Violent state repression and government interference in university autonomy lead the global decline in academic freedom, according to Scholars at Risk’s (SAR) Free to Think 2026 report. 

Protecting science under the systemic stress of wartime means treating education and training itself as infrastructure, rather than as a series of one-off events.

Paper calls for stable careers and creativity-focused assessment, but authors pessimistic about seeing meaningful change,

Science is often judged by measurable outcomes, which can undermine collaboration and the common good. A view is proposed in which science helps create and sustain flourishing communities through shared practices and values.

Study involving 100 sitting MPs in the UK reveals gulf between perceptions of the political class and realities of public attitudes on environmental issues such as insulation and green taxes. MPs also think the UK electorate is far more divided than it is over climate policies. Researchers find statistical evidence for a ‘spiral of silence’ effect in the British Parliament.

The authors investigate how funding structures influence university governance and research behaviour. The paper contributes to broader discussions about autonomy, incentives, and the organisation of research systems.

This study examines whether similarity between applicants and evaluators influences grant-review outcomes. The findings contribute to ongoing debates about fairness, bias, and the design of competitive research-funding systems.

LLM use is reshaping how scientific ideas are articulated and evaluated in the US federal funding system, with implications for research diversity, transparency, and public trust.

This article argues that science communication is not just dissemination but part of participatory knowledge production, especially when science is socially contested and policy-relevant.
 

Do open-data infrastructures actively reshape research agendas? Using GBIF as a case, this study finds that topic choices shifted after using the platform, framing open data platforms as research “catalysts,” not passive repositories.

The results of this study confirm persistent gender disparities: women are more frequently acknowledged than credited as co-authors, especially in roles involving investigation and analysis.

This study, which analysed how scientific publications are used in patents, finds that open-access research is cited in patents more often than expected, suggesting that open science can strengthen knowledge transfer from academia to innovation and industry.

Analyzing evaluation dynamics across the editorial review and peer review stages, this study finds strong selective effects associated with higher institutional prestige, larger team size, and certain topics and countries.

Climate policy support varied more across cultural worldviews than biodiversity policy support, according to a survey in Japan.

A new study identifies five audience 'classes' based on people's perceptions of scientists’ credibility

Tenure is a defining feature of the US academic system with significant implications for research productivity and creative search. Yet the impact of tenure on faculty research trajectories remains poorly understood. 

Journal of Research on Research (J·ROR) is a new international peer reviewed journal that publishes commentaries, reviews, article and analyses of research management, governance, dissemination, practice, theory and assessment.

Queen Mary University researchers have developed a new AI-powered framework designed to help scientists review and analyse vast amounts of literature faster, more transparently, and with greater human oversight.

Trial disruptions threaten efforts to improve the lack of diversity in clinical research.

This article describes a course module that introduces MSc students at Utrecht University in the Netherlands to this part of the publication process.

Large-scale analysis reveals “disruptive” innovations in research history.

Institutional science communication has become a central tool for addressing the challenges of disinformation and strengthening public trust in public institutions.