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 […]
Let’s Make Them All ‘Research Multi-versities’
Although universities and funding bodies pay lip-service to the importance of multi-discipline research, a physicist and an anthropologist argue there is a long way to go before the reality matches the rhetoric.
We All Have a Dog in the Fight When Researchers Lie
Looking specifically at Australia, the author of the book on research integrity wonders how rampant plagiarizing and fabricating may be among researchers.
Mission Possible: Be an Ethical Social Scientist
The author of a book on research ethics for social scientists suggests that issues such as antagonism with university review boards and new complexities introduced by Big Data can make integrity a sometime elusive quality.
OMG, Zambia’s New Interim President Is … an Economist
A lot has been made about Guy Scott being a white man. But Stephen Chan argues that’s one of the less remarkable aspects of Zambia’s fill-in leader.
Is Big Data Galloping to a ‘Horsemeat Moment’?
Big data is ultimately a big boon for both researchers and the public. But without some reasonable and quick regulation, argues Duncan Shaw, scandals arising from its misuse could turn the public’s stomach.
The Maddox Winners: Promoting Good Science Can Be a Contact Sport
Having run the gantlet of online abuse and legal threats for their troubles, two top-notch science communicators have won this year’s John Maddox Prize for the their evidence-based good work and dedication in the face of adversity.
How Economics Lost Its Identity (Australian Edition)
Business and finance are important, but they’re not the same thing as economics. One academic’s suggestions for making that distinction clear as early as secondary school.
How Germany Managed to Abolish University Tuition Fees
If Germany has done it, why can’t we? That’s the question being asked by many students around the world in countries that charge tuition fees to university. Barbara Kehm explains how Germany reached this point, and whether it’s likely to stay there.
