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Government slammed for losing track of its own research
Government can't say how many policy studies it paid for or published, report reveals.
Open-access journal eLife gets £25 million boost
Biology's big funders announce investment will continue to 2022.
What does scientific reproducibility mean, anyway?
The current movement to replicate results is crippled by a lack of agreement about the very nature of the word “replication” and its synonyms.
What does research reproducibility mean?
The language and conceptual framework of “research reproducibility” are nonstandard and unsettled across the sciences. In this Perspective, we review an array of explicit and implicit definitions of reproducibility and related terminology, and discuss how to avoid potential misunderstandings when these terms are used as a surrogate for “truth.”
After meeting Nobel laureates, French president backs off ‘suicidal’ science cuts
The Natural Selection of Bad Science
The persistence of poor methods results partly from incentives that favor them, leading to the natural selection of bad science. This dynamic requires no conscious strategizing - no deliberate cheating nor loafing - by scientists, only that publication is a principle factor for career advancement.
Why aren’t there more women in science? The industry structure is sexist
Women outnumber men in a raft of science courses – but when they start their careers, they find many insurmountable barriers.
Sci-Hub: What It Is and Why It Matters
The controversies surrounding Sci-Hub touch on many hot-button topics in librarianship. This primer lays out multiple perspectives on the issues.
Does mobility boost early scientific careers?
Young scientists are expected to change country and jobs every few years on average to get a chance to progress their academic career. Mobility in science stems from a long tradition. It is favoured for bringing very enriching experiences. But post docs and their scientific work do not always benefit from mobility. Here, EuroScientist looks into how being on the move every few years affects the life of researchers and looks at ways of enhancing work/life balance.
Most scientists believe there is a crisis in reproducibility
Placing trust in science can be easier when findings are confirmed, but a new survey finds that most scientists believe there is a reproducibility "crisis."
The developing world needs basic research too
The establishment of an agency in Indonesia that will support 'frontier research' is a welcome development, argues Dyna Rochmyaningsih.
EU’s Bold Open Science Recommendations Strike a Nerve
In their response to the EU’s Competitiveness Council’s Conclusions of May 27, 2016, the publishers expressed numerous deep concerns.
Sci-Hub: What It Is and Why It Matters
The controversies surrounding Sci-Hub touch on many hot-button topics in librarianship. This primer lays out multiple perspectives on the issues.
Why ‘context’ is important for research
Discovery is the pathway to context. Context of an article is all about how research fits into increasingly complex domains, and using structured networks to decipher its value. With the power of the internet at our disposal, putting research in context should be of key importance in a world where there is ever more research being published that is impossible to manually filter.
Switzerland does well in competitiveness ranking
Switzerland has come in second in the annual competitiveness ranking published by the IMD World Competitiveness Center in Lausanne.
The Swiss research galaxy
Every research project financed by the SNSF between 2006 and 2015 has been compiled into an infographic.
Digital forensics: from the crime lab to the library
Archivists are borrowing and adapting techniques used in criminal investigations to access data and files created in now-obsolete systems.
SAGE Open five years on
Lessons learned and future thoughts on open access in humanities and social sciences.
Organised crime against the academic peer review system
Organised crime against the academic peer review system
Editorials are generally about what we did right in our journal and we do not often publish about our failures. Yet, in this Editorial we feel we have to convey the full story of how we went entirely off track with the publication of a paper.
The ecstasy and the agony of the altmetric score
Altmetrics have gained momentum and are meant to overcome the shortcomings of citation-based metrics. In this regard some light is shed on the dangers associated with the new “all-in-one” indicator altmetric score.
Why research for the pure sake of knowing is good enough
Duke University biologist Sheila Patek has faced criticism from lawmakers over her research into mantis shrimp and trap-jaw ants, with some calling her government-funded studies a waste of taxpayer money. But according to Patek, not only do her findings have important practical applications, but scientific inquiry is most fruitful when knowledge is sought for its own sake, not to justify budgets.
The SciHub Data Part 2: Academic Pirates
How many people are actually using Sci-Hub to download publications while they are in universities?
The NASW and the Looming Rift in Science Journalism
A report suggests that internal discord may tear apart the National Association of Science Writers, a near century-old professional journalism organization.