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Nature Journals Announce First Open-Access Agreement

Nature Journals Announce First Open-Access Agreement

The arrangement will allow some researchers in Germany to publish openly - but critics say it comes with a high price.

Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry is Radically Changing How We Search for New Colleagues

Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry is Radically Changing How We Search for New Colleagues

This year, candidates for tenure-track Assistant Professor positions in MB&B will be asked to submit anonymized applications—no names of people, places, funding agencies or journals.

Rethinking the Rankings

Rethinking the Rankings

This group set about the world ranking bodies answerable to the communities they rank, by seeking to introduce an evaluation mechanism of their own to rate the rankers.

Coronavirus Pandemic Data Explorer

Coronavirus Pandemic Data Explorer

This chart shows which countries are making progress to end the pandemic everywhere and which are not.

The Importance of Face Masks and the Tragedy of Downplaying Them

The Importance of Face Masks and the Tragedy of Downplaying Them

Let's start all over again about face masks. The noise about them is a Judas Priest blare. Can we turn down the volume for a moment?

Wikimedia 2030: Together with Libraries to the Largest Knowledge Infrastructure in the World

Wikimedia 2030: Together with Libraries to the Largest Knowledge Infrastructure in the World

The international Wikimedia movement, best known for its community-based online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, marked its 15th anniversary by setting its sights on the year 2030 and defined strategies, values and goals in an open process. Wikimedia Germany’s Nicole Ebber and Holger Plickert have answered some questions about the transformation, how Wikimedia wants to become the largest knowledge infrastructure in the world and what connections they see to libraries.

Initiative Pushes to Make Journal Abstracts Free to Read in One Place

Initiative Pushes to Make Journal Abstracts Free to Read in One Place

Publishers agree to make journal summaries open and searchable in single repository.

How Trump Damaged Science

How Trump Damaged Science

The US president's actions have exacerbated the pandemic that has killed nearly 200,000 people, rolled back environmental and public-health regulations and undermined science and scientific institutions. Some of the harm could be permanent.

FAQs on Protecting Yourself from Aerosol Transmission

FAQs on Protecting Yourself from Aerosol Transmission

FAQs on Protecting Yourself from COVID-19 Aerosol Transmission Shortcut to this page: https://tinyurl.com/FAQ-aerosols Version: 1.78, 1-Oct-2020 Click here to jump over the scientific & historical details and go straight to the recommendations, Click here for automatic translation into many la...

How Universities Are Crushing Academics

How Universities Are Crushing Academics

Exhibiting a dogmatic faith in metrics, higher education executives are being guided less by rational considerations about educational values and more by the "snake oils" of efficiency, profitability, and accountability. But these dark arts exact a price. Due to increasing competition for funds and jobs, and with the jobs themselves becoming increasingly precarious, universities have become "anxiety machines" for academics.

Black Microbiologists Push for Visibility Amid a Pandemic

Black Microbiologists Push for Visibility Amid a Pandemic

A week of talks, panels and discussions seeks to counter an impression "that this talent pool just does not exist."

How Mathematical 'Hocus-Pocus' Saved Particle Physics

How Mathematical 'Hocus-Pocus' Saved Particle Physics

Renormalization has become perhaps the single most important advance in theoretical physics in 50 years.

Where Do Scholars Move? Measuring the Mobility of Researchers Across Academic Institutions

Where Do Scholars Move? Measuring the Mobility of Researchers Across Academic Institutions

This blog post demonstrates how scientometrics can help trace mobility patterns at the institutional level, using the Dimensions database.

These Black Holes Shouldn't Exist, but There They Are

These Black Holes Shouldn't Exist, but There They Are

On the far side of the universe, a collision of dark giants sheds light on an invisible process of cosmic growth.

Systematize Information on Journal Policies and Practices - A Call to Action

Systematize Information on Journal Policies and Practices - A Call to Action

Recently the creators of Transpose and the Platform for Responsible Editorial Policies convened an online workshop on infrastructures that provide information on scholarly journals. In this blog post they look back at the workshop and discuss next steps.

Are Children Able to Continue Learning During School Closures?

Are Children Able to Continue Learning During School Closures?

In response to the unprecedented educational challenges created by school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 90 per cent of countries have implemented some form of remote learning policy. This UNICEF factsheet estimates the potential reach of digital and broadcast remote learning responses, finding that at least 463 million students around the globe remain cut off from education, mainly due to a lack of remote learning policies or lack of equipment needed for learning at home. 

Challenge to Scientists: Does Your Ten-year-old Code Still Run?

Challenge to Scientists: Does Your Ten-year-old Code Still Run?

Missing documentation and obsolete environments force participants in the Ten Years Reproducibility Challenge to get creative.