Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 13·5% of the global population but less than 1% of global research output. In 2008, Africa produced 27 000 published papers – the same number as the Netherlands. There are some areas of improvement. A 2014 World Bank study showed that the quantity and quality of sub-Saharan Africa’s research had increased substantially in the previous 20 years. It more […] … learn more→

If academia was a Disney film and I was a street rat (early career researcher) living on the sandy backstreets of Agrabah, who happened to summon a genie, my three top-of-my-head wishes would be: publications, grant money, and a pipeline of non-traditional research outputs. But after the wishes were granted and I was flying away on […] … learn more→

Since the 1940s major world powers like the US, the UK and the United Nations have made moves to spread their scientific, economic, industrial, and human rights progress to countries and regions that are seen as less developed, vulnerable or deprived in one way or another. This has taken the form of a substantial, varied – and […] … learn more→

At this year’s EuroScience Open Forum conference in Toulouse, Carlos Moedas, the European Union commissioner for research, science and innovation, called for a new social contract between citizens, governments and science. After the announcement on Horizon Europe, Mr Moedas said that if “you receive public money, you must publish with open access. We cannot continue […] … learn more→

The words “published in a peer reviewed journal” are sometimes considered as the gold standard in science. But any professional scientist will tell you that the fact an article has undergone peer review is a long way from an ironclad guarantee of quality. To know what science you should really trust you need to weigh the subtle […] … learn more→

The most cited work in the field of ‘academic writing productivity’ is that of Robert Boice from the 1990s. Is it that because there’s been no further research in this area or has nobody bettered his findings? We’ve just launched our own study into academic writing practice. It’s research that we hope will give anyone who needs […] … learn more→

More and more research material is either being produced as digital objects or are being digitised. I can see the first copy of Philosophical Transactions from my desk. Open licensing means that more and more of this material can be shared. However, when it comes to the administration of this research, it is a different matter. I tried […] … learn more→

In 2018, Australia still does not have appropriate measures in place to maintain research integrity. And recent changes to our code of research conduct have weakened our already inadequate position. In contrast, China’s recent move to crack down on academic misconductmoves it into line with more than twenty European countries, the UK, USA, Canada and others that have national offices for research integrity. […] … learn more→

The real challenge around “responsible metrics” is only partly about the metrics themselves; it is also, and perhaps more, about how people use them. First, I must repeat a mantra that I have used widely: we mean indicators, not metrics. A metric is something like a citation count; it doesn’t tell you a great deal, and […] … learn more→

Research support professionals are always on the lookout for good practice. I should know, I’m one of them. A common way to do this is to attend relevant conferences, and one of the largest of these – INORMS – took place in Edinburgh in early June. INORMS brings together well over one thousand people who work in […] … learn more→