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The Contagion Externality of a Superspreading Event:The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and COVID-19

The Contagion Externality of a Superspreading Event:The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and COVID-19

Large in-person gatherings without social distancing and with individuals who have traveled outside the local area are classified as the “highest risk” for COVID-19 spread by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Between August 7 and August 16, 2020, nearly 500,000 motorcycle enthusiasts converged on Sturgis, South Dakota for its annual motorcycle rally.

Understanding Conceptual Impact of Scientific Knowledge on Policy

Understanding Conceptual Impact of Scientific Knowledge on Policy

The Manchester Team within the Oslo Institute for Research on the Impact of Science centre has published this a conceptual paper that underpins the empirical work on framework conditions on the user side combining various political science and sociological theories.

Imaging Methods Are Vastly Underreported in Biomedical Research

Imaging Methods Are Vastly Underreported in Biomedical Research

The poor reporting of imaging methods in the scientific literature is hindering the evaluation and replication of biomedical research.

Surveillance is underestimating the burden of the COVID-19 pandemic

Surveillance is underestimating the burden of the COVID-19 pandemic

So far in the COVID-19 pandemic, surveillance systems are not monitoring ill health and long-term implications of COVID-19, only deaths are reported.

Two Metres or One: What is the Evidence for Physical Distancing in Covid-19?

Two Metres or One: What is the Evidence for Physical Distancing in Covid-19?

Rigid safe distancing rules are an oversimplification based on outdated science and experiences of past viruses, publication argues.

Gender and Other Potential Biases in Peer Review: Cross-sectional Analysis of 38 250 External Peer Review Reports

Gender and Other Potential Biases in Peer Review: Cross-sectional Analysis of 38 250 External Peer Review Reports

The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) set out to examine whether the gender of applicants and peer reviewers and other factors influence peer review of grant proposals submitted to a national funding agency.

An Extensive Analysis of the Presence of Altmetric Data for Web of Science Publications Across Subject Fields and Research Topics

An Extensive Analysis of the Presence of Altmetric Data for Web of Science Publications Across Subject Fields and Research Topics

This paper presents a state-of-the-art analysis of the presence of 12 kinds of altmetric events for nearly 12.3 million Web of Science publications published between 2012 and 2018.

Drivers of Article Processing Charges in Open Access

Drivers of Article Processing Charges in Open Access

This study sheds light on the various determinants of Articel Processing Charges in Open Access. The results strongly support the hypothesis that academia runs the risk not to take advantage of the cost-reducing opportunities inherent to digitization via a hybrid oa-strategy.

The Perils of Preprints

The Perils of Preprints

Their use and platforms require greater scrutiny Preprints-manuscripts that have not undergone peer review-were first embraced in physics, catalysed by the creation in the early 1990s of arXiv.org, an open online repository for scholarly papers.1 It was not until 2013 that similar initiatives were embraced by the biological and then medical sciences,2 and novel publishing platforms continue to emerge. Some commentators believe the potential for harm is outweighed by the benefits,134 but others have raised specific concerns regarding medical preprints and mitigating the risk of harm to the public.2 These discussions need to be revisited in the context of the covid-19 pandemic, which has been accompanied by an explosion of preprint publications. An analysis focusing on studies estimating the R of SARS-CoV-2 drew attention to the powerful role of preprints in shaping global discourse about covid-19 transmissibility. While showing the benefits that preprints may confer when adopting a consensus based approach-where data is extracted from multiple studies to observe trends and obtain an average with or without the exclusion of outliers-the authors also identify risks-matters of credibility and misinformation, both intentional and unintentional5-which may be increased where there are vested interests involved. Notably, two linked preprint publications examining the association between smoking and covid-19,67 which were widely disseminated before …

A Diverse View of Science to Catalyse Change

A Diverse View of Science to Catalyse Change

Valuing diversity leads to scientific excellence, the progress of science and, most importantly, it is simply the right thing to do. We must value diversity not only in words, but also in actions.

Open Science Saves Lives: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Open Science Saves Lives: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

In the last decade Open Science principles, such as Open Access, study preregistration, use of preprints, making available data and code, and open peer review, have been successfully advocated for and are being slowly adopted in many different research communities. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic many publishers and researchers have sped up their adoption of some of these Open Science practices, sometimes embracing them fully and sometimes partially or in a sub-optimal manner. In this article, we express concerns about the violation of some of the Open Science principles and its potential impact on the quality of research output. We provide evidence of the misuses of these principles at different stages of the scientific process. We call for a wider adoption of Open Science practices in the hope that this work will encourage a broader endorsement of Open Science principles and serve as a reminder that science should always be a rigorous process, reliable and transparent, especially in the context of a pandemic where research findings are being translated into practice even more rapidly. We provide all data and scripts at . ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

Mining and Analyzing Patron's Book-Loan Data and University Data to Understand Library Use Patterns

Mining and Analyzing Patron's Book-Loan Data and University Data to Understand Library Use Patterns

The purpose of this paper is to study the patron's usage behavior in an academic library. This study investigates on pattern of patron's books borrowing in Khunying Long Athakravisunthorn Learning Resources Center, Prince of Songkla University that influence patron's academic achievement during on academic year 2015-2018. The study collected and analyzed data from the libraries, registrar, and human resources. The students' performance data was obtained from PSU Student Information System and the rest from ALIST library information system. WEKA was used as the data mining tool employing data mining techniques of association rules and clustering. All data sets were mined and analyzed to identify characteristics of the patron's book borrowing, to discover the association rules of patron's interest, and to analyze the relationships between academic library use and undergraduate students' achievement. The results reveal patterns of patron's book loan behavior, patterns of book usage, patterns of interest rules with respect to patron's interest in book borrowing, and patterns of relationships between patron's borrowing and their grade. The ability to clearly identify and describe library patron's behavior pattern can help library in managing resources and services more effectively. This study provides a sample model as guideline or campus partnerships and for future collaborations that will take advantage of the academic library information and data mining to improve library management and library services.

Changing How We Evaluate Research is Difficult, but Not Impossible

Changing How We Evaluate Research is Difficult, but Not Impossible

DORA has evolved into an active initiative that gives practical advice to institutions on new ways to assess and evaluate research. This article outlines a framework for driving institutional change.

Developing Open Science in Africa: Barriers, Solutions and Opportunities

Developing Open Science in Africa: Barriers, Solutions and Opportunities

The paper argues for the development of open science in Africa as a means of energising national science systems and their roles in supporting public and private sectors and the general public.

The Mysterious Case of Man Who Can Read Letters, but Not Numbers, exposes Roots of Consciousness

The Mysterious Case of Man Who Can Read Letters, but Not Numbers, exposes Roots of Consciousness

With a condition that's "too strange for words," patient can do mental math but cannot recognize numerals.

Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration and Scholarly Independence in Multidisciplinary Learning Environments at Doctoral Level and Beyond

Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration and Scholarly Independence in Multidisciplinary Learning Environments at Doctoral Level and Beyond

The aim of this study is to investigate how patterns of collaboration and scholarly independence are related to early stage researchers' development in two multidisciplinary learning environments at a Swedish university. .

University Vs. Research Institute? The Dual Pillars of German Science Production, 1950-2010

University Vs. Research Institute? The Dual Pillars of German Science Production, 1950-2010

The world's third largest producer of scientific research, Germany, is the origin of the research university and the independent, extra-university research institute. Its dual-pillar research policy differentiates these organizational forms functionally: universities specialize in advanced research-based teaching; institutes specialize intensely on research. This article discusses the future utility of the dual-pillar policy.

Time is of the Essence: Containment of the SARS-CoV-2 Epidemic in Switzerland from February to May 2020

Time is of the Essence: Containment of the SARS-CoV-2 Epidemic in Switzerland from February to May 2020

In late February and early March 2020, Switzerland experienced rapid growth of severe COVID-19 infections. This pre-print follows and analyses non-pharmaceutical interventions during this period.

Assessment of Preprint Policies of Top-Ranked Clinical Journals

Assessment of Preprint Policies of Top-Ranked Clinical Journals

This cross-sectional study examines the preprint publication policies of 100 clinical journals with the highest impact factor.

Cross-Sectoral Mobility Funding and the Challenge of Immersion: The Case of SSH

Cross-Sectoral Mobility Funding and the Challenge of Immersion: The Case of SSH

Cross-sectoral mobility funding requires recipients to change their environment and often some aspects of their research. There is a need to understand the impact on the researchers' experiences as knowledge producers within such programs, as part of the broader potential and significance of cross-sectoral mobility funding.

Sticky Policies, Dysfunctional Systems: Path Dependency and the Problems of Government Funding for Science in the United States

Sticky Policies, Dysfunctional Systems: Path Dependency and the Problems of Government Funding for Science in the United States

Leaders of the scientific community have declared that American science is in a crisis due to inadequate federal funding. They misconstrue the problem; its roots lie instead in the institutional interactions between federal funding agencies and higher education. 

Open Science Beyond Open Access: For and with Communities, A Step Towards the Decolonization of Knowledge

Open Science Beyond Open Access: For and with Communities, A Step Towards the Decolonization of Knowledge

UNESCO is launching international consultations aimed at developing a Recommendation on Open Science for adoption by member states in 2021. Its Recommendation will include a common definition, a shared set of values, and proposals for action. At the invitation of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, this paper aims to contribute to the consultation process by answering questions such as: • Why and how should science be "open"? For and with whom? • Is it simply a matter of making scientific articles and data fully available to researchers around the world at the time of publication, so they do not miss important results that could contribute to or accelerate their work? • Could this openness also enable citizens around the world to contribute to science with their capacities and expertise, such as through citizen science or participatory action research projects? • Does science that is truly open include a plurality of ways of knowing, including those of Indigenous cultures, Global South cultures, and other excluded, marginalized groups in the Global North? The paper has four sections: "Open Science and the pandemic" introduces and explores different forms of openness during a crisis where science suddenly seems essential to the well-being of all. The next three sections explain the main dimensions of three forms of scientific openness: openness to publications and data, openness to society, and openness to excluded knowledges2 and epistemologies3. We conclude with policy considerations. A French version of this paper is available here: https://zenodo.org/record/3947013#.Xw-Ksx17nOQ