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 […]
Do Journal Rankings Give Short Shrift to the South?
Many research evaluation systems continue to take a narrow view of excellence, judging the value of work based on the journal in which it is published. Recent research by Diego Chavarro, Ismael Ràfols and colleagues shows how such systems underestimate and prove detrimental to the production of research relevant to important social, economic, and environmental issues and reflect the biases of journal citation databases which focus heavily on English-language research from the US and Western Europe.
Trick or Treat: It’s a Behavioral Scientist at the Door!
While Halloween is always an exciting time for candy manufacturers, costume sellers and youngsters who are often allowed a small binge in candy consumption, a different group of people also lick their lips in anticipation — behavioral scientists.
Open Access and Learned Societies: An Update
Publishing remains a key part of the mission of many British learned societies, as does disseminating scholarship and staying afloat. A new report appearing in December, and previewed at a September meeting, will offer some direction for organizations trying to reduce the tension that open access may create among those goals.
Little Blue Birds of a (Disciplinary) Feather Flock Together
The success of academic research in reaching out beyond its own scientific community is a perennial concern, even more so following the rapid adoption of social media and the ability to easily transmit information to potentially millions of people. But is increased social media attention really indicative of “broader impact”? A new study suggests social media does not broaden scientific communication, but rather replicates and perpetuates pre-established disciplinary boundaries.
Campaign Releases Toolkit for Demonstrating Impact
An online tool aimed at helping researchers demonstrate their work’s impact to policymakers has been launched by the Campaign for Social Science in collaboration with Cardiff University. While it’s focused on Wales, the toolkit is seen as a template for working with other governments
The Constant Diplomat: Neil Smelser, 1930-2017
Sociologist Neil Smelser, whose research on collective behavior and economic sociology were rivaled by his tenure as a mentor, teacher, and liaison to a restive University of California-Berkeley student body in the 1960s, has died at age 87.
Former OSTP Chief Holdren to Receive 2018 Moynihan Prize
Physicist John Holdren, the longest-serving presidential science adviser in U.S. history, will receive the 2018 Daniel Patrick Moynihan Prize from the American Academy of Political and Social Science. This marks the first time that the Moynihan Prize has gone to a natural scientist.
When You Talk About Evacuation, You’re Talking About Psychology
A key part of response to a disaster is timely and effective evacuation. That in turn taps into a wide range of human responses, and psychology is there to help create the most effective strategies.
