Computers are getting better and better at the jobs that previously made sense for researchers to outsource to citizen scientists. But don't worry: there's still a role for people in these projects.
Inspiration from influential European academics on Open Access & what still needs to be done
In this massively data rich world, the equilibrium between information and knowledge has increasingly shifted from knowledge toward information. Advanced text and data mining (TDM) is not yet ubiquitous and even if it were, not all content is structured enough to leverage TDM potential. In developing the supercomputer Watson with the ability to process, analyze and extract information from natural language such as PLOS article text, IBM is beginning to shift the equilibrium back to knowledge. Understanding Relationships PLOS and IBM Watson are collaborating to bring quality Open Access biomedical literature to healthcare entrepreneurs and innovators, and to do so in a way that provides full article content and context including PubMed citation information from the National Library of Medicine. The collaboration is “not just about PLOS or Open Access,” says PLOS Chief Technology Officer CJ Rayhill, “it’s about improved healthcare through immediate access to relevant clinical,
Mobile health apps are becoming more capable and potentially rather useful
Old-fashioned ways of reporting new discoveries are holding back medical research. Some scientists are pushing for change
As the number of papers needing review increases, journals are thinking of replacing a voluntary system with cash rewards
An essay by the Pulitzer-prizewinning science journalist Deborah Blum.
This week’s budget contained the usual announcements about new research facilities. But behind the welcome news, concerns continue to mount
The problem with p-values.
Many in the scientific community praise preprints as a means of overcoming the high costs and lengthy peer review process of elite journals, which some argue thwart progress.
Female first authorship has increased since 1994 but plateaued from 2009 to 2014
If Donald Trump were to trigger a crisis in Western democracy, scientists would need to look at their part in its downfall, says Colin Macilwain.
Be part of the European Commission Expert Group on Open Science! - Digital Economy & Society
“Science isn’t about truth and falsity, it’s about reducing uncertainty.”
There is an urgent need to improve the infrastructure supporting the reuse of scholarly data. A diverse set of stakeholders—representing academia, industry, funding agencies, and scholarly publishers—have come together to design and jointly endorse a concise and measureable set of principles that we refer to as the FAIR Data Principles.
Converting Scholarly Journals to Open Access: A Review of Approaches and Experiences
The field is currently undergoing a painful period of introspection. It will emerge stronger than before.
Benefits and costs to the authors of posting preprints as a function of the time of posting.
Once again, reproducibility is in the news. Most recently we hear that irreproducibility is irreproducible and thus everything is actually fine...
A collection of 150 personal stories from scientists who are combining a career in research with their roles as parents and carers, each in their own way.
We're delighted to announce a new project - ORCID DE - launched recently to foster and support ORCID adoption in Germany.
The scientist who helped develop the neural networks behind Google's AlphaGo, which beat grandmaster Lee Sedol, on the past, present and future of AI
Women have come a long way in science, but plenty of work remains. After all, gender bias in science doesn't happen in a vacuum.
Last week my friend Andy Kern (a population geneticist at Rutgers) went on a bit of a bender on Twitter prompted by his discovery of PLOS’s IRS Form 990 – the annual required financial filing of non-profit corporations in the United States.
Scientific data might be filled with important things waiting to be discovered.
Women’s median annual earnings stubbornly remain about 20 percent below men’s. Why is progress stalling?
Survey finds that 24% of research projects get new titles, up from 10% in 2012
