The best visual and data-driven stories of 2020.

This review highlights where academics’ performance needs support and how the work environment can be improved to bolster publication productivity.

Nations the world over are increasingly turning to quantitative performance-based metrics to evaluate the quality of research outputs, as these metrics are abundant and provide an easy measure of ranking research. In 2010, the Danish Ministry of Science and Higher Education followed this trend and began portioning out a percentage of the available research funding according to how many research outputs each Danish university produces. Not all research outputs are eligible: only those published in a curated list of academic journals and publishers, the so-called BFI list, are included. The BFI list is ranked, which may create incentives for academic authors to target certain publication outlets or publication types over others. In this study we examine the potential effect these relatively new research evaluation methods have had on the publication patterns of researchers in Denmark. The study finds that publication behaviors in the Natural Sciences & Technology, Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) have changed, while the Health Sciences appear unaffected. Researchers in Natural Sciences & Technology appear to focus on high impact journals that reap more BFI points. While researchers in SSH have also increased their focus on the impact of the publication outlet, they also appear to have altered their preferred publication types, publishing more journal articles in the Social Sciences and more anthologies in the Humanities.

While we have seen the percentage of OA increasing rapidly in recent years, especially in countries like China, Germany and the UK, it was not until 2020 that more outputs were published through Open Access channels than traditional subscription channels globally.

Open repository will give free access to more than 160 million data points with details about individual infections.

Hilda Bastian on the most important pandemic vaccine in the pipeline and why we're on track for annual booster shots.

The authors of a book marking the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin's "Descent of Man" discuss "a most interesting problem" - namely how the naturalist's fundamental misconceptions on sex and race still shape society.

OPERAS-P, an H2020 project coordinated by CNRS, is organising a workshop Future of scholarly communication, which will be dedicated to discussing the outcomes of the research undertaken in the project's Work Package 6 (Innovation).

The first of "The Open Notebooks" Science Journalism Master Classes, "How to Find an Angle for Any Science Story," launches. The free, hands-on classes are designed to help science writers at all levels of experience sharpen their skills.

The UK's association to Horizon Europe has been agreed "in principle" and awaits Parliament's scrutiny, while agreements with Israel and Switzerland could be finalised by the end of the year.

The Red Planet's red looks different to an Earthling than it would to a Martian-or to a robot with hyperspectral cameras for eyes.

The Early-Career Advisory Group is looking for five early-career researchers to join our advisory group and help us realise our mission to transform research communication.

For many years and increasingly in the last year, the JAMA Network journals have published many important articles addressing disparities and racism in medical education, research, and health care and highlighting initiatives to help address deep-rooted inequities.

Without more people of color pursuing doctoral degrees, the talent pool will stay predominantly white.

Studies have found that the field is plagued by a singular problem of gender bias. The latest evidence comes from the types of questions posed at seminars.

Technology that speeded the development of Covid vaccines has potential to transform the pharmaceutical industry.

The European Commission says it can exclude Chinese participation in Horizon Europe and other sensitive research projects using new powers to exclude third countries that do not share ‘EU values’.

What the data says about forced togetherness amid a pandemic.

HHMI announces the selection of 21 exceptional early career scientists as 2020 Hanna Gray Fellows to support diversity in biomedical research. The 2022 Hanna H. Gray Fellows Program competition will open later this year.

A preprint promoted by a member of the UK Parliament for claiming to show that vitamin D led to an “80% reduction in need for ICU and a 60% reduction in deaths” has been removed from a server used by The Lancet family of journals.

Chemical pollution is a global threat that demands for global action, says Zhanyun Wang. An interface body similar to the IPCC could help bridge the gap between science and policy.

Contribute to covering the fees for AfricArXiv preprint hosting on the Open Science Framework (OSF).

The Zotero iOS app is coming soon.

Experts fear false narratives about vaccines could slow down the task of inoculating people and create other problems in the future.

A Nature survey shows many scientists expect the virus that causes COVID-19 to become endemic, but it could pose less danger over time.

Nature is polling readers about the move to online meetings during the COVID pandemic.

Join the next call on open research communication projects to share and discuss emerging projects and significant updates for ongoing ones.

At the 40th session of UNESCO’s General Conference, 193 Members States tasked the Organization with the development of an international standard-setting instrument on Open Science in the form of a UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science to be adopted by Member States in 2021.

Questioned psychology papers linger on in meta-analyses.

European Space Agency aims to take on 26 people for missions to the Moon and eventually to Mars