skill in their basements as they try to make cool-but-fringe things such as glow-in-the-dark plants.

Enemy of the good

Enemy of the good

Who are the outstanding mentors of young researchers? Since 2005, Nature has awarded an annual prize for scientific mentoring, rotating through a variety of countries.

Research funding has become prone to bubble formation

Research funding has become prone to bubble formation

Research from the University of Copenhagen, which has just been published in the journal Philosophy and Technology, shows how the mechanisms that set off the financial crisis might be replicating in the field of science.

Where does this leave the scientists?

Where does this leave the scientists?

Researchers can still operate by the rules and norms of science, but under Horizon 2020 they have - with the exception of the ERC - no autonomy to decide what science they do.

Science funding and the value of science investigation and education

Science funding and the value of science investigation and education

"We must put a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth before the end of the decade." These were the words spoken in 1961 to Congress by the late President John F.Kennedy, who fifty years ago this month was struck down by an assassin's bullet in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.

What's so special about science? (And how much should we spend on it?)

What's so special about science? (And how much should we spend on it?)

Presidential address on why society is willing to support an endeavor as abstract and altruistic as basic scientific research and an enterprise as large and practical as the R&D enterprise as a whole.

The end of written grant applications: Let's use a formula

The end of written grant applications: Let's use a formula

Hours spent writing grant applications could be spent actually doing research with a grant-determining formula.

Two dirty secrets about science funding

Two dirty secrets about science funding

There's a little-known dirty secret in science funding; prior to World War II and the Manhattan Project, the overwhelming majority of basic research was done by corporations. Thus, the tanks, planes, materials advancements and everything else were created by the private sector.

What is the scientist's role in society and how do we teach it?

What is the scientist's role in society and how do we teach it?

Early career researchers need to learn how policy is made and assessed to encourage more joined-up thinking in science.

Ought to Worry Business

Ought to Worry Business

Business leaders have many reasons to complain about the budget high jinks consuming Washington, but here's one that gets too little attention: the damage automatic budget cuts are doing to basic research in America.

Why research assessment is out of control

Why research assessment is out of control

Universities and academics cannot live without the Research Excellence Framework, but we need to go back to a simpler form of measurement, argues Peter Scott

Science has lost its way, at a big cost to humanity

Science has lost its way, at a big cost to humanity

Researchers are rewarded for splashy findings, not for double-checking accuracy. So many scientists looking for cures to diseases have been building on ideas that aren't even true.

I Do Not Want an Initiative, I Want Open Access

I Do Not Want an Initiative, I Want Open Access

I am interested in copyright law, and especially interested in the inefficiencies and loopholes that have developed in a majority of creative industries as they have undergone the shift from analog to digital formats.

How can non-scientists influence the course of scientific research?

How can non-scientists influence the course of scientific research?

Science communication should be more than the dissemination of results to the public; it should also flow in the other direction, with members of the public able to communicate their priorities to scientists and those who fund them. But how?

Six steps to fairer funding for female scientists

Six steps to fairer funding for female scientists

Although approximately 50% of PhD students and postdoctoral scientists are female, males run the majority of research laboratories. Despite some reform over the past three decades, there is still an exodus of female scientists from academic research at the transitional stage between a postdoctoral researcher and laboratory head.