The research community is reacting with alarm and anger to the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) abrupt and unusual termination of a grant supporting research in China on how coronaviruses move from bats to humans. The agency axed the grant last week, after conservative U.S. politicians and media repeatedly suggested—without evidence—that the pandemic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, that employs a Chinese virologist who had been receiving funding from the grant.

The Policy Briefs of the Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force are now available on its website. They reflect the Task Force thinking on a topic at that time and will be updated in the light of new studies or other data. 

DORA launched a new virtual discussion series for public and private research funders. The goal of the series is to increase communication about research assessment reform by providing a space for funders to share and discuss new initiatives, with the hope that this will ultimately serve as a platform to accelerate the spread of good research assessment policies and practices.

Global recession may make public and policymakers think more about those 'at the bottom of society', says social policy academic.

Instead of supporting the 54% of staff on insecure contracts, many managers are using the pandemic to sack them.

For years, the Swiss National Science Foundation and other organisations have been demanding open science as the new normal. The corona crisis drastically confirms the validity of this demand.

In recent months, claims with some scientific legitimacy have spread so far, so fast, that even if it later becomes clear they are false or unfounded, they cannot be laid to rest.

Scholarly publishers are working together to maximize the efficiency of peer review, ensuring that key work related to COVID-19 is reviewed and published as quickly and openly as possible. The group of publishers and scholarly communications organizations - initially comprising eLife, Hindawi, PeerJ, PLOS, Royal Society, F1000 Research, FAIRsharing, Outbreak Science, and PREreview - is... Read full article >

Global leaders have pledged to accelerate cooperation on a coronavirus vaccine and to share research, treatment and medicines across the globe. But the United States did not take part.

The European Commission is working on an investment plan to fuel the EU’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, which Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said must increase the “firepower” of the bloc’s 2021-27 budget, and R&D commissioner Mariya Gabriel has said must prioritise investment in R&D.

The American Physical Society held its massive April Meeting online because of coronavirus - and registrations soared.

Many initiatives are keeping track of research on COVID-19 and coronaviruses. These initiatives, while valuable because they allow for fast access to relevant research, pose the question of subject delineation. We analyse here one such initiative, the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19).

Early journal submission data suggest COVID-19 is tanking women's research productivity.

Herd immunity hopes dealt blow by report suggesting only 2%-3% of people have been infected

Secure contact tracing could be a powerful tool to fight the spread of COVID-19. A unique, decentralized system developed as part of an international consortium, including EPFL and ETH Zurich, will soon be launched with the support of the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health.

Research shows almost 80% of deaths across four countries were in most polluted regions.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health is hosting a free webinar for researchers to learn how to share, discover, and cite COVID-19 data and code in generalist repositories on April 24 from 2-3:45 p.m. ET.

As lockdowns force scientists worldwide to put their research on hold, funders are introducing measures to minimize stress.

University librarians are preparing for tough times ahead, even though the fiscal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is yet to be fully understood. Could big deals with publishers be on the chopping block?

Health agencies, leading pharmaceutical companies to join forces to accelerate pandemic response.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cannot block recipients of agency funding from participating on its science advisory boards, a federal judge said yesterday.

DELVE: Data Evaluation and Learning for Viral Epidemics is a multi-disciplinary group, convened by the Royal Society, to support a data-driven approach to learning from the different approaches countries are taking to managing the pandemic.

Shorn of any bravado, her announcement seemed again to make Germany, Europe's biggest economy, a de facto leader on the Continent and something of an example for Western nations. The chancellor, a physicist by training, focused on the science as she announced the government’s cautious step-by-step plan.

How did matter gain the edge over antimatter in the early universe? Maybe, just maybe, neutrinos.

June Almeida was a pioneer of virus imaging who was largely forgotten until the current outbreak.

Calling on the community to make concerted efforts to develop strong, community-governed infrastructures that support diversity in scholarly communications (referred to as bibliodiversity).

The current COVID-19 crisis has prompted hand-wringing and self-reflection among some museum professionals. What, they are asking, is the point of a museum that remains closed to the public?

As climate- and ecological-monitoring projects go dark, data that stretch back for decades will soon contain coronavirus-associated gaps.

Scientists say one-time lockdown will not bring pandemic under control.

If you struggle with home working but are having to do it because of the coronavirus, Lucy Taylor has some advice.