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SAGE Open five years on
Lessons learned and future thoughts on open access in humanities and social sciences.
Money back guarantees for non-reproducible results?
There are better solutions to the “reproducibility crisis” in research
The 10 commandments for influencing policymakers
Nick Hillman offers academics advice on managing expectations and ensuring that their research has a big impact
Should researchers publish their findings before peer review?
Scientists, journal editors, and funders of research are talking about a once-heretical idea: preprint publishing for biologists.
Tim Berners-Lee on the Future of Book Publishing
How might Web technology change the publishing industry? Ask the inventor of the World Wide Web.
Integrity or impact? Confessions of an early career researcher
The reality of academia is stifling the passion and creativity needed both to enjoy science, and to do it well.
Crunch time
Overtime pay for postdoctoral scientists is welcome — but could mean fewer positions.
Elsevier denies it will force SSRN users on to other services
Purchase of research repository has horrified open access advocates who fear acquisition marks attempt to maintain control over publishing
Writing book reviews during your PhD
Steph Wright wonders if it is better to speak your mind or to hold your tongue
Second thoughts: Nature Editorial
Revisiting the past can help to inform ideas of the present: science without consensus would be chaos. But the price of consensus is eternal vigilance against complacency, and a willingness to contemplate the road otherwise not travelled.
CVs of failure in academia do not tell the whole story
Being open about failure is one thing, but we must also look at how we define success, says Shahidha Bari
Scientists Are Just as Confused About the Ethics of Big-Data Research as You
Preprints for the life sciences
Piece reflecting the opinions of researchers, funders, and journals.
Academic Publishing: Toward a New Model
To make research more accessible, separate the review and dissemination processes.
Twelve principles for open innovation 2.0
Evolve governance structures, practices and metrics to accelerate innovation in an era of digital connectivity, writes Martin Curley.
Open medicine
Governments need to tighten regulation if the sharing of clinical-trial data is to succeed.
Financial incentives could well make teaching sexy again
Has teaching been the poor cousin of research for too long?
It’s silly to assume all research funded by corporations is bent
If the work is properly monitored, there is no reason not to trust the results
Engagement upgrade
The value that Australia places on publication quality over quantity has elevated it into the top echelon of science. Can it now improve its flagging track record in commercialization?
Q&A: Helga Nowotny
Austrian social scientist Helga Nowotny was president of the European Research Council between 2010 and 2013. Now a professor emerita of ETH Zurich and author of The Cunning of Uncertainty (Polity, 2015), Nowotny discusses the growing pressure to capitalize on academic research, and how countries can get it right in the absence of a universal recipe.
In science, follow the money - if you can
In science as in politics, most people agree that transparency is essential. Top journals now require authors to disclose their funding sources so that readers can judge the possibility of bias, and the British Medical Journal recently required authors to disclose their data as well so that experts can run independent analyses of the results. But as transparency becomes the standard, many academics are resisting the trend without pushback from their universities.
Why Altmetric scores should never be used to measure the merit of scientific publications
Why Altmetric scores should never be used to measure the merit of scientific publications
Or 'how to tweet your way to honour and glory'.
Why scientists should learn to embrace failure
Entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley live by the motto of “Fail fast, fail often." Scientists would do well to likewise embrace failure.
Avoiding a lost generation of scientists
By sharing their experiences, early-career scientists can help to make the case for increased government funding for researchers.
Swiss scientists share Brexit concerns
What could a Brexit mean for the United Kingdom’s higher education, research and student mobility? Switzerland offers some clues. ...