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Putin Wanted Russian Science to Top the World. Then a Huge Academic Scandal Blew Up.

Putin Wanted Russian Science to Top the World. Then a Huge Academic Scandal Blew Up.

Eight years ago, President Vladimir Putin decreed that Russia must become a leading scientific power. That meant at least five top-100 Russian universities by 2020, and a dramatic increase in the number of global citations of Russian scientific papers. Now a group at the center of Putin’s aspirations, the Russian Academy of Sciences, has dropped a bombshell into the plans. A commission set up by the academy has led to the retraction of at least 869 Russian scientific articles, mainly for plagiarism.

Learned Societies Turn Against Scholarship and Join Publishers for Profit

Learned Societies Turn Against Scholarship and Join Publishers for Profit

In a recent letter to the White House, a group of corporate publishers and scholarly organizations implore the president to leave intact…

Meteorite or Volcano? New Clues to the Dinosaurs' Demise

Meteorite or Volcano? New Clues to the Dinosaurs' Demise

Twin disasters marked the end of the Cretaceous period, and scientists are presenting new evidence of which drove one of Earth's great extinctions.

The Data Science Revolution: An Interview with Xiao-Li Meng

The Data Science Revolution: An Interview with Xiao-Li Meng

An interview with Xiao-Li Meng, Professor of Statistics at Harvard University, about the increasingly central role data science is playing in research and teaching - and how journals, publishers, societies, and librarians fit in this emerging ecosystem.

What Researchers Think About the Culture They Work In: Quantitative Dataset

What Researchers Think About the Culture They Work In: Quantitative Dataset

Here we present an anonymized version of the dataset that we collected in the quantitative phase of Wellcome's research on research culture. Additionally, we present a document detailing how the data was transformed to protect anonymity. We also present a flowchart that indicates how participants were guided to answer questions in the survey.

Universities Must Overhaul the Toxic Working Culture for Academic Researchers | Anton Muscatelli

Universities Must Overhaul the Toxic Working Culture for Academic Researchers | Anton Muscatelli

A survey has warned that researchers are too stressed. It's up to universities to improve their working environment

China is Closing Gap with United States on Research Spending

China is Closing Gap with United States on Research Spending

The United States is no longer the 'uncontested leader' in science globally, the National Science Foundation says.

Registered Reports Are Coming to PLOS ONE

Registered Reports Are Coming to PLOS ONE

PLOS ONE will soon offer Registered Reports, a preregistration option which enables open peer review and publication of the initial study protocol in advance of the full research article.

Atlas of Open Science and Research in Finland 2019 Published

Atlas of Open Science and Research in Finland 2019 Published

This evaluation of Finnish research organisations, research-funding organisations, academic and cultural institutes abroad and learned societies and academies examines the key indicators chosen to assess the performance on openness. Key indicators are used to provide some insights on the competences and capacity of the research system in supporting progress towards openness. Barriers and development needs are discussed, with suggestions for improvement.

Oceans Are Warming at the Same Rate As if Five Hiroshima Bombs Were Dropped in Every Second

Oceans Are Warming at the Same Rate As if Five Hiroshima Bombs Were Dropped in Every Second

The world's oceans are now heating at the same rate as if five Hiroshima atomic bombs were dropped into the water every second, scientists have said.

How the Fight over a Hawaii Mega-telescope Could Change Astronomy

How the Fight over a Hawaii Mega-telescope Could Change Astronomy

Thirty Meter Telescope controversy is forcing scientists to grapple with how their research affects Indigenous peoples.

Science Institutions for a Complex, Fast-Paced World

Science Institutions for a Complex, Fast-Paced World

The post-World War II model for organizing science remains powerful, but moving beyond its limits will be necessary for assuring the contributions of science to solving a wide array of challenges.

Conversational AI Can Propel Social Stereotypes

Conversational AI Can Propel Social Stereotypes

As AI gets more talkative, designers need to consider the ethics of gendering not just voices, but the finer nuances of speech patterns.

Viewpoint: We Lost the Brexit Argument. But We Need to Fight on

Viewpoint: We Lost the Brexit Argument. But We Need to Fight on

The Scientists for EU group is gearing up for 2020 after the desperate disappointment of losing its three-and-a-half year campaign against Brexit - a result that has major implications for research.

Recommendations for Transparent Communication of Open Access Prices and Services

Recommendations for Transparent Communication of Open Access Prices and Services

An independent report published by Information Power aims to improve the transparency of Open Access (OA) prices and services.