Cut the Science Budget? Not So Fast
Contrary to first impressions, Congress has done a decent job standing up for scientific research.
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ELife Announces First Release of Open-source Submission and Peer-review Platform: Libero Reviewer
ELife Announces First Release of Open-source Submission and Peer-review Platform: Libero Reviewer
New software enables the rapid submission of manuscripts for initial assessment.
Algorithms Are Now Shockingly Good at Doing Science
Whether probing the evolution of galaxies or discovering new chemical compounds, algorithms are detecting patterns no humans could have spotted.
Trump Once Again Requests Deep Cuts in U.S. Science Spending
As President Trump requests deep budget cuts on science spending, he is likely to meet strong opposition in Congress.
Ten Myths Around Open Scholarly Publishing
The changing world of scholarly communication and the emergence of 'Open Science' or 'Open Research' has brought to light a number of controversial and hotly-debated topics. Yet, evidence-based rational debate is regularly drowned out by misinformed or exaggerated rhetoric, which does not benefit the evolving system of scholarly communication.
Openness: An Interview with Daniel Hook, CEO of Digital Science.
Robert Harington interviews Daniel Hook, CEO of Digital Science, discussing openness and findings from his recent report entitled The Ascent of Open Access.
Debunking Pseudo-science | Canadian Lawyer Mag
For those trained in the sciences and the practice of law, where skepticism, logical reasoning and critical thinking are the most closely held tools to guide them through life, it's vexing to witness seemingly intelligent people duped by pseudo-scientific nutrition advice and treatments for illnesses with no evidence of effectiveness.
Science and Politics: Can Research into Legislative Decision-making Help to Address Food Security?
Science and Politics: Can Research into Legislative Decision-making Help to Address Food Security?
Policymakers need to be encouraged to take a scientic approach when drawing up legislation to boost food security, according to a panel of experts.
Norwegian Research Institutions Have Decided Not to Renew Their Agreement with Elsevier
Norwegian Research Institutions Have Decided Not to Renew Their Agreement with Elsevier
The offer from Elsevier is a long way from fulfilling the Norwegian requirements for open access to research articles. There is also no movement in transitioning the agreement from paying to read to paying for open publishing. Norwegian research institutions will therefore not renew the agreement with Elsevier for 2019.
UK Considers Post-Brexit Research Fund Open to World
The government will assess whether a UK granting scheme could help make up for lost EU research funding.
The Life of P.I. - Transitions to Independence in Academia
The Life of P.I. - Transitions to Independence in Academia
The data in this report summarises the responses gathered from 365 principle investigators of academic laboratories, who started their independent positions in the UK within the last 6 years up to 2018. We find that too many new investigators express frustration and poor optimism for the future. These data also reveal, that many of these individuals lack the support required to make a successful transition to independence and that simple measures could be put in place by both funders and universities in order to better support these early career researchers. We use these data to make both recommendations of good practice and for changes to policies that would make significant improvements to those currently finding independence challenging. We find that some new investigators face significant obstacles when building momentum and hiring a research team. In particular, access to PhD students. We also find some important areas such as starting salaries where significant gender differences persist, which cannot be explained by seniority. Our data also underlines the importance of support networks, within and outside the department, and the positive influence of good mentorship through this difficult career stage.
Gender Bias in Peer Review - Opening Up the Black Box
Gender bias in peer review has been much discussed in the wider research community. However, there have been few attempts to analyse the issue within the social sciences. This post highlights research undertaken by the Regional Studies Association to investigate the effect of gender on peer review outcomes.
Achieving Open Access
both in Europe and Latin America principles have been postulated to achieve Open Access. Europe calls it Plan S while in Latin America it…
I Am Not a Woman in Science. I Am a Scientist.
What does it mean to you, being a female scientist? Twenty women share their thoughts.
Meta-Research: How Significant Are the Public Dimensions of Faculty Work in Review, Promotion and Tenure Documents?
Meta-Research: How Significant Are the Public Dimensions of Faculty Work in Review, Promotion and Tenure Documents?
An analysis of review, promotion and tenure documents from 129 US and Canadian universities suggests institutions could better fulfill their public missions by changing how they incentivize the public dimensions of faculty work.
Lost Knowledge: Open Science is One Solution to Hidden Data
The progress of science depends on how we preserve and share what we know.
Will Scientific Error Checkers Become As Ubiquitous As Spell-Checkers?
How common are calculation errors in the scientific literature? And can they be caught by an algorithm?
A New Vision for the Statistical Training of Scientists
Many of today's problems in science are substantially driven by deficits in statistical thinking and data skills that are common across the sciences. This opinion article justifies this position, and offers ways that these deficits might be addressed.
International Differences in Basic Research Grant Funding - a Systematic Comparison
International Differences in Basic Research Grant Funding - a Systematic Comparison
Using a structured systematic comparative approach, this study analyses differences in basic research grant funding between the main academic research funding agency of Germany and the main agencies of five other countries, including the Swiss National Science Foundation.
The Open Tide - How Openness in Research and Communication is Becoming the Default Setting
The Open Tide - How Openness in Research and Communication is Becoming the Default Setting
The UK has benefitted from funder incentives that make Open Access appealing for authors, while US funders have taken a less interventionist approach to Open Access. This in turn has led to increased international collaboration for UK researchers.
Tracker is a Boon for Innovation in Peer Review
Nature welcomes a registry that supports experiments to improve refereeing.
What Do Countries in the Global South Stand to Gain from Signing Up to Europe's Open Access Strategy?
What Do Countries in the Global South Stand to Gain from Signing Up to Europe's Open Access Strategy?
Plan S raises challenging questions for the Global South. Even if Plan S fails to achieve its objectives the growing determination in Europe to trigger a “global flip” to open access suggests developing countries will have to develop an alternative strategy.
Travel Blockers: What Gets in the Way of Early Career Travel?
Five junior researchers share their thoughts on travel barriers.
The Guardian View on Academic Publishing: Disastrous Capitalism | Editorial
The Guardian View on Academic Publishing: Disastrous Capitalism | Editorial
The giants of the scientific publishing industry have made huge profits for decades. Now they are under threat.
Peer-review Experiments Tracked in Online Repository
ReimagineReview records trials that are probing the pros and cons of different approaches to review.
'Antivaxxers' Attack U.S. Science Panel
Meetings of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine committee have become the latest front in a national battle over immunization.
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