Hayley Teasdale argues that PhD studies are an ideal time for developing your research communication and impact skills and growing your entrepreneurial and organizational capabilities.

Statisticians are calling on their profession to abandon one of its most treasured markers of significance. But what could replace it?

This essay proposes how distributed Web technologies are poised to enable an entirely new way of communication and cooperation among scientist and citizens.

We need paid leave so young researchers can start families without abandoning STEM careers.

There is a wealth of advice and 'how to' guides available to academics on the subject of how research can have an impact on policy and practice. In this post Kathryn Oliver and Paul Cairney assess the value of this literature, arguing that unless researchers seek to situate research impact within processes of policymaking and academic knowledge production, this advice can ultimately reinforce current inequalities in research impact.

How can academic libraries "vote with their dollars"?

Robert P. Crease harks back to the shapers of our scientific infrastructure and what they can tell us about how to handle the threat we now face.

Last Friday, hundreds of thousands of students in the United States and around the world were out in the streets rather than in their classrooms, demanding that our political leaders address the climate crisis with the urgency and focused action that the science so clearly demands.

Young people will be greatly impacted by the effects of climate change, so it is critical that their voices are heard.

Young people are going on a climate strike and researchers are supporting their cause. Reto Knutti discusses the issues.

Contrary to first impressions, Congress has done a decent job standing up for scientific research.

Policymakers need to be encouraged to take a scientic approach when drawing up legislation to boost food security, according to a panel of experts.

The UK has benefitted from funder incentives that make Open Access appealing for authors, while US funders have taken a less interventionist approach to Open Access. This in turn has led to increased international collaboration for UK researchers.

Many of today's problems in science are substantially driven by deficits in statistical thinking and data skills that are common across the sciences. This opinion article justifies this position, and offers ways that these deficits might be addressed.

The progress of science depends on how we preserve and share what we know.

Plan S raises challenging questions for the Global South. Even if Plan S fails to achieve its objectives the growing determination in Europe to trigger a “global flip” to open access suggests developing countries will have to develop an alternative strategy.

The giants of the scientific publishing industry have made huge profits for decades. Now they are under threat.

Five junior researchers share their thoughts on travel barriers.

Time and time again, academic publishers have managed to create the impression that publishing incurs a lot of costs which justify the outrageous prices they charge, even though it is well established that the cost of making an article public with all the bells and whistles that come with an academic article is between US$/€200-500.

When we reject failure, we create a culture of punishment, artificial rewards, and scientific bias. There are people running analyses and experiments right now which others will have undoubtedly done before, but just not communicated their results.

The hypocrisy of a publishing academic

The ethical issues swirling around artificial intelligence (AI) are under-researched, with surprisingly little serious academic investigation into AI ethics, despite the huge amount of money pouring into the field and the rampant pace at which the technology is advancing.

How should the social impact of research be measured? James Wilsdon, professor at the University of Sheffield, talks to us about the need for "responsible metrics". 

To be successful as researchers, we must be able to think through the impacts of our work on society and speak up when necessary.

Publishers say that the bold open-access initiative rules out proven ways of opening up the literature.

League of European Research Universities (LERU) members offer 10 Recommendations which, once adopted, would make Plan S a bold blueprint in universities for a radical change to current publishing practice.

China's programme of innovation-driven development, underpinned by research and technology, has placed new demands on the Chinese scientific community. What role for open access - and the Europe-led Plan S programme?

Dear Publishing Industry,