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Science today is facing what seem to be unrelated crises, issues and problems with the public. We tend to see science in terms of the science of the past, and its great achievements, whereas the way science is done, evaluated and made accountable, no longer fits its historical image.
Pharmaceutical companies, which fund approximately half of all biomedical research, are now leaders in the publication and disclosure of research. However, access to much company-funded research is restricted by journal paywalls.
Webcast Driving Institutional Change for Research Assessment Reform October 21 - 22, 2019 Webcast information Opening Remarks and KeynotesOctober 21, 2019, 7:00 - 9:00 PM (ET)Panel SessionOctober 22, 2019, 8:30 - 9:30 AM (ET)Plenary TalksOctober 22, 2019, 2:15 - 3:15 PM (ET) For session details, see the agenda.
The scholarly communication community needs an open, sustainable infrastructure that is community-owned - one that speaks to our open and academic values.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has published its final recommendations on how to increase the open sharing of MIT publications, data, software and educational materials.
How misconceptions persist and proliferate within the scientific literature.
For 50 years, researchers have thought that moths evolved ears to detect the ultrasonic calls of attacking bats - but a new study shows that ears came first.
When we expand our pool of storytellers, we produce work that more fully reflects how science is done - and why it matters.
Study investigates whether industry involvement in biomedical research affects trial design. A reduced use of active controls (such as alternate treatment or standard care) was found in trials with industry involvement, which can have the side effect of making results look more favourable than they actually are.
President Trump revived the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology on Tuesday after nearly two years without it.
In the three years since it ended, the pandemic has become an object of obsession for scientists, who have published more than 6,000 research papers about it. What did they conclude?
The story of the first female spacewalk doubles as a metaphor for what it's like to be a woman full of ambition in 2019.
This study investigates and compares the systematic search qualities of 28 widely used academic search systems, including Google Scholar, PubMed and Web of Science.
Grants are becoming a more common component of a faculty candidate’s resume for biomedical faculty positions.
A recent study finds a strong correlation between university revenues and their volume of publications and (field-normalized) citations. These results demonstrate empirically that international rankings are by and large richness measures and, therefore, can be interpreted only by introducing a measure of resources.
Engineering remains the least gender diverse of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. Chemical engineering (ChE) and electrical engineering (EE) are exemplars of relatively high and low gender diversity, respectively. Here, we investigate departmental, institutional, and regional factors associated with gender diversity among BS graduates within the US, 2010-2016. For both fields, gender diversity was significantly higher at private institutions (p < 1x10-6) and at historically black institutions (p < 1x10-5). No significant association was observed with gender diversity among tenure-track faculty, PhD-granting status, and variations in departmental name beyond the standard "chemical engineering" or "electrical engineering". Gender diversity among EE graduates was significantly decreased (p = 8x10-5) when a distinct degree in computer engineering was available; no such association was observed between ChE gender diversity and the presence of biology-associated degrees. States with a highly gender diverse ChE workforce had a significantly higher degree of gender diversity among BS graduates (p = 3x10-5), but a significant association was not observed for EE. State variation in funding of support services for K-12 pupils significantly impacted gender diversity of graduates in both fields (p < 1x10-3), particularly in regards to instructional staff support (p < 5x10-4). Nationwide, gender diversity could not be concluded to be either significantly increasing or significantly decreasing for either field.
Sanctions place "invisible barriers" for research by limiting access to necessary resources and curtailing their effective use. This paper presents a national survey of Sudanese academics focused on the impact of 20 years of economic sanctions. It identifies key areas that have been impacted by international sanctions, and highlights how the impact on academia is likely to persist long after they are formally lifted.
Background Core outcome sets (COS) have the potential to reduce waste in research by improving the consistency of outcomes measured in trials of the same health condition. However, this reduction in waste will only be realised through the uptake of COS by clinical trialists. Without uptake, the continued development of COS that are not implemented may add to waste in research. Funders of clinical trials have the potential to have an impact on COS uptake by recommending their use to those applying for funding. The aim of our study was to assess the extent to which applicants followed the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA) programme's recommendation to search for a COS to include in their clinical trial. Methods and findings We examined the outcomes section and detailed project descriptions of all 95 researcher-led primary research applications submitted to the NIHR HTA between January 2012, when the recommendation to search for a COS was included in the guidance for applicants, and December 2015 for evidence that a search for a COS had taken place and rationale for outcome choice in the absence of COS. A survey of applicants was conducted to further explore their use of COS and choice of outcomes with a response rate of 49%. Nine out of 95 applicants (10%) stated in their application that they had searched the COMET (Core Outcome Measures for Effectiveness Trials) Initiative database for a COS and another nine referred to searching for a COS using another method, e.g. a review of the literature. Of the 77 (81%) applicants that did not mention COMET or COS in their application, eight stated in the survey that they had searched the COMET database and ten carried out a search using another method. Some applicants who did not search for a COS gave reasons for their choice of outcomes including taking advice from patients and the public and choosing outcomes used in previous trials. Conclusion A funding body can have an impact on COS uptake by encouraging trialists to search for a COS. Funders could take further steps by putting processes in place to prompt applicants to be explicit about searching for COS in their application and notifying the funding board if a search has not taken place. The sources of information used by trialists to make decisions about outcomes in the absence of COS may suggest methods of dissemination for COS.
Racial disparities in funding may be partly caused by topic choice, study finds.
Democrats drop some provisions to gain Republican backing and improve chances of final passage of the scientific integrity bill.
The UK's share of EU research funding has fallen dramatically because of Brexit uncertainty, with the country's take home from the EU Horizon 2020 programme cut by almost €500 million since 2015, according an analysis by the Royal Society.
Peer review is embedded in the core of our scholarly knowledge generation systems, conferring legitimacy on research while distributing academic capital and prestige on individuals. Despite its critical importance, it curiously remains poorly understood in a number of dimensions.
A discussion of the findings of a research study into the recent growth of preprint servers and exploration of how publishers might respond.
The efforts of young researchers to fight the perverse incentives that dominate science right now are all the more impressive because these scientists are at the most vulnerable point of their careers.
Green parties have made major gains at the expense of parties across the political spectrum in elections to the Swiss parliament, where environmental concerns dominated campaigns in the run-up to Sunday's vote.
