Send us a link
Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds With Schools Attached
Have you heard the latest wisecrack about Harvard? People are calling it a hedge fund with a university attached.
The SNSF has signed the Open Access 2020 initiative.
The Open Access 2020 international initiative aims to pursue the large-scale implementation of open access. The SNSF supports this endeavour.
Striking a work-life balance in academia
A campaign at the Royal Society is challenging negative perceptions about careers in science by sharing the stories of 150 scientists who have successfully managed to juggle work in the lab with life at home.
Elsevier publishing – a look at the numbers, and more
Key journal performance data for 2015 and other highlights from a business that is doing a lot more than publishing.
Academic Publishing is a Goddamned Exploitative Farce — Age of Awareness
Peer review and criticism is an essential part of academic discourse, and it is why journal articles are of such high quality and rigor. But you don’t get paid for it.
Opening universities linked to increased GDP
Study suggests saturation point of higher education expansion is some way off.
Turkish scholar who eluded arrest describes 'witch hunt'
Three of Meral Camcı’s fellow academics are imprisoned for criticizing the government; more arrests may follow.
Twitter creates ‘new academic hierarchies’, suggests study
US analysis questions link between Twitter success and scholarly merit, raising doubts about the use of social media data in altmetrics.
South Korea trumpets $860-million AI fund after AlphaGo shock
Historic win by Google DeepMind's Go-playing program has South Korean government playing catch-up on artificial intelligence.
Government policy is wrecking science
Tim Birkhead warns of the ‘end of science’ unless academics push back against threats to creativity and integrity
Wellcome Trust and COAF Open Access Spend, 2014-15
The Wellcome Trust publishes details of Open Access spend and analysis of whether they get what they pay for.
How Journalists Can Help Hold Scientists Accountable
Amid the so-called replication crisis, could better investigative reporting be the answer? Maybe it’s time for journalists and scientists to work more closely together.
The Societal and Economic Impacts of Academic Research
A report produced by Digital Science, together with an international collaboration of leading higher education professionals and policy experts who give their views on the global impact agenda in research policy and discuss what evidence of impact is useful to them.
Set up a ‘self-retraction’ system for honest errors
Notices should make obvious whether a withdrawal of research is the result of misconduct or a genuine mistake, says Daniele Fanelli.
Federal Council launches new National Research Programme
Federal Council launches new National Research Programme
The Federal Council has launched a new National Research Programme (NRP) on ways of achieving a sustainable economy. This NRP is expected to contribute significantly to a more sustainable economy and greater resource security, resulting in increased competitiveness for the Swiss economy and more prosperity for the population. This programme will run for five years and is budgeted at CHF 20 million.
Cultural conundrum
The Chinese government’s professed commitment to transparency and responsiveness has had a rocky start.
Microsoft pioneer invests big, again, in bioscience
Two new centers and four investigators selected by Paul Allen’s new funding group
Excluded, intimidated and harassed: LGBT physicists face discrimination
Transgender people are the most affected.
The Downside of Scale for Journal Publishers: Quality Control and Filtration
Scale can be achieved by broadly outsourcing the editorial process. Does this lead to a loss in quality control, and is this acceptable?
From Little Science to Big Science
The number of researchers doubles every ten to fifteen years. In his manuscript, Gottfried Schatz highlights the problems which growth creates for science. He explains the difference between knowledge and science and the reason why less knowledge and more science should be taught in our kindergartens, schools and universities.
Springer Nature To Extend Content Sharing To Whole Springer Nature-owned Journal Portfolio
Springer Nature To Extend Content Sharing To Whole Springer Nature-owned Journal Portfolio
Authors and subscribers will be able to share content from over 2,700 journals and 300,000 new articles per annum with researchers across widely accessible platforms
What is the ethical compensation for nonprofit executives? (Should you boycott PLOS?)
What is the ethical compensation for nonprofit executives? (Should you boycott PLOS?)
Over the last week, there's been a storm over the executive compensation and financials at the Public Library of Science (PLOS).
China finally setting guidelines for treating lab animals
China has released its first national standards governing the treatment of laboratory animals, and scientists hope the guidelines will improve both conditions for animals and China’s prospects for international research collaborations.
Sharing Knowledge, for a Price
While we may be drawn to the fantasy of Robin Hood, it is easy to see the danger of putting one individual’s idea of right and wrong ahead of society’s democratically enforced laws.