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A Conversation with a data integrity specialist who works to keep published images honest

A Conversation with a data integrity specialist who works to keep published images honest

Kaoru Sakabe is academic publishing’s version of an in-house detective. In 2017, she and editors at the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) conducted a pilot study looking for image manipulation in accepted papers. When 10% of papers came back with a possible issue, the team was shocked.

Open Access Transformation in Switzerland & Germany: A Synopsis of Agreements with Wiley, Springer Nature & Elsevier

Open Access Transformation in Switzerland & Germany: A Synopsis of Agreements with Wiley, Springer Nature & Elsevier

Since Germany has been trying for years to reach such a contract with Elsevier, it is worth comparing it with the two transformative contracts with Wiley and Springer Nature in Germany, which were reached and coordinated by Project DEAL.

Drivers of Article Processing Charges in Open Access

Drivers of Article Processing Charges in Open Access

This study sheds light on the various determinants of Articel Processing Charges in Open Access. The results strongly support the hypothesis that academia runs the risk not to take advantage of the cost-reducing opportunities inherent to digitization via a hybrid oa-strategy.

An Extensive Analysis of the Presence of Altmetric Data for Web of Science Publications Across Subject Fields and Research Topics

An Extensive Analysis of the Presence of Altmetric Data for Web of Science Publications Across Subject Fields and Research Topics

This paper presents a state-of-the-art analysis of the presence of 12 kinds of altmetric events for nearly 12.3 million Web of Science publications published between 2012 and 2018.

Why Figshare? Choosing a New Technical Infrastructure for 4TU.ResearchData

Why Figshare? Choosing a New Technical Infrastructure for 4TU.ResearchData

Written by Marta Teperek & Alastair Dunning 4TU.ResearchData is an international repository for research data in science, engineering and design. After over 10 years of using Fedora, an open so…

Covid-19 "Long Haulers" Are Organizing Online to Study Themselves

Covid-19 "Long Haulers" Are Organizing Online to Study Themselves

Slack groups and social media are connecting people who've never fully recovered from coronavirus to collect data on their condition.

The Perils of Preprints

The Perils of Preprints

Their use and platforms require greater scrutiny Preprints-manuscripts that have not undergone peer review-were first embraced in physics, catalysed by the creation in the early 1990s of arXiv.org, an open online repository for scholarly papers.1 It was not until 2013 that similar initiatives were embraced by the biological and then medical sciences,2 and novel publishing platforms continue to emerge. Some commentators believe the potential for harm is outweighed by the benefits,134 but others have raised specific concerns regarding medical preprints and mitigating the risk of harm to the public.2 These discussions need to be revisited in the context of the covid-19 pandemic, which has been accompanied by an explosion of preprint publications. An analysis focusing on studies estimating the R of SARS-CoV-2 drew attention to the powerful role of preprints in shaping global discourse about covid-19 transmissibility. While showing the benefits that preprints may confer when adopting a consensus based approach-where data is extracted from multiple studies to observe trends and obtain an average with or without the exclusion of outliers-the authors also identify risks-matters of credibility and misinformation, both intentional and unintentional5-which may be increased where there are vested interests involved. Notably, two linked preprint publications examining the association between smoking and covid-19,67 which were widely disseminated before …

F.D.A.'s Emergency Approval of Blood Plasma Is Now on Hold

F.D.A.'s Emergency Approval of Blood Plasma Is Now on Hold

Government health leaders including Dr. Francis S. Collins and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci urged caution last week, citing weak data from the country's largest plasma study.

Switzerland is Not an Island

Switzerland is Not an Island

Switzerland will soon vote on whether to cancel the agreement on the free movement of persons, thus terminating the well-established Bilateral Agreements with the EU. Only by networking fully with its European neighbors and the world in general, can the high standards the Swiss hold for themselves be maintained.

What's the Secret Ingredient to Great Mentorship?

What's the Secret Ingredient to Great Mentorship?

“Find a mentor.” It’s a piece of career advice so commonplace many of us have never given it a second thought. But does it hold up to scrutiny?

A Diverse View of Science to Catalyse Change

A Diverse View of Science to Catalyse Change

Valuing diversity leads to scientific excellence, the progress of science and, most importantly, it is simply the right thing to do. We must value diversity not only in words, but also in actions.

UNC-Chapel Hill Reverses Plans for In-person Classes After 130 Students Test Positive for COVID-19

UNC-Chapel Hill Reverses Plans for In-person Classes After 130 Students Test Positive for COVID-19

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill abruptly decided it will no longer hold in-person classes on campus after about 130 students tested positive for COVID-19 in the first week since classes began.

Mining and Analyzing Patron's Book-Loan Data and University Data to Understand Library Use Patterns

Mining and Analyzing Patron's Book-Loan Data and University Data to Understand Library Use Patterns

The purpose of this paper is to study the patron's usage behavior in an academic library. This study investigates on pattern of patron's books borrowing in Khunying Long Athakravisunthorn Learning Resources Center, Prince of Songkla University that influence patron's academic achievement during on academic year 2015-2018. The study collected and analyzed data from the libraries, registrar, and human resources. The students' performance data was obtained from PSU Student Information System and the rest from ALIST library information system. WEKA was used as the data mining tool employing data mining techniques of association rules and clustering. All data sets were mined and analyzed to identify characteristics of the patron's book borrowing, to discover the association rules of patron's interest, and to analyze the relationships between academic library use and undergraduate students' achievement. The results reveal patterns of patron's book loan behavior, patterns of book usage, patterns of interest rules with respect to patron's interest in book borrowing, and patterns of relationships between patron's borrowing and their grade. The ability to clearly identify and describe library patron's behavior pattern can help library in managing resources and services more effectively. This study provides a sample model as guideline or campus partnerships and for future collaborations that will take advantage of the academic library information and data mining to improve library management and library services.

Signs of 'citation Hacking' Flagged in Scientific Papers

Signs of 'citation Hacking' Flagged in Scientific Papers

An algorithm developed to spot abnormal patterns of citations aims to find scientists who have manipulated reference lists.

FDA Clears Saliva Test for Covid-19, Opening Door to Wider Testing

FDA Clears Saliva Test for Covid-19, Opening Door to Wider Testing

The FDA granted emergency use authorization for a saliva test for the virus that causes Covid-19, which could improve testing capability in the U.S.

Open Science Saves Lives: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Open Science Saves Lives: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

In the last decade Open Science principles, such as Open Access, study preregistration, use of preprints, making available data and code, and open peer review, have been successfully advocated for and are being slowly adopted in many different research communities. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic many publishers and researchers have sped up their adoption of some of these Open Science practices, sometimes embracing them fully and sometimes partially or in a sub-optimal manner. In this article, we express concerns about the violation of some of the Open Science principles and its potential impact on the quality of research output. We provide evidence of the misuses of these principles at different stages of the scientific process. We call for a wider adoption of Open Science practices in the hope that this work will encourage a broader endorsement of Open Science principles and serve as a reminder that science should always be a rigorous process, reliable and transparent, especially in the context of a pandemic where research findings are being translated into practice even more rapidly. We provide all data and scripts at . ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

Universities Will Cancel Deals with Publishers if They Don't Respond to Current Financial Pressures

Universities Will Cancel Deals with Publishers if They Don't Respond to Current Financial Pressures

A price freeze on journal subscriptions will not be enough to avoid UK researchers losing access to key academic content, warn three major sector bodies representing academic library directors and higher education managers. 

How Can Your Research Have More Impact? Five Key Principles and Practical Tips for Effective Knowledge Exchange

How Can Your Research Have More Impact? Five Key Principles and Practical Tips for Effective Knowledge Exchange

Generating new knowledge is a relatively straightforward concept compared with the more unknown territory of getting knowledge to those that might need it.

A Deadly Coronavirus Was Inevitable. Why Was No One Ready?

A Deadly Coronavirus Was Inevitable. Why Was No One Ready?

Scientists warned of a coming pandemic for decades. Yet when Covid-19 arrived, the world had few resources and little understanding-despite years of work that outlined almost exactly what the virus would look like and how to mitigate its impact.

Webinar: Advancing Your Science Policy Career

Webinar: Advancing Your Science Policy Career

Scientists and engineers are in a unique position to influence science policy through their technical expertise. Strong communication skills are essential to bridging the gap between science and society. Register for the Webinar by September 9th.

The Pandemic Appears to Have Spared Africa So Far. Scientists Are Struggling to Explain Why.

The Pandemic Appears to Have Spared Africa So Far. Scientists Are Struggling to Explain Why.

Antibody studies suggest large numbers of infections have occurred but the death toll remains low.

Beyond Publication - Increasing Opportunities For Recognizing All Research Contributions

Beyond Publication - Increasing Opportunities For Recognizing All Research Contributions

Recognizing the many ways that researchers (and others) contribute to science and scholarship has historically been challenging but we now have options, including CRediT and ORCID.

How MC Hammer And Other Performing Artists Are Sharing Their Love Of Science

How MC Hammer And Other Performing Artists Are Sharing Their Love Of Science

When MC Hammer started tweeting about science and scientists a few weeks ago, he joined a long list of performing artists who have been using their platforms to highlight scientific research.