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'Transformative' Open Access Publishing Deals Are Only Entrenching Commercial Power
'Transformative' Open Access Publishing Deals Are Only Entrenching Commercial Power
Funders and researchers are squandering a huge opportunity to create a more just and effective system, says Jon Tennant
Open Source for Scholarly Publishing: An Inventory and Analysis
A new research report provides an inventory of some 52 ongoing open source publishing initiatives and a thoughtful analysis of the open source community in publishing.
AmeliCA Before Plan S
Open access is often discussed as a process of flipping the existing closed subscription based model of scholarly communication to an open one. However, in Latin America an open access ecosystem for scholarly publishing has been in place for over a decade.
Misconduct Investigators, Show Your Work
Weighting transparency and confidentiality in scientific misconduct investigations.
Unethical Work Must Be Filtered out or Flagged
Researchers need guidance on how to handle published work whose ethics have been questioned.
Why We Shouldn’t Take Peer Review as the ‘Gold Standard’
Targeting a general audience, this opinion piece argues that with more transparency about the publication process, we might have a more nuanced understanding of how knowledge is built - and fewer people taking “peer-reviewed” to mean settled truth.
Academic Publishing Empires Need to Go
In response to the recent editorial "Open access and academic imperialism", disappointment is expressed at such a narrow and misleading interpretations of the recent attempts to make academic publishing more open.
What Boris Johnson's Leadership Could Mean for Science
The next UK prime minister is a controversial character - and his stance on Brexit concerns researchers.
A Call for Funders to Ban Institutions That Use Grant Capture Targets
Grant capture is often used as a formal metric for academic evaluation. The author argues that this practice has led to perverse incentives for researchers and institutions and that research funders have both a responsibility and a significant interest in using their influence to halt this practice.
Guest Post: Plan S Version 2 and the Cost of Quality
EMBO's Bernd Pulverer looks at the revised Plan S Implementation Guidelines.
Our Disabilities Have Made Us Better Scientists
But only because we have had access to health care, emotional support and institutional backing.
Why It's So Hard To Reform Peer Review
Measurement creates a temptation to achieve a measurable goal by less than totally honest means. As in physics, the simple act of measuring invariably disturbs what you are trying to measure.
A Debate is Under Way About the Cost of Higher Education
The meaning of a debate about the cost of higher education.
Nutrition Science Is Broken. This New Egg Study Shows Why.
At turns lauded and vilified, the humble egg is an example of everything wrong with nutrition studies.
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: the Frustration of Diversity Efforts in STEM
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: the Frustration of Diversity Efforts in STEM
Keynote at PyData LondonJuly 14, 2019https://pydata.org/london2019/schedule/presentation/47/DescriptionTech has spent millions of dollars in efforts to diversify workplaces. Despite this, it seems after each spell of progress, a series of retrograde events ensue. Anti-diversity manifestos, backlash to assertive hiring, and sexual misconduct scandals crop up every few months, sucking the air from every board room. This will be a digest of research, recent events, and pointers on women in STEM.AbstractTwo years ago, a Google engineer attended a diversity program. He had such an adverse reaction to it, that he proceeded to write a 10-page anti-diversity manifesto that he circulated on internal channels. It later became public, furor ensued, and the engineer was fired. Far from being the end of the story, this engineer played the victim of political correctness and became a darling of conservative media outlets. What happened here? One tech company's attempts to educate its employees and improve the internal culture mightily backfired and as a result the cause for women in STEM was choked back. While a general sense that moving toward gender parity is desirable (though some still disagree with this premise), what actions to take remains unclear. Diversity trainings have been scarcely evaluated, and when they have, they seem to change awareness but not behavior. Sometimes, they create a backlash. More assertive action, like quotas, engender open resentment. Women in science and technology are underestimated by peers and teachers, pressed by stereotypes, disadvantaged in hiring and career progression, sexually harassed, disheartened as their expertise is ignored…and now they are resented for diversity initiatives. Science and technology needs its leaders to be fully committed to diversity and in frank understanding of the social-justice underpinnings. Two vehicles for change are: men leaders who are allies, and more women in leadership. The recent DataCamp debacle shows that a whole community's action was needed to right the wrongs of one harasser and one company's reticence to make him accountable. I aim to elicit your commitments to hire and promote women affirmatively, and to get educated and empower activism with evidence.
I Hate Open Science
Blog post encourages using more specific terms to decrease ambiguity in discussions around open science.
Taking Pride in Our Researchers
To celebrate LGBTSTEM Day, our researchers talk about being #LGBT in science and engineering and why celebrating diversity is so important.
Farewell Authors, Hello Contributors
More disciplines must embrace a system of academic credit that rewards a greater range of roles more specifically.
Universities Show Their True Colours in Court
Institutions cannot boast of a respectful environment for researchers and trainees if they flout those values to cut legal liability, says Steven Piantadosi.
The Largest Obstacles to Open Access Are Unfamiliarity and Misunderstanding of Open Access Itself
The Largest Obstacles to Open Access Are Unfamiliarity and Misunderstanding of Open Access Itself
Explaining the current trends, issues and challenges of open access with special focus on Plan S, Plan U, article processing charges (APC), access issues and predatory publishing practices.
Had I Been Editor in Chief
Had I Been Editor in Chief
i recently applied for the editor in chief position at Psychological Science. i didn't get it, but i got far enough to be asked to write a vision statement, responding to eight prompts.
Rejected Article Tracking with the CrossRef API
Nothing burdens the heart of a journal editor more than rejecting an article. Partly, this is because you know you're giving someone…
How Do Monographs Fit with the Open Access Agenda?
By 2021, the major UK funders will have implemented policies and mandates on OA monographs, joining a growing international list.
Do the Best Academics Fly More?
Academic flying is often justified on the basis that international conferences and travel are important to the production of new knowledge. However, there is no clear relationship between the amount of travel undertaken by academics and the quality of their research.
Scientific Research Shouldn't Sit Behind a Paywall
The public pays taxes to support research; they should be able to access the results
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