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One Small Grain of Moon Dust, One Giant Leap for Lunar Studies

One Small Grain of Moon Dust, One Giant Leap for Lunar Studies

Back in 1972, NASA sent their last team of astronauts to the Moon in the Apollo 17 mission. These astronauts brought some of the Moon back to Earth so scientists could continue to study lunar soil in their labs. Since we haven't returned to the Moon in almost 50 years, every lunar sample is precious. We need to make them count for researchers now and in the future. In a new study in Meteoritics & Planetary Science, scientists found a new way to analyze the chemistry of the Moon's soil using a single grain of dust.

How Academia Resembles a Drug Gang

Academic systems rely on the existence of a supply of "outsiders" ready to forgo wages and employment security in exchange for the prospect of uncertain security, prestige, freedom and reasonably high salaries that tenured positions entail.

'Death by a Thousand Cuts': Women of Colour in Science Face a Subtly Hostile Work Environment

'Death by a Thousand Cuts': Women of Colour in Science Face a Subtly Hostile Work Environment

Scientific research can be a daunting career choice for women of colour, according to a recent survey which found they face a "barrage of brief, everyday racial slights" at work.

Special Issue on Emerging FAIR Practices Published in Data Intelligence

Special Issue on Emerging FAIR Practices Published in Data Intelligence

In this special issue, the original conception of the FAIR data principles and what they are intended to cover is explained in detail.

Evaluation of Cancellation of Journal Agreement with Elsevier 2018

Evaluation of Cancellation of Journal Agreement with Elsevier 2018

For 17 months, the Bibsam Consortium did not have an agreement with the world's largest scholarly publisher, Elsevier. There is now a summary of the consequences for the consortium, the concerned organizations and their researchers.

Open Science Maturity: Universities in Finland in the Leading Position

Open Science Maturity: Universities in Finland in the Leading Position

Finland has already achieved considerable milestones in fostering an open science culture on a national level. A recently published evaluation highlights best practices in Finland, barriers and ideas to remove them.

Brexit: Implications for Swiss Higher Education Institutions

Brexit: Implications for Swiss Higher Education Institutions

Resources compiled by swissuniversities to address questions that UK researchers and students on mobility programmes within Swiss higher education institutions will be confronted with after the Brexit.

Berghahn will flip thirteen anthropology journals to open access in 2020

Berghahn will flip thirteen anthropology journals to open access in 2020

Berghahn Books will take the step of publishing thirteen core anthropology journals as open access starting with their 2020 volumes under the subscribe-to-open model (S2O). 

Open Scholarship Knowledge Base

Open Scholarship Knowledge Base

The Open Scholarship Knowledge Base is a collaborative initiative to curate and share knowledge about the what, why, and how of open scholarship.

'People Can't Learn About Treatments They Need': Why Open Access to Medical Research Matters

'People Can't Learn About Treatments They Need': Why Open Access to Medical Research Matters

Campaigners have argued for open access to scientific research since the dawn of the internet - so why is it taking so long?

Childhood Obesity Is a Major Problem. Research Isn't Helping.

Childhood Obesity Is a Major Problem. Research Isn't Helping.

Childhood obesity is a major public health problem, and has been for some time - but something is missing with many study methods.

What Researchers Think About the Culture They Work In: Quantitative Dataset

What Researchers Think About the Culture They Work In: Quantitative Dataset

Here we present an anonymized version of the dataset that we collected in the quantitative phase of Wellcome's research on research culture. Additionally, we present a document detailing how the data was transformed to protect anonymity. We also present a flowchart that indicates how participants were guided to answer questions in the survey.

Tackling the Global Misinformation Crisis One Reference, One Librarian at a Time

Tackling the Global Misinformation Crisis One Reference, One Librarian at a Time

We're calling on librarians around the world to help make Wikipedia stronger than ever, in a world that needs reliable information more t…

Nobel Prize Winner Frances Arnold Retracts Paper, Here Is The Reaction

Nobel Prize Winner Frances Arnold Retracts Paper, Here Is The Reaction

Arnold's move garnered praise on Twitter and showed how scientific research needs to change.

Best Data Visualization Projects of 2019

Best Data Visualization Projects of 2019

As I do every year, I picked my ten favorite visualization projects. Here they are in no particular order.

Who Is Competing to Own Researcher Identity?

Who Is Competing to Own Researcher Identity?

The structural transition wrought by the internet continues to transform the journal-centric model of scholarly publishing into a researcher-centric model of scholarly communication. Success requires engagement with researcher identity, which is a struggle even for most of the largest publishing.

Guidance for Research Organisations on How to Implement the Principles of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment | Wellcome

Guidance for Research Organisations on How to Implement the Principles of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment | Wellcome

Draft guidance for Wellcome-funded organisations on how to implement the core principles of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).