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COVID-19 and the Research Community: It is Time for Open Access in Clinical Care

COVID-19 and the Research Community: It is Time for Open Access in Clinical Care

A healthcare center widely sharing its internal guidelines on how to treat COVID-19 patients "just wasn't done." As the pandemic raged at a Boston hospital, the next generation of clinical leaders pushed for change.

Tackling R&I Foreign Interference

Tackling R&I Foreign Interference

R&I Foreign interference occurs when activities are carried out by, or on behalf of, a foreign state-level actor, which are coercive, covert, deceptive, or corrupting and are contrary to the sovereignty, values, and interests of the European Union (EU). EU Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and Research Performing Organisations (RPOs) can benefit from a comprehensive strategy for tackling foreign interference that covers key areas of attention grouped into the following four categories: values, governance, partnerships and cybersecurity. This document contains a nonexhaustive list of possible mitigation measures that can help HEIs and RPOs to develop a comprehensive strategy, tailored to their needs.

Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues in the Earth BioGenome Project

Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues in the Earth BioGenome Project

The Earth BioGenome Project (EBP) is an audacious endeavor to obtain whole-genome sequences of representatives from all eukaryotic species on Earth. In addition to the project's technical and organizational challenges, it also faces complicated ethical, legal, and social issues. This paper, from members of the EBP's Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues (ELSI) Committee, catalogs these ELSI concerns arising from EBP. These include legal issues, such as sample collection and permitting; the applicability of international treaties, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol; intellectual property; sample accessioning; and biosecurity and ethical issues, such as sampling from the territories of Indigenous peoples and local communities, the protection of endangered species, and cross-border collections, among several others. We also comment on the intersection of digital sequence information and data rights. More broadly, this list of ethical, legal, and social issues for large-scale genomic sequencing projects may be useful in the consideration of ethical frameworks for future projects. While we do not-and cannot-provide simple, overarching solutions for all the issues raised here, we conclude our perspective by beginning to chart a path forward for EBP's work. There are no data underlying this work.

Stories of Intentional Action Mobilise Climate Policy Support and Action Intentions

Stories of Intentional Action Mobilise Climate Policy Support and Action Intentions

What makes a climate story effective? Narrating intentional, rather than unintentional, pro-environmental action can enhance readers' climate policy support and intentions to perform pro-environmental action.

Virtually the Same? Evaluating the Effectiveness of Remote Undergraduate Research Experiences

Virtually the Same? Evaluating the Effectiveness of Remote Undergraduate Research Experiences

In-person undergraduate research experiences (UREs) promote students' integration into careers in life science research. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted institutions hosting summer URE programs to offer them remotely, raising questions about whether undergraduates who participate in remote research can experience scientific integration.

The Role of Collegiality in Academic Review, Promotion, and Tenure

The Role of Collegiality in Academic Review, Promotion, and Tenure

Review, promotion, and tenure (RPT) processes at universities typically assess candidates along three dimensions: research, teaching, and service. In recent years, some have argued for the inclusion of a controversial fourth criterion: collegiality.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution on Mental Health Outcomes

The Impact of the COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution on Mental Health Outcomes

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a “second pandemic” of anxiety and depression. While vaccines are primarily aimed at reducing COVID-19 transmission and mortality risks, they may have important secondary benefits. 

Long distance ski racing is associated with lower long-term incidence of depression in a population based, large-scale study

Long distance ski racing is associated with lower long-term incidence of depression in a population based, large-scale study

Physical activity has been proposed to be beneficial for prevention of depression, although the importance of exercise intensity, sex-specific mechanisms, and duration of the effects need to be clarified. Using an observational study design, following 395,369 individuals up to 21 years it was studied whether participation in an ultralong-distance cross-country ski race was associated with lower risk of developing depression.

The Explanatory Power of Citations: a New Approach to Unpacking Impact in Science - Scientometrics

The Explanatory Power of Citations: a New Approach to Unpacking Impact in Science - Scientometrics

This article proposes a text clustering approach to derive contextual aspects of individual citations and the relationship between cited and citing work in an automated and scalable fashion. The method reveals a focal publication's absorption and use within the scientific community. It can also facilitate impact assessments at all levels. 

How Human Capital, Universities of Excellence, Third Party Funding, Mobility and Gender Explain Productivity in German Political Science - Scientometrics

How Human Capital, Universities of Excellence, Third Party Funding, Mobility and Gender Explain Productivity in German Political Science - Scientometrics

Apart from generally showing why political scientists publish more or less, this article specifically identifies accumulative advantage as the principal reason why women increasingly fall behind men over the course of their careers.

'Free to Think 2021' Report of the Scholars at Risk Academic Freedom Monitoring Project

'Free to Think 2021' Report of the Scholars at Risk Academic Freedom Monitoring Project

Free to Think 2021 is the seventh installment of an annual report by SAR's Academic Freedom Monitoring Project. The report analyzes 332 attacks on higher education communities in 65 countries and territories.

Climate Policy, Regulation and Governance

Climate Policy, Regulation and Governance

The articles presented here range from broad views on climate change governance in agroforestry systems and insights from climate-funded food system projects, to the nationally specific, exploring regulatory contexts in the UK, China, and Mexico. 

The Southern Ocean is Still Swallowing Large Amounts of Humans' Carbon Dioxide Emissions

The Southern Ocean is Still Swallowing Large Amounts of Humans' Carbon Dioxide Emissions

A 2018 study suggested the ocean surrounding Antarctica might be taking up less CO₂ than thought, but new data suggest it is still a carbon sink.

The Experimental Research Funder's Handbook (RoRI Working Paper No.6)

The Experimental Research Funder's Handbook (RoRI Working Paper No.6)

This Handbook aims to provide a practical resource for funders looking to move further or faster down the experimental path.

A Billion-dollar Donation: Estimating the Cost of Researchers' Time Spent on Peer Review

A Billion-dollar Donation: Estimating the Cost of Researchers' Time Spent on Peer Review

By design, our results are very likely to be under-estimates as they reflect only a portion of the total number of journals worldwide. The numbers highlight the enormous amount of work and time that researchers provide to the publication system, and the importance of considering alternative ways of …

The State of Social Science Research on COVID-19

The State of Social Science Research on COVID-19

This is the first scientometric study of the performance of social science research on COVID-19. It provides insight into the landscape, the research fields, and international collaboration in this domain. The results are useful for finding potential collaborators and for identifying the frontier and gaps in social science research on COVID-19 to shape future studies.

Reproducibility of Research During COVID‐19: Examining the Case of Population Density and the Basic Reproductive Rate from the Perspective of Spatial Analysis

Reproducibility of Research During COVID‐19: Examining the Case of Population Density and the Basic Reproductive Rate from the Perspective of Spatial Analysis

The emergence of the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 led to explosive growth in scientific research. Given the high stakes of the situation, it is essential that scientific findings, on which good policy depends, are as robust as possible; as the empirical example shows, reproducibility is one of the keys to ensure this.