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Nature Journals Tighten Rules on Non-Financial Conflicts
What makes a conflict of interest (COI) in science? Definitions differ, but broadly agree on one thing: an influence that can cloud a researcher’s objectivity. Nature and the other Nature Research journals are taking into account some of these non-financial sources of possible tension and conflict.
A Post-Publication Review and Assessment In Science Experiment
It is time to reinvent the ways we assess our research outputs and each other to make them more fair, efficient and effective, says Michael Eisen.
A Brief History, Critique, and Discussion of the Adverse Effects of the Journal Impact Factor
A Brief History, Critique, and Discussion of the Adverse Effects of the Journal Impact Factor
The Journal Impact Factor is, by far, the most discussed bibliometric indicator. Since its introduction over 40 years ago, it has had enormous effects on the scientific ecosystem. This paper by Cassidy R. Sugimoto provides a brief history of the indicator and highlights well-known limitations.
Why Women’s Voices Are Scarce in Economics
For decades, the number of women studying economics seemed to be increasing, easing the persistent scarcity of professional female economists in the United States. But that progress has stalled.
In Science, There Should Be a Prize for Second Place
Some scientific journals are defusing the fear of getting “scooped” by making it easier for scientists to publish results that have appeared elsewhere.
PubMed Commons to be Discontinued
PubMed Commons has been a valuable experiment in supporting discussion of published scientific literature. The service was first introduced as a pilot project in the fall of 2013.
Kid Co-Authors in South Korea Spur Government Probe
The South Korean government is expanding an investigation into researchers who named their children as co-authors on papers.
CoS Launches New Preprint Services Arabixiv and Frenxiv
The Center for Open Science (COS) has launched two new preprint services to provide free, open access, open source archives for the Arab and French research communities.
New Scientist Appoints First Female Editor
New Scientist, the world’s leading science and technology weekly magazine, is pleased to announce the appointment of Emily Wilson as Editor.
FinELib and Elsevier Reach Agreement for Subscription Access
The FinELib consortium and Elsevier today signed an agreement making Elsevier’s globally published research articles available to Finnish academic institutions, while providing Finnish researches with incentives to publish open access if they so choose.
Universities Should Encourage Scientists to Speak Out about Public Issues
Universities Should Encourage Scientists to Speak Out about Public Issues
Opioids. Fracking. Zika. GMOs. Scientists should be speaking up about all sorts of science-based issues that affect our lives. Especially now, when Trump administration officials tell us that climate change is debatable.
A Gender Discrimination Case at the Legendary Salk Institute
Three women scientists at the storied Salk Institute reveal decades of gender discrimination.
The Serendipity Test
Scientists often herald the role of chance in research. A project in Britain aims to test the popular idea with evidence.
Sharing Is Caring, but Is Privacy Theft?
Some answers to the main challenges in moving toward Open Science.
Online Forums Give Investors an Early Warning of Shady Scientific Findings
Scientists around the globe nowadays regularly take to the internet to scrutinize research after it’s been published — including to run their own analyses of the data and spot mistakes or fraud.
Why Hiring the ‘Best’ People Produces the Least Creative Results
If you want to explore things you haven’t explored, having people who look just like you and think just like you is not the best way. We must see the forest, thinks Scott Page collegiate professor of complex systems, and author of the book book "The Diversity Bonus".
Data Visualization Tools Drive Interactivity and Reproducibility
New tools for building interactive figures and software make scientific data more accessible, and reproducible.
How a Turkish Physicist Wrote Research Papers in Prison
Ali Kaya says he used science to stay sane during his incarceration.
Gender Bias Goes Away when Grant Reviewers Focus on the Science
But female scientists suffer when their research proposals are judged primarily on the strength of their CVs.
Top 27 Universities Boost Innovation more than Nations
A small group of fewer than 30 universities are having a bigger impact on the inventions driving global economic growth than the world’s major industrialised nations.
Cheating on my Mentor
For the first 2 years of my Ph.D. program, my primary adviser was always available when I needed help, promptly responding to emails and meeting with me when questions arose. But that abruptly changed when he went on sabbatical and left the country.
Grant Reviewers ‘Biased’ Against Female Scientists
Poorer performance found to be based on less positive evaluation of female principal investigators, not differences in the quality of science
Alphabet Launches a Company called Chronicle
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is launching a new company under the Alphabet umbrella. It's called Chronicle, and the new company wants to apply the usual Google tenets of machine learning and cloud computing to cybersecurity.
When a Field's Reputation Precedes It
Study finds that a given discipline's perceived gender bias plays the biggest role in whether women choose to major in it.
Nobel Laureate Suggests he Could Resign from Leadership Post
Nobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka suggested at a press conference that Kyoto University in Japan could ask him to resign over fraud committed by one of his center’s scientists.
For Better Science, Bring on the Revolutionaries
It’s not true that efforts to reform research may “end up destroying new ideas before they are fully explored.” In defense of the replication movement.