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National Science Board Reflects on Role in Spotlighting China’s R&D Rise
With several members departing and new leadership incoming, the National Science Board used much of its May meeting to reflect on how it has ramped up its engagement on policy matters in recent years. One focus of discussion was how the board has increasingly drawn attention to the emergence of China as a global leader in science and engineering.
Linking Impact Factor to 'Open Access' Charges Creates More Inequality in Academic Publishing
Linking Impact Factor to 'Open Access' Charges Creates More Inequality in Academic Publishing
Simply adding an ‘open access’ option to the existing prestige-based journal system at ever increasing costs is not the fundamental change publishing needs, says Bianca Kramer and Jeroen Bosman
Manipulating the Alpha Level Cannot Cure Significance Testing
Manipulating the Alpha Level Cannot Cure Significance Testing
When evaluating the strength of the evidence, we should consider auxiliary assumptions, the strength of the experimental design, and implications for applications. To boil all this down to a binary decision based on a p-value threshold is not acceptable.
The Academic Papers Researchers Regard as Significant Are Not Those That Are Highly Cited
The Academic Papers Researchers Regard as Significant Are Not Those That Are Highly Cited
Academia has relied on citation count as the main way to measure the impact or importance of research, informing metrics such as the Impact Factor and the h-index. But how well do these metrics actually align with researchers’ subjective evaluation of impact and significance?
What was Missing in Australia's $1.9 Billion Infrastructure Announcement
What was Missing in Australia's $1.9 Billion Infrastructure Announcement
It’s not hard to get excited over money that will support imaging of the Earth, or the Atlas of Living Australia. But important as these projects are, there’s a whole set of infrastructure that rarely gets mentioned or noticed: “soft” infrastructure. These are the services, policies or practices that keep academic research working and, now, open.
Group of Organizations Collaborates on Joint Roadmap
A group of organizations building nonprofit, open-source tools for scholarship and publication has joined with open-science researchers in a new collaboration to develop a Joint Roadmap for Open Science Tools (JROST).
Deciding Who Can Access Satellite Data
Nasa, ESA, and Brazil’s inpe make most or all of their environmental satellite data available for free.
How to Design a Nuclear City: Inside the Secret Cities That Created the Atomic Bomb
How to Design a Nuclear City: Inside the Secret Cities That Created the Atomic Bomb
The Manhattan Project, the program that developed the first nuclear weapons during World War II, worked out of three purpose-built cities in Tennessee, New Mexico, and Washington state. A new exhibition considers their design and legacy.
How Science Will Suffer as Us Pulls out of Iran Nuclear Deal
International research collaborations could end in wake of US President Donald Trump’s decision.
When Will Clinical Trials Finally Reflect Diversity?
An analysis of drug studies shows that most participants are white, even though trials are being done in more countries.
Luck of the Draw
Funders should assign research grants via a lottery system to reduce human bias, says Dorothy Bishop.
Weak Demand Forces Springer Nature to Cancel 3.2 Billion Euro Float at Last Minute
Weak Demand Forces Springer Nature to Cancel 3.2 Billion Euro Float at Last Minute
Springer Nature, the publisher of science magazines Nature and Scientific American, cancelled its 3.2 billion euro stock market flotation planned for Wednesday on weak investor demand, dealing a heavy blow to Germany's vibrant IPO season.
More Institutions Consider Ending their 'Big Deals' with Publishers
An increasing number of universities are ending, or threatening to end, bundled journal subscriptions with major publishers.
Weak Demand Forces Springer Nature to Cancel 3.2 Billion Euro Float at Last Minute
Weak Demand Forces Springer Nature to Cancel 3.2 Billion Euro Float at Last Minute
Springer Nature, the publisher of science magazines Nature and Scientific American, cancelled its 3.2 billion euro (2.8 billion pound) stock market flotation planned for Wednesday on weak investor demand, dealing a heavy blow to Germany's vibrant IPO season.
Harassment Should Count as Scientific Misconduct
Scientific integrity needs to apply to how researchers treat people, not just to how they handle data.
A Beginner's Guide for Addressing Sexual Harassment in Academia
Suggestions for how scientists, specifically male scientists, can undermine the alienating culture of sexual harassment that exists in STEM.
Money talks
With detailed proposals on the next R&D programme due within weeks, MEP Christian Ehler, the European Parliament’s Horizon 2020 lead, explained his priorities to Ben Upton.
The Hierarchy of Countries Winning Nobels in the Sciences Is Shifting
Nobel-prize data suggest the productivity of American science has fallen.
Conflicting Academic Attitudes to Copyright Are Slowing the Move to Open Access
The open access movement has prompted a shift towards retention of rights and the use of creative commons licenses to control how works are used by publishers. However, in many cases, researchers continue to agree to standard assignment terms offered by publishers without fully investigating or understanding them.
Rationalizing the Extremes: Introducing the Citation Distribution Index
This post introduces the citation distribution index, an impact indicator developed by Science-Metrix to address many of the limitations of the average measures used in bibliometrics.
Ministers prepare to debate Horizon Europe
EU research ministers will meet at the end of the month to debate how the EU’s next R&D programme, Horizon Europe, can help address the bloc’s societal and economic challenges.
Budget 2018: When Scientists Make Their Case Effectively, Politicians Listen
The Unhappy Postdoc: a Survey Based Study
In this study, among a large number of factors that can enhance life satisfaction for postdocs (e.g., publication productivity, resources available to them) only one stood out as significant: the degree to which atmosphere in the lab is pleasant and collegial.
Open-Access Model Is a Return to the Origins of Journal Publishing
Until recently, many university and society journals operated at a loss. To return to their earlier significant role in scientific dissemination, scientific societies and universities will have to return to their earlier acceptance of knowledge sharing as part of their broader public service, rather than their more recent exploitation of publications as revenue generators.