Researchers acting to maximise their fitness should spend most of their effort seeking novel results and conduct small studies that have only 10%–40% statistical power. As a result, half of the studies they publish will report erroneous conclusions. Current incentive structures are in conflict with maximising the scientific value of research; we suggest ways that the scientific ecosystem could be improved.

In an era where research bureaucracy is the biggest burden bestowed upon scientists, some are seeking practical solutions.

Exploring the research output on specific natural disasters.

An empirical analysis of researchers’ publications reveals that females have fewer distinct coauthors yet have a lower chance of repeating previous coauthors than their male counterparts.

Anonymous interviews explore how scholars use gossip to warn others of wrongdoers – but it may not always work.

A new book provides new insights into the nature of political bias with regards to evidence and critically considers what an ‘improved’ use of evidence would look like from a policymaking perspective.

Results of a survey of Wellcome researchers to find out what they think about open research, how they practice it, and some of the barriers they face.

The increase of the fraction of papers authored by women is slowest in the most prestigious journals.

Mike Schaefer, from the University of Zurich, investigates what factors make for a successful crowdfunding project.

Federally funded research and development (R&D) is a hallmark of the U.S. economy but, it's under siege. To maximize and make apparent the economic returns from R&D, the next administration should seek to improve the local economic impact of federal R&D.

COPE has produced some guidelines which set out the basic principles and standards to which all peer reviewers should adhere during the peer-review process in research publication. The aim has been to make them generic so that they can be applied across disciplines.

Significant differences between genders which may put women at a disadvantage when pursuing an academic career in mathematics.

Progress update from symposium sponsors: The Academy of Medical Sciences, the BBSRC, the MRC and Wellcome Trust.

A paper that suggests that the imposition of arbitrary manuscript length limits discourages the publication of more impactful studies.

A selection of analyses and articles about open data.

Maintaining Scientific Integrity in a Climate of Perverse Incentives and Hypercompetition.

On the importance of identifying variables explaining the underlying differences in individual reviewer decision-making.

This article describes ten simple rules for digital data storage that grew out of a long discussion among instructors for the Software and Data Carpentry initiatives.

Activity report from WikiCite 2016 (Berlin, 25-26 May 2016).

BioBlocks is an open-source web-based visual development environment for describing and execute experimental protocols on local robotic platforms or remotely i.e. in the cloud. It aims to serve as a 'de facto' open standard for programming protocols in Biology.

A word frequency analysis of 874,411 English article titles to assess the likelihood that research on obscure (rarely researched) topics is less cited.

How do European countries use open data? Who are the trend setters? And what impact does open data have on our economy & society? A first report looked at Open Data Maturity and Readiness.

The paper shows how scientists in a variety of disciplines use social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or blogs, to exchange scientific knowledge.

The League of European Research Universities analyses trends in citizen science, formulates actionable guidelines for scientists and gives recommendations for universities, policymakers and funders.

First report and recommendations on the European Open Science Cloud.

Climate change, biodiversity loss, antibiotic resistance, and other global challenges pose major collective action problems: A group benefits from a certain action, but no individual has sufficient incentive to act alone.

The Nobel Prize epitomizes the winner-takes-all economics of credit allocation and distorts the history of science by personalizing discoveries that are truly made by groups of individuals.

On the Relationship between Research Productivity and Impact

A collection of case studies on various aspects of interdisciplinarity in science.

Academic social networks may get users hooked on them, like addicted academics, transforming what should only be a means into an end in itself.