Could Distributed Peer Review Better Decide Grant Funding?
The landscape of academic grant funding is notoriously competitive and plagued by lengthy, bureaucratic processes, exacerbated by difficulties in finding willing reviewers. Distributed […]
Revisiting the ‘Research Parasite’ Debate in the Age of AI
The large language models, or LLMs, that underlie generative AI tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, have an ethical challenge in how they parasitize freely available data.
Partnership Marks Milestone in Advancing Black Scholarship
Three years ago, on the heels of a Black Lives Matter Movement energized after the horror of George Floyd’s murder, the global academic publisher Sage partnered with the Black-owned Universal Write Publications (UWP).
Seventh Edition of ‘The Evidence’: The Rise of Unsafe Abortions after Roe v Wade
In this month’s edition of The Evidence newsletter, Josephine Lethbridge explores reproductive rights after the end of Roe v Wade, highlighting research on the potentially unsafe methods used in self-managed abortions.
Where Did We Get the Phrase ‘Publish or Perish’?
The origin of the phrase “publish or perish” has been intriguing since this question was first raised by Eugene Garfield in 1996. Vladimir Moskovkinl talks about the evolution of the meaning of this phrase and shows the earliest use known at this point.
Sixth Edition of ‘The Evidence’: We Need a New Approach to Preventing Sexual Violence
In this month’s installment of The Evidence newsletter, journalist Josephine Lethbridge explores recent research into sexual violence prevention programs and interviews experts […]
Stop Buying Cobras: Halting the Rise of Fake Academic Papers
It is estimated that all journals, irrespective of discipline, experience a steeply rising number of fake paper submissions. Currently, the rate is about 2 percent. That may sound small. But, given the large and growing amount of scholarly publications it means that a lot of fake papers are published. Each of these can seriously damage patients, society or nature when applied in practice.
Let’s Return to Retractions Being Corrective, Not Punitive
The retraction of academic papers often functions as an indictment against a researcher’s reputation. Tim Kersjes argues that for retractions to function as an effective corrective to the scholarly record, they need shed this punitive reputation.
Uncovering ‘Sneaked References’ in an Article’s Metadata
The authors describe how by chance they learned how some actors have added extra references, invisible in the text but present in the articles’ metadata, when those unscrupulous actors submitted the articles to scientific databases.
