Trump doesn't just ignore science, he attacks it. Australia's experts have an obligation to speak out on crises such as the coronavirus pandemic, even if it means picking a side in our politics.
The UC libraries let their Elsevier journal subscriptions lapse and now the publisher has cut their online access. It's a painful milestone in the fight UC hopes may transform how journals get paid.
Open access journals come with hidden costs.
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Digital publishing hasn't resulted in the free and open access to information many envisioned. Universities are increasingly fed up with a system they see as charging them for their own scholars' labor.
Scientists are rewarded with funding and publications when they come up with innovative findings. But in the midst of a 'reproducibility crisis,' being new isn't the only thing to value about research.
Predatory publishers are vultures feeding on academics’ worries about output and incentives.
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If there's a general sense that academic publication is about knowledge dissemination rather than meeting performance targets, academics and universities become less vulnerable to predatory journals.
Locking articles away behind a paywall stifles access.
Elizabeth
In our institutions of higher education and our research labs, scholars first produce, then buy back, their own content. With the costs rising and access restricted, something's got to give.
Data shows gender disparities in networking.
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The low share of women revealed in this data is problematic for two reasons: a lack of diversity, and what it shows about women's participation in the social network of informal collaboration.
Research must be carefully scrutinised by peer reviewers to ensure its veracity.
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Scientific truth is based on a body of research which has been tried and tested by many researchers over time. Peer review filters the good science from the bad.
Women are less likely to be published in scientific journals.
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Women can often draw attention to dimensions of thinking that their male perspective may miss. But this will only work if they are in positions that allow them to lead and drive the research agenda.
When academics are pushed to publish and to compete, teaching and research can take a back seat.
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More must be done to develop mechanisms based on intrinsic motivations of committed, quality academics. It's important to limit the harms currently being caused by rent seeking.
The scientific refereeing process can be tedious, time-consuming and isn’t very rewarding.
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The scientific impact of a research paper increases with every additional commenter who provides feedback – particularly if the comment came from a well-connected academic.
Research shows that Wikipedia is one of the most read sources of medical information by the general public across the world.
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Medical entries on Wikipedia are widely consulted across the world. Doctors and medical researchers need to make efforts to ensure the content on the online collaborative encyclopedia is accurate.
Vice President of the Academy of Science of South Africa and DST-NRF SARChI chair in Fungal Genomics, Professor in Genetics, University of Pretoria, University of Pretoria