Social Science Space

To end his trilogy of articles on the research metric system (and Google Scholar in particular), Louis Coiffait explores what improvements could be made.

Louis Coiffait’s third article in his series on impact looks at the system of citation metrics, in particular Google Scholar.

In his second article in a series on impact, Louis Coiffait looks at how REF and KEF treat impact in the UK.

Brazilian elite have an enduring resistance to acknowledging the existence and the pernicious effects of racism in shaping the country’s contemporary social relations. These effects will have major implications on the way Brazil will continue to react toward prejudices and color-blind racism. Something that Brazilian author Luiz Trindade says is “problematic for Brazil and all Brazilians.”

‘It’s not what you know but who you know’ is a trope that’s common in many careers but which the academy often claims to avoid. Except that in many cases it doesn’t.

No one expected Tamiflu to be a wonder drug, but indications are that it’s moderately useful in fighting a serious public health threat. But that message was lost last week in an ill-starred rush to beat up on ‘wicked’ Big Pharma, argues Robert Dingwall.

How does the experience of impermanent, precarious employment on the margins of academia affect young scholars’ ability to engage in creative labor? Is such creative labor still possible?

In academia, elitism seems to be taking root, and privilege seems to matter more and more. Daniel Nehring discusses the consequences.

Author’s note: I did this interview and originally published it in the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences Member […]

We are thrilled to introduce to you a new blogger to the Social Science Space blogging team, Grace Conyers. We […]

Why academics’ misunderstanding of the epistemology and politics of science is leading them to silently and uncritically support the politics of the powers that be.

Social science may be faring better politically in UK than US, says Ziyad Marar, but let’s avoid complacency at all costs