The traditional mode of publishing scientific research faces much criticism – primarily for being too slow and sometimes shoddily done. Maybe fewer publications of higher quality is the way forward.
Experiment design affects the quality of the results.
IAEA Seibersdorf Historical Images
Embracing more rigorous scientific methods would mean getting science right more often than we currently do. But the way we value and reward scientists makes this a challenge.
Can new ideas break through preconceived notions?
Light bulb image via www.shutterstock.com.
The public loses when their only choices are inaccessible, impenetrable journal articles or overhyped click-bait about science. Scientists themselves need to step up and help bridge the divide.
Extra, extra! The embargo’s lifted, read all about it.
Newspapers image via www.shutterstock.com.
Indonesia should cultivate a culture of peer-review to support academics produce basic social research, essential in creating good policies in the world’s fourth most populous country.
African research is largely invisible, kept in the shadows by publishing barriers and structural obstacles. A platform built in Brazil and rolled out across the developing world could be the solution.
Data needs to be an open book if science is to be made more reliable.
Quinn Dombrowski/Flickr
The field of psychology is trying to absorb a recent big study that was able to replicate only 36 out of 100 major research papers. That finding is an issue, but maybe not for the reason you think.
What does it mean if the majority of what’s published in journals can’t be reproduced?
Maggie Villiger
The research excellence of academics is often measured by the quantity and quality of their scholarly publications. But how do we know that all authors listed on a publication have actually been involved…
Normal day for a scientist at work.
Offices in the United States
In order to improve something, we need to be able to measure its quality. This is true in public policy, in commercial industries, and also in science. Like other fields, science has a growing need for…
We’re all living in a bubble these days.
The Infatuated
The term “bubble” is now part of everyday conversation, particularly since the financial crisis of 2008. But bubbles are not just a problem in the world of banking. They can affect the choices you make…
Having climbed all the way to the Nobel Prize on a ladder made of papers published in Nature, Science and Cell, biologist Randy Schekman has declared that he is now going to boycott these luxury journals…
Randy Schekman: I will not publish in Nature, Science and Cell.
James Kegley
Recipients of this year’s Nobel Prizes converged on Stockholm to receive their medals, dine with the King and Queen, and be treated like the scientific royalty. For most this time is, understandably, about…
Journal publishing is changing at a breakneck pace.
Loughborough University Library
According to Peter Suber open access is academic literature which is “digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions”. Open access delivered by journals is called…
Alexis Webb, National Institute for Medical Research
As a researcher funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF), since October 1, I’ve known that I will be not be receiving my monthly fellowship. This has meant that my work, investigating genes…
In a sting operation, John Bohannon, a correspondent of Science, claims to have exposed dodgy open access journals. His argument seems to be that, because of their business model, some journals are biased…
Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University