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Changing winds in science funding

Changing winds in science funding

Bias can taint scientific research, as conclusions are sensitive to the conscious and unconscious choices scientists make in study design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation.

We can fix peer review now

We can fix peer review now

Scientists are asked to comment on static, final, published versions of papers, with virtually no potential to improve the articles. This is the state of post-publication peer review today.

The post-doctoral situation: interview with Gregory Petsko

The post-doctoral situation: interview with Gregory Petsko

Gregory Petsko discusses some of his own findings about the post-doctoral situation: "We asked institutions to tell us how many post-docs they had. Almost without exception, they couldn't do it."

Nations chasing Harvard merge colleges to ascend rankings

Nations chasing Harvard merge colleges to ascend rankings

Countries from Finland to Portugal are shaping their higher education policies based on outside rankings, eager for the validation and attention the annual lists bestow, even while they are criticized as flawed or misleading.

Member states told to welcome researchers

Member states told to welcome researchers

Researchers and students are struggling with obstructive rules on immigration to the EU that urgently need updating: scientists from countries outside the EU are not being made welcome and often face problems in moving freely between member states.

Tobacco industry-funded research, peer review, and nannying

Tobacco industry-funded research, peer review, and nannying

Aside from the occasional cigar (once every five years or so), I'm one of those smug "never smoked" gits. You then might think that I'm all for plain packaging, not publishing tobacco industry-funded research, and completely against the " normalization" of smoking via the evidently evil medium of e-cigarettes.

Credit where credit is due

Credit where credit is due

Liz Allen, Amy Brand, Jo Scott, Micah Altman and Marjorie Hlava are trialling digital taxonomies to help researchers to identify their contributions to collaborative projects. Research today is rarely a one-person job.

Ein Fünftel der Schweizer Stiftungen unterstützt Wissenschaft

Ein Fünftel der Schweizer Stiftungen unterstützt Wissenschaft

Ein Studie zeigt, dass immer mehr Stiftungen in der Schweiz die Wissenschaft fördern.

Biomedical research: are all the results correct?

Biomedical research: are all the results correct?

Poor reproducibility is only one of many factors that together make biomedical research highly inefficient.

Western science severs ties with Russia

Western science severs ties with Russia

NASA Scientific relations between Russia and the West have reached their lowest ebb since the cold war, after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.

Evidence-based science policy

Evidence-based science policy

Anne Glover, Chief Scientific Adviser to the European Commission, discusses evidence-based policy and nurturing and supporting a European scientific culture.

Eight (no, nine!) problems with big data

Eight (no, nine!) problems with big data

There is no doubt that big data is a valuable tool that has already had a critical impact in certain areas. But because of its popularity, we need to be levelheaded about what big data can and can’t do.

The sexiest job of the 21st century

The sexiest job of the 21st century

The sudden appearance of data scientists on the business scene reflects the fact that companies are now wrestling with information that comes in varieties and volumes never encountered before.

Science funding and short-term economic activity

Science funding and short-term economic activity

New data show the short-term economic activity generated by science funding, by Julia Lane.

Internet publicity of data problems in the bioscience literature correlates with enhanced corrective action

Internet publicity of data problems in the bioscience literature correlates with enhanced corrective action

Publicity spurs science study retractions 7 times more often.