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Random Audits Could Shift the Incentive for Researchers From Quantity to Quality

Random Audits Could Shift the Incentive for Researchers From Quantity to Quality

One way to push back against the pressure to “publish or perish” is to randomly audit a small proportion of researchers and take time to assess their research in detail. Auditors could examine complex measures of quality which no metric could ever capture such as originality, reproducibility, and research translation.

Inexpensive Research in the Golden Open-Access Era

Inexpensive Research in the Golden Open-Access Era

The financial pressure that publishers impose on libraries is a worldwide concern. Gold open-access publishing with an expensive article-processing charge paid by the authors is often presented as an ideal solution to this problem. However, such a system threatens less-funded departments and even article quality.

Against Metrics: How Measuring Performance by Numbers Backfires

Against Metrics: How Measuring Performance by Numbers Backfires

Contrary to commonsense belief, attempts to measure productivity through performance metrics discourage initiative, innovation and risk-taking. The entrepreneurial element of human nature is stifled by metric fixation.

The Text and Data Mining Exception in the Proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market: Why It Is Not What Eu Copyright Law Needs?

The Text and Data Mining Exception in the Proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market: Why It Is Not What Eu Copyright Law Needs?

Text and Data Mining. Or the creation of new knowledge from existing information (but not in the EU).

Why the Term 'Article Processing Charge' (APC) Is Misleading

Why the Term 'Article Processing Charge' (APC) Is Misleading

It is clear that APCs cover both the direct processing costs and the indirect costs of running the entire publishing business. Therefore, the term APC is itself misleading.

Science's 'Irreproducibility Crisis' Is a Public Policy Crisis Too

Science's 'Irreproducibility Crisis' Is a Public Policy Crisis Too

Congress will have to pay for some steps to ensure greater reproducibility in the sciences. In the end, those steps will save enormous amounts now spent building blind allies and mirages. What’s needed are standardized descriptions of scientific materials and procedures, standardized statistics programs, and standardized archival formats. 

Peer Review Processes Risk Stifling Creativity and Limiting Opportunities for Game-Changing Scientific Discoveries

Peer Review Processes Risk Stifling Creativity and Limiting Opportunities for Game-Changing Scientific Discoveries

Obviously peer review should not be abandoned entirely, but it is time to recognise the need for a separate category of highly innovative research with appropriate funding.

Open Peer Review: Bringing Transparency, Accountability, and Inclusivity to the Peer Review Process

Open Peer Review: Bringing Transparency, Accountability, and Inclusivity to the Peer Review Process

Open peer review is moving into the mainstream, but it is often poorly understood and surveys of researcher attitudes show important barriers to implementation. Tony Ross-Hellauer provides an overv…

The Citation Graph Is One of Humankind's Most Important Intellectual Achievements

The Citation Graph Is One of Humankind's Most Important Intellectual Achievements

When researchers write, we don't just describe new findings - we place them in context by citing the work of others. Citations trace the lineage of ideas, connecting disparate lines of scholarship into a cohesive body of knowledge, and forming the basis of how we know what we know.

Is Science Hitting a Wall?

Economists show increased research efforts are yielding decreasing returns. Too much innovation veneration! One driver of the replication crisis is our culture’s growing obsession with “innovation.” As technology historians Lee Vinsel and Andrew Russell state in their influential Aeon essay Hail the Maintainers: “Entire societies have come to talk about innovation as if it were an inherently desirable value."

Seven Functionalities the Scholarly Literature Should Have

Seven Functionalities the Scholarly Literature Should Have

A short list of seven functionalities that academic publishers looking to modernize their operations might invest in; from unencumbered access and improved social components, to dynamic data visualisations and more precise hyperlinking.

Philanthropists, Nonprofit Executives And Board Members Must Awaken To The Dawn Of The Impact Era

Philanthropists, Nonprofit Executives And Board Members Must Awaken To The Dawn Of The Impact Era

We are entering a new era - the Impact Era - where increasingly philanthropists are grounding their generosity in decisions focused on having a real social impact. And, in response, nonprofit organizations are learning to refocus their strategies to maximize that impact.

Yes, Being a Woman in Science Is Hard. That’s Why We’re Trying to Change It.

Yes, Being a Woman in Science Is Hard. That’s Why We’re Trying to Change It.

Spotlighting injustice while ignoring the solutions we put forward erases our agency.