Covid-19 Shows That Scientific Journals Need to Open Up
Publishers have had a good 355 years, but change is coming.
There Should Never Be Heroes in Science
Some scientists make their careers by criticising other's research. But who watches the watchmen?
Dinosaurs Wiped out by Asteroid, Not Volcanoes, Researchers Say
Study says surge in volcanic activity could not have caused Cretaceous/Paleogene extinction event.
Covid-19: Are Pandemics Becoming More Common?
Ian Sample talks to Prof Kate Jones about whether the current coronavirus pandemic is part of a wider picture of increasing animal to human virus transmission.
A Webinar Series from Nature Careers to Help Scientists During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Panellists offer advice on productivity, parenting under lockdown and mental well-being, with more webcasts planned.
How to Get Away from Work Mode During the Coronavirus Lockdown
If your lab is still shuttered and work is a struggle, technology researcher Sun Sun Lim offers advice on how to switch off.
The Trouble with Counting Alien Civilizations
You might imagine that in the midst of a global pandemic and all of its social and economic fallout that our minds would be laser-focused on immediate, Earthly woes.
Dutch on Board
The SNSF and the Dutch Research Council have agreed to finance joint projects. This will make it much easier for Swiss researchers to collaborate with their Dutch counterparts.
Ten Years of the Sun in One Hour - Nasa Releases Mesmerising Space Film
The space agency gathered 425 million high-resolution images of the sun, which have now been stitched together to form the video.
Swissuniversities and Springer Nature Sign a New Open Access Agreement
swissuniversities has adopted a new transformative Open Access agreement with Springer Nature. This agreement provides Swiss researchers with access to SpringerLink with over 2’000 Hybrid journals and enables authors affiliated with the Swiss academic and research institutions to publish their accepted research papers Open Access, making this primary research immediately and freely accessible from the point of publication.
Chemistry's Reproducibility Crisis That You've Probably Never Heard of
Chemistry's Reproducibility Crisis That You've Probably Never Heard of
Legacy issues are posing important questions for scientific software developers.
Government Fires Up R&D Across the Country to Cement the UK As Science Superpower
Government Fires Up R&D Across the Country to Cement the UK As Science Superpower
R&D Roadmap sets out vision to attract global talent, increase investment, cut unnecessary bureaucracy, and cement the UK as a world-leading science superpower.
Pfizer and BioNTech's First Vaccine Candidate
There is a preprint with data on the first coronavirus vaccine candidate from the Pfizer/BioNTech effort. This article argues that it's extremely important that the human trial data is made available for the public to trust the vaccines that get approved.
ODI Summit 2020 - The ODI
The Open Data Institute invites people from across the globe to join and discuss how humanity can harness the power of data in a changing world.
Inflated citations and metrics of journals discontinued from Scopus for publication concerns: the GhoS(t)copus Project
Inflated citations and metrics of journals discontinued from Scopus for publication concerns: the GhoS(t)copus Project
The citation count of journals discontinued for publication concerns increases despite discontinuation and predatory behaviors seemed common. This paradoxical trend can inflate scholars’ metrics prompting artificial career advancements, bonus systems and promotion. Countermeasures should be taken urgently to ensure the reliability of Scopus metrics both at the journal- and author-level for the purpose of scientific assessment of scholarly publishing.
How Scientific Research Reacts to International Public Health Emergencies
In the present paper, we attempt to characterise, quantify and measure the response of academia to international public health emergencies in a comparative bibliometric study of multiple outbreaks.
Supporting Faculty Careers Amid a Season of Uncertainty
As higher education experiences profound upheaval, colleges and universities need to double down on their efforts to better support faculty and their professional development, write Andrew Rosen and Jaime Lester.
One U.K. Trial is Transforming COVID-19 Treatment. Why Haven't Others Delivered More Results?
One U.K. Trial is Transforming COVID-19 Treatment. Why Haven't Others Delivered More Results?
Clinical study has been helped by a simple design, a centralized health care system, and lots of infections
Moderna Covid-19 Vaccine Trial Delayed, but July Start Still Possible
Investigators say the delay was prompted by changes to the trial plan, called a protocol, while stressing such changes are common.
How Masks Went From Don't-Wear to Must-Have During the Coronavirus Pandemic
How Masks Went From Don't-Wear to Must-Have During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Public health messaging and science have to work hard to stay in sync during a crisis. During the Covid-19 pandemic, they haven't always succeeded.
Former Harvard Researcher Who Harassed Postdoc Sparks Row at Italian Institute
Former Harvard Researcher Who Harassed Postdoc Sparks Row at Italian Institute
A research institute that appointed Pier Paolo Pandolfi as its scientific director has reversed its decision after internal protests.
Colleges Face Rising Revolt by Professors
Most universities plan to bring students back to campus. But many of their teachers are concerned about joining them.
A List of Practical Ways Non-Black Faculty Members Can Help Dismantle Educational Inequities (opinion)
A List of Practical Ways Non-Black Faculty Members Can Help Dismantle Educational Inequities (opinion)
Non-Black faculty members have the power to help dismantle educational inequities, argue Viji Sathy, Kelly A. Hogan and Calvin M. Sims, and they suggest some practical ways for how to start.
WHO Underplaying Risk of Airborne Spread of Covid-19, Say Scientists
Open letter says there is emerging evidence of potential for aerosol transmission.
Impact Factor Volatility Due to a Single Paper: A Comprehensive Analysis
Publication questions the reliability of Impact Factor (IF) rankings given the high IF sensitivity to a few papers that affects thousands of journals.
Open Up: a Survey on Open and Non-anonymized Peer Reviewing
Our aim is to highlight the benefits and limitations of open and non-anonymized peer review. Our argument is based on the literature and on responses to a survey on the reviewing process of alt.chi, a more or less open review track within the so-called Computer Human Interaction (CHI) conference, the predominant conference in the field of human-computer interaction. This track currently is the only implementation of an open peer review process in the field of human-computer interaction while, with the recent increase in interest in open scientific practices, open review is now being considered and used in other fields. We ran an online survey with 30 responses from alt.chi authors and reviewers, collecting quantitative data using multiple-choice questions and Likert scales. Qualitative data were collected using open questions. Our main quantitative result is that respondents are more positive to open and non-anonymous reviewing for alt.chi than for other parts of the CHI conference. The qualitative data specifically highlight the benefits of open and transparent academic discussions. The data and scripts are available on https://osf.io/vuw7h/ , and the figures and follow-up work on http://tiny.cc/OpenReviews . While the benefits are quite clear and the system is generally well-liked by alt.chi participants, they remain reluctant to see it used in other venues. This concurs with a number of recent studies that suggest a divergence between support for a more open review process and its practical implementation.
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