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Fact or Fake? Tackling Science Disinformation

Fact or Fake? Tackling Science Disinformation

This discussion paper describes and discusses the problems and the consequences of science disinformation in three areas of concern, namely climate change, vaccines and pandemics, and what we can do to increase awareness and minimize harm caused by the spread of disinformation.

Data Citation: Let's Choose Adoption Over Perfection

Data Citation: Let's Choose Adoption Over Perfection

This perspective piece on the perceived barriers and ways forward to advance data citation practices was written by members of the Make Data Count team which is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. 

Scientometric Data and OA Publication Policies of Clinical Allergy and Immunology Journals

Scientometric Data and OA Publication Policies of Clinical Allergy and Immunology Journals

The scientific merit of a paper and its ability to reach broader audiences is essential for scientific impact. Thus, scientific merit measurements are made by scientometric indexes, and journals are increasingly using published papers as open access (OA).

Joint Statement on Data Repository Criteria

Joint Statement on Data Repository Criteria

Open Science requires a sustainable, trustworthy and comprehensive network of repositories that can support researchers around the world in managing, sharing and preserving their data, argue Science Europe, COAR, CoreTrustSeal, the European University Association, and the World Data System.

Strengthening the OA Publishing System Through Open Citations and Spatiotemporal Metadata 

Strengthening the OA Publishing System Through Open Citations and Spatiotemporal Metadata 

The BMBF project OPTIMETA aims to strengthen the Open Access publishing system by connecting open citations and spatiotemporal metadata from open access journals with openly accessible data sources.

A Self-Correcting Fallacy - Why Don't Researchers Correct Their Own Errors in the Scientific Record?

A Self-Correcting Fallacy - Why Don't Researchers Correct Their Own Errors in the Scientific Record?

Correcting mistakes and updating findings is often considered to be a key characteristic of scientific research. In practice, self-correction of published research is infrequent, difficult to achieve, and perceived to come with reputational costs. 

Investigating the Division of Scientific Labor Using the Contributor Roles Taxonomy

Investigating the Division of Scientific Labor Using the Contributor Roles Taxonomy

Paper analyzes how research contributions are divided across research teams, focusing on the association between division of labor and number of authors, and authors’ position and specific contributions by using the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT).

Understanding Chinese Science: New Scientometric Perspectives

Understanding Chinese Science: New Scientometric Perspectives

This special issue covers a diversity of topics on Chinese science, ranging from scientometric analyses to studies of the Chinese science system and research assessment in China.

Towards Open, Reliable, and Transparent Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Towards Open, Reliable, and Transparent Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Unreliable research programmes waste funds, time, and even the lives of the organisms we seek to help and understand. Reducing this waste and increasing the value of scientific evidence require changing the actions of both individual researchers and the institutions they depend on for employment and promotion. While ecologists and evolutionary biologists have somewhat improved research transparency over the past decade (e.g. more data sharing), major obstacles remain. In this commentary, we lift our gaze to the horizon to imagine how researchers and institutions can clear the path towards more credible and effective research programmes.

Collaboration, Empathy & Change: Perspectives on Leadership in Libraries and Archives in 2020

Collaboration, Empathy & Change: Perspectives on Leadership in Libraries and Archives in 2020

Students in the organizational theory and leadership course taught by Trevor Owe at the University of Maryland’s iSchool worked together to produce this book. 

Meta-Research: Weak Evidence of Country- and Institution-Related Status Bias in the Peer Review of Abstracts

Meta-Research: Weak Evidence of Country- and Institution-Related Status Bias in the Peer Review of Abstracts

A preregistered survey experiment spanning six disciplines has found weak evidence of bias in favour of authors from high-status countries and institutions.

How Do We Share Data in COVID-19 Research? A Systematic Review of COVID-19 Datasets in PubMed Central Articles - PubMed

How Do We Share Data in COVID-19 Research? A Systematic Review of COVID-19 Datasets in PubMed Central Articles - PubMed

PubMed Central articles are an important source of COVID-19 datasets, but there is significant heterogeneity in the way these datasets are mentioned, shared, updated and cited.

Socioeconomic Roots of Academic Faculty

Socioeconomic Roots of Academic Faculty

Article investigates the representativeness of faculty childhood socioeconomic status and whether it may implicitly limit efforts to diversify the professoriate in terms of race, gender, and geography.

Scholarly Communications Harmed by Covid-19

Scholarly Communications Harmed by Covid-19

Society deserves academic discourse that is civil, cool, unbiased, and objective - but the Covid-19 pandemic has accentuated an erosion in civility in academic discourse, leading to deep divisions being played out in social, mass, and professional media.

Open Editors: A Dataset of Scholarly Journals’ Editorial Board Positions

Open Editors: A Dataset of Scholarly Journals’ Editorial Board Positions

Editormetrics analyse the role of editors of academic journals and their impact on the scientific publication system. However, such analyses would best rely on open, structured and machine-readable data on editors and editorial boards, whose availability still remains rare.

OA Diamond Journals Study. Part 1: Findings

OA Diamond Journals Study. Part 1: Findings

From June 2020 to February 2021, a consortium of 10 organisations undertook a large-scale study on open access journals across the world that are free for readers and authors, usually referred to as "OA diamond journals". This study was commissioned by cOAlition S in order to gain a better understanding of the OA diamond landscape.

The Changing Role of Funders in Responsible Research Assessment: Progress, Obstacles and the Way Ahead

The Changing Role of Funders in Responsible Research Assessment: Progress, Obstacles and the Way Ahead

A responsible research assessment would incentivise, reflect and reward the plural characteristics of high-quality research, in support of diverse and inclusive research cultures.

The Imaginary Carrot: No Correlation Between Raising Funds and Research Productivity in Geosciences

The Imaginary Carrot: No Correlation Between Raising Funds and Research Productivity in Geosciences

The ability of researchers to raise funding is central to academic achievement. However, whether success in obtaining research funds correlates with the productivity, quality or impact of a researcher is debated. The study analyses 10 years of grant funding by the Swiss National Science Foundation in Earth and Environmental Sciences.

The Unequal Impact of Parenthood in Academia

The Unequal Impact of Parenthood in Academia

Parenthood explains most of the gender productivity gap by lowering the average short-term productivity of mothers. However, the size of productivity penalty for mothers appears to have shrunk over time.

Is Preprint the Future of Science? A Thirty Year Journey of Online Preprint Services

Is Preprint the Future of Science? A Thirty Year Journey of Online Preprint Services

Preprints make scholarly communication more efficient by disseminating scientific discoveries more rapidly. The measurements presented in this study can help researchers and policymakers make informed decisions about how to effectively use and responsibly embrace a preprint culture.

Preprints in Motion: Tracking Changes Between Posting and Journal Publication

Preprints in Motion: Tracking Changes Between Posting and Journal Publication

Study utilised a combination of automatic and manual annotations to quantify how an article from early 2020 changed between the preprinted and published version.

Bibliometrics in Academic Recruitment: A Screening Tool Rather Than a Game Changer

Bibliometrics in Academic Recruitment: A Screening Tool Rather Than a Game Changer

Paper concludes that metrics were applied chiefly as a screening tool to decrease the number of eligible candidates and not as a replacement for peer review.