Wondering if I'm the next Tim Hunt
Would we worry a little more about academic freedom—about his right to hold an unpopular view and still be a member of the academic community?
Retraction of scientific papers for fraud or bias is just the tip of the iceberg
Investigating fraud is hard work, and it is easier for journal editors to ignore the problem and perpetuate the myth that peer review of trial reports ensures their scientific quality.
The web will either kill science journals or save them
Scientific research is awesome-we read it, we build upon it, we innovate with it, and we love it. But the process of getting research from the scientists who spend months or years with their data to the academics who want to read it can be messy.
The Retraction Watch Leaderboard
Who has the most retractions? Here's the Retraction Watch list.
Science chief wants to work ERC magic on innovation
Carlos Moedas has proposed setting up a European Innovation Council to fund applied research and innovation.
French scientists welcome new research minister
Thierry Mandon replaces Geneviève Fioraso, who stepped down in March for health reasons, leaving France without anyone heading the research brief for three months.
'Export rules' threaten research
The US government is considering policy changes that could dramatically affect how researchers handle equipment and information that have national-security implications. Scientists would need to reconsider what they can discuss with graduate students from other countries, or when traveling abroad on work trips.
National ORCID implementation launched
Italy will be implementing ORCID on a national scale. 70 universities and 4 research centers will initially participate in the consortium.
National consortium for ORCID set to improve UK research visibility and collaboration
ORCID will now be offered to UK higher education institutions through a national consortium arrangement operated by Jisc.
Queen Mary University of London considers making PhD students employees
Importance of doctoral candidates in research makes it likely that many institutions will make the change, says principal.
The Federal Council launches three new national research programs
The Federal Council has launched three new NRPs: "Medi/Healthcare", "Antimicrobial Resistance", and "Big Data".
Risky business
Funding agencies should highlight their roles as risk managers to underpin public trust.
Impact, not impact factor
The scientific community must not rely exclusively on the impact factors of journals.
Emerging trends in peer review: a survey
"Classical peer review" has been subject to intense criticism for slowing down the publication process, bias against specific categories of paper and author, unreliability, inability to detect errors and fraud, unethical practices, and the lack of recognition for unpaid reviewers. This paper surveys innovative forms of peer review that attempt to address these issues.
Incidence of data duplications in a randomly selected pool of Life Sciences
This study questions the reliability of life science literature, it illustrates that data duplications are widespread and independent of journal impact factor and call for a reform of the current peer review and retraction process of scientific publishing.
A human right to citizen science
The flourishing of citizen science is an exciting phenomenon with the potential to contribute significantly to scientific progress. However, we lack a framework for addressing in a principled and effective manner the pressing ethical questions it raises. We argue that at the core of any such framework must be the human right to science.
2014 Journal Impact Factors
This year, 272 journals will receive their first Impact Factor. The JCR will also suppress 39 titles –29 for high rates of self-citation and 10 for “citation stacking”.
HEFCE, Elsevier, the "copy request" button, and the future of open access
How does the future for open access look?
The Mozilla Fellowship for Science
Are you a champion of open science and open data? Mozilla is seeking researchers eager to advance openness in science and data within their institutions.
Journal Science releases guidelines for publishing scientific studies
Science posted the most comprehensive [3]guidelines for the publication of studies in basic science to date, calling for the adoption of clearly defined rules on the sharing of data and methods.
Cancer reproducibility effort faces backlash
A nonprofit's effort to replicate 50 top cancer papers is shaking up labs.
Une femme à la tête de l'UNIL pour la première fois
La biologiste Nouria Hernandez devrait devenir la première rectrice de l'Université de Lausanne. Elle succédera à Dominique Arlettaz dès le 1er août 2016.
Sci-Hub tears down academia's illegal copyright paywalls
In a lawsuit filed by Elsevier, Sci-Hub.org is facing millions of dollars in damages. However, the site has no intentions of backing down and will continue its fight to keep access to scientific knowledge free and open.
Politics doesn't always rule
Although a person's political views are a strong predictor of their attitudes on climate change and a handful of energy issues, their gender, age, religion, race, or education play a larger role on many other controversial topics.
The Francis Crick Institute: Europe's superlab
When the Francis Crick Institute opens in London this year, it will be Europe’s largest biomedical research centre. Can director Paul Nurse make this gamble pay off for UK science?
London mayor proposes $16 billion biotech fund
London Mayor is proposing a $16 billion fund to encourage growth of emerging health-care companies in the U.K. in an effort to catch up to biotechnology clusters in the US.
Vaccine researcher sentenced to prison for fraud
The case of Dong-Pyou Han illustrates the uneven nature of penalties for scientific misconduct.
A scientific ethical divide between China and West
China is spending hundreds of billions of dollars annually in an effort to become a leader in biomedical research. But some experts worry that medical researchers in China are stepping over ethical boundaries long accepted in the West.
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