Netherlands to survey every researcher on misconduct
Dutch push to tackle fraud and ‘reproducibility crisis’ follows high-profile misconduct cases in the country
Send us a link
2016 Golden Goose Awards
The Sex Life of the Screwworm Fly, or how Eradicating screwworm has saved U.S. ranchers Billions of $ since screwworms were eradicated from US in 1966.
Research into the sex life of the screwworm turned out to be very, very important
A scientific study into the “sex life of the screwworm” – once ridiculed as a waste of money – is to be given a US award designed to recognise research that might sound silly or odd but is actually important. Its findings led to the development of “the only truly original innovation in insect control” of the 20th century, credited with the eradication of the screwworm fly from North and Central America.
Why Most Clinical Research Is Not Useful
John Ioannidis argues that problem base, context placement, information gain, pragmatism, patient centeredness, value for money, feasibility, and transparency define useful clinical research. He suggests most clinical research is not useful and reform is overdue.
First CRISPR clinical trial gets green light from US panel
The technique's first test in people could begin as early as the end of the year.
Sci-Hub: access or convenience? A Utrecht case study (part 1)
Sci-Hub has gained fame and notoriety for enabling free access to over 45 million paywalled articles and book chapters, purportedly collected through use of institutional log-in credentials.
The role of the EU in international research collaboration and researcher mobility
Gender pay gap: keep the ‘pity payments’
Giving female scholars one-off sums to ‘compensate’ for the pay gap rewards biology rather than merit, argues Joanna Williams
Gender Representation on Journal Editorial Boards in the Mathematical Sciences
Gender Representation on Journal Editorial Boards in the Mathematical Sciences
Women are known to comprise approximately 15% of tenure-stream faculty positions in doctoral-granting mathematical sciences departments in the United States. Compared to this pool, the likely source of journal editorships, we find that 8.9% of the 13067 editorships in our study are held by women.
Microsoft Academic Search: a Phoenix arisen from the ashes?
Microsoft Academic Search: a Phoenix arisen from the ashes?
A first small-scale case study suggests that the new incarnation of Microsoft Academic presents us with an excellent alternative for citation analysis.
Asia University Rankings 2016: results announced
Singapore leads the way in Times Higher Education's 2016 ranking of the premier universities in Asia.
To Advance Science, It's Time to Tackle Unconscious Bias
Gender and race bias aren't the only ways humans subconsciously skew which science projects get funded and published. Various types of implicit bias can undermine important research.
'Ransomware' cyberattack highlights vulnerability of universities
Staff at Canadian university given little guidance on how to mitigate future problems.
Scientific publishers are killing research papers
Pressure to publish short articles removes details, leaves readers confused.
Does a journal of homeopathy belong in science?
A homeopathy journal was recently booted from the list of respectable scientific titles — but why was it among the ranks in the first place?
Graphic details
A scientific study of the importance of diagrams to science
A peek at peer review helps young scientists
Winning a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is hard, especially if it's your first one. New data from a pilot project called the Early Career Reviewer (ECR) Program suggest that sitting in judgment of other grant applicants can help young scientists improve their odds when they apply for their own grants.
The Costs of Open and Closed Access
Using the Finnish Research Output as an Example
If science is going to save the world, we need to make it open
The last few weeks have been a momentum time in the sciences: not because of a breakthrough in gene therapy or quantum computing, but because world leaders have twice called for scientific papers to be made freely available to all.
Leveraging Doctoral Requirements to Promote Reproducibility
How can reproducibility be funded and enforced? One solution is to make it a part of the requirements to complete a PhD.
World’s Biggest Science Experiment Seeks More Time and Money
The world’s biggest science experiment may get more time and money for completion when nuclear officials convene on Wednesday in France.
Predatory journals: Ban predators from the scientific record
Universities and colleges should stop using the quantity of published articles as a measure of academic performance. Researchers and respectable journals should not cite articles from predatory journals, and academic library databases should exclude metadata for such publications.
A code of conduct for data on epidemics
A code of conduct for data on epidemics
As a long-term champion of open-access research data on pandemic viruses and a member of the Italian Parliament, I urge Brazil to hasten the reform of its current biosecurity legislation. This would enable sharing of vital Zika virus samples and information, as recently called for by the World Health Organization…
×