Infographic captures how researchers really feel about the peer-review process
More than 2,000 researchers from a variety of disciplines contributed to a survey conducted by Elsevier and the Publishing Research Consortium.
Why science does not work as it should and what to do about it
Why science does not work as it should and what to do about it
Report based on four workshops organized by the initiators of Science in Transition in the spring of 2013.
Some Scientists Publish More Than 70 Papers a Year. Here's How - and Why - They Do It
Some Scientists Publish More Than 70 Papers a Year. Here's How - and Why - They Do It
Science chats with statistician John Ioannidis about "hyperprolific" authors.
Universities Say They Want More Diverse Faculties. So Why Is Academia Still So White?
Universities Say They Want More Diverse Faculties. So Why Is Academia Still So White?
Academia has a problem with race. It’s a problem that academia — like the rest of American society — doesn’t like to acknowledge.
Shigeaki Kato notches five more retractions, including one in Nature
An endocrinologist who resigned from the University of Tokyo in March 2012 amid an investigation that concluded 43 of his papers should be retracted, has retracted five more papers. The newest is in this week's Nature.
We Should Not Accept Scientific Results That Have Not Been Repeated
The inconvenient truth is that scientists can achieve fame and advance their careers through accomplishments that do not prioritize the quality of their work.
Young scientists need to fight for their employment rights
Like junior doctors, early career biomedical researchers have an issue with contracts (or lack of them). So why don’t we strike too?
Researchers Need Dedicated Tools, Not "off the Shelf" AI - LSE Impact
Analysis of the Evolution and Collaboration Networks of Citizen Science Scientific Publications
Analysis of the Evolution and Collaboration Networks of Citizen Science Scientific Publications
The term citizen science refers to a broad set of practices developed in a growing number of areas of knowledge and characterized by the active citizen participation in some or several stages of the research process. Definitions, classifications and terminology remain open, reflecting that citizen science is an evolving phenomenon, a spectrum of practices whose classification may be useful but never unique or definitive. The aim of this article is to study citizen science publications in journals indexed by WoS, in particular how they have evolved in the last 20 years and the collaboration networks which have been created among the researchers in that time. In principle, the evolution can be analyzed, in a quantitative way, by the usual tools, such as the number of publications, authors, and impact factor of the papers, as well as the set of different research areas including citizen science as an object of study. But as citizen science is a transversal concept which appears in almost all scientific disciplines, this study becomes a multifaceted problem which is only partially modelled with the usual bibliometric magnitudes. It is necessary to consider new tools to parametrize a set of complementary properties. Thus, we address the study of the citizen science expansion and evolution in terms of the properties of the graphs which encode relations between scientists by studying co-authorship and the consequent networks of collaboration. This approach - not used until now in research on citizen science, as far as we know- allows us to analyze the properties of these networks through graph theory, and complement the existing quantitative research. The results obtained lead mainly to: (a) a better understanding of the current state of citizen science in the international academic system-by countries, by areas of knowledge, by interdisciplinary communities-as an increasingly legitimate expanding methodology, and (b) a greater knowledge of collaborative networks and their evolution, within and between research communities, which allows a certain margin of predictability as well as the definition of better cooperation strategies.
How the Entire Scientific Community Can Confront Gender Bias in the Workplace
Evidence overwhelmingly shows structural barriers to women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, and suggests that the onus cannot be on women alone to confront the gender bias in our community. Here, I share my experience as a scientist and a woman who has collected data during more than ten years of scientific training about how best to navigate the academic maze of biases and barriers.
Scientific articles must be free for everyone to read in the Netherlands
Scientific articles written by Dutch researchers must be accessible for everyone to read free of charge from 2016.
Men Ask More Questions Than Women at a Scientific Conference
Accounting for audience gender ratio, men asked 1.8 questions for each question asked by a woman.
Scientific Utopias: Scientific Enlightenment in the Stupid Questions Office
Why the Coronavirus Is More Likely to 'Superspread' Than the Flu
Most people won't spread the virus widely. The few who do are probably in the wrong place at the wrong time in their infection, new models suggest.
Communicating Science is an Uphill Struggle for Europe's Researchers
Communicating Science is an Uphill Struggle for Europe's Researchers
What Scientific Term or Concept Ought to Be More Widely Known?
Answers of the annual Edge.org question posed to leading thinkers and scientists.
High Cost of Bias: Diminishing Marginal Returns on NIH Grant Funding to Institutions
High Cost of Bias: Diminishing Marginal Returns on NIH Grant Funding to Institutions
A study suggesting that implicit biases and social prestige mechanisms (e.g., the Matthew effect) have a powerful impact on where NIH grant dollars go and the net return on taxpayers investments. They support evidence-based changes in funding policy geared towards a more equitable, more diverse and more productive distribution of federal support for scientific research.
China Is an Innovation Powerhouse - But It Should Do More Fundamental Research
Why Scientists Should Learn to Love Reddit
You’ll find communities thirsty for your findings – and a space to demonstrate measurable ‘impact’ to your heart’s content.
The Key to Success: Why University Startups Don’t Perform as Well as Corporate Startups
The Key to Success: Why University Startups Don’t Perform as Well as Corporate Startups
The review article explores the differences between university startup entrepreneurs and corporate entrepreneurs, and why the latter are more successful.
Integrity or impact? Confessions of an early career researcher
The reality of academia is stifling the passion and creativity needed both to enjoy science, and to do it well.
Citations Cartels An Emerging Problem in Scientific Publishing
Groups of authors citing each other is becoming an issue in scientific publishing. With a new approach, researchers discuss how to identify the problem.
The Trouble With "Follow the Science"
Global-level data sets may be more highly cited than most journal articles
Global-level data sets may be more highly cited than most journal articles
The production, archival, and sharing of data may actually be a more effective way to contribute to the advancement of scientific knowledge.
Thomson Reuters announces the world's most influential scientific minds 2014
New citation analyses reveal a who’s who of the most impactful scientific researchers.
Scientific Journals: Rename the Impact Factor
Rather than repealing or replacing the impact factor, its producers should rename it to reflect its intended function more accurately.
Making AI More Open Could Accelerate Research and Tech Transfer
Combining artificial Intelligence (AI) and open science can accelerate scientific discovery, redefine the boundaries of scientific research and democratise access to knowledge.
Big Qual - Why We Should Be Thinking Big About Qualitative Data for Research, Teaching and Policy
Big Qual - Why We Should Be Thinking Big About Qualitative Data for Research, Teaching and Policy
When social scientists think about big data, they often think in terms of quantitative number crunching. However, the growing availability of ‘big’ qualitative datasets presents new opportunities for qualitative research.
Now Is the Time for Open Access Policies - Here's Why
The race to find a vaccine for COVID-19 exemplifies why rapid and unrestricted access to scientific research and educational materials is vital.