Common resources are best managed by the people who most benefit from them
In last year’s November sales, the Chinese technology platform Alibaba handled peak traffic of 80,000 orders per second. This is an incredible feat, matched, if not exceeded, Read more […]
The movement to promote open-access to information published in journals is now well established. However, much of the information we present at conferences is either missed or fails to reach the wider community. Conferences are traditionally closed affairs, limited by time and location, despite recent efforts to stream some of the keynote speeches on the internet. Yet, at large events vast amounts of information are presented through oral papers and posters. However, this communication is mainly linear and the interactive engagement of delegates is proportionally minimal. Read more […]
Open Science: never have terms been interpreted in so many different ways by so many different people. The diversity of perspectives on this matter reflects the evolving nature of what research has become. These reflections led to the idea of this EuroScientist special issue together with early stage discussions with scholarly publishing experts, and journalistic investigations about what to expect from an ever opening science. Read more […]
What is unique about research in the era of Science 2.0? For one, it opens up important new methods of discovery. But the potential gains offered by technology can only be fully realised if research becomes open. This requires scientists to share more than ever before. And this calls for a system where all contributions, down to the most minute, are given proper credit. Welcome to the era of the fourth paradigm of research! Read more […]
The EC consultation on Science 2.0, whose results have recently been published, raised a number of issues that may need to be addressed before the idea of open science can fully be implemented. In particular, the need to introduce incentives in the scientific process to encourage scientists to share their data and publish in open access journals was brought up by many of the stakeholders consulted. He also sees the role of the Commission as that of a broker to create a level playing field to make it possible for open science to flourish. Read more […]
Latin America is a land of many opportunities. Particularly, in the field of publishing as open access encompass 25% of the research published there. This is due to the remarkable work of SciELO, which has provided a methodology and technological platform to make it possible for national open access journals to be federated across the region. Besides, it has contributed to make that research more easily discoverable via the likes of Google Scholar. Abel Packer tells the story of SciELO and his refreshing Latin American perspective of the world of publishing and his initiative contributes to further developing Open Science. Read more […]
This is the first of a series of articles and interview in our forthcoming special issue on Open Science due to be published on 22nd June. In this exclusive interview with EuroScientist, Jan Velterop, an active advocate of open access, gives his opinion about how scholarly publishing is going to play a role in the evolution of research towards more open science. He outlines the types of hurdles present along the way, in relation to copyright and the peer review process, among others. He also touches upon what, he believes, needs to change in the behaviour of scientists themselves and that of academic institutions Read more […]
I am angry. Very, very angry. Personally I have never liked how scientific journals charge us to read the research that we produce, and that we review for them free of charge. But that is another debate for another day. What I really hate is how they abuse this power to stifle debate in the name of their business interests. This is now going to dramatically affect the quality of a paper into which I poured a huge amount of effort – a critique of the (lack of) evidence for striped nanoparticles. Read more […]
How much is too much? For all the talk that the publishers of major journals such as Science, Nature and the Lancet are charging too much for their wares, it seems a limit has been reached. French universities, in particular, have had enough and are just saying “non!” and cancelling their journal subscriptions. Is this the wake-up call the big publishers need? Should other universities follow suit, researchers organise a wider boycott, or is there another way to make the journal oligarchs realise that enough is enough? Read more […]
You think that scientists, being quite clever people, would be able to agree on the best way to rank each other’s work. Oh no, not any longer. For this article, the EuroScientist asked Science, Cell and Nature as well as eLife and independent commentators to go on the record with their thoughts on how they see the peer review system, as it stands, and what alternatives should be considered. Read more […]
Mary Phillips has worked as an academic in biomedical sciences at Oxford University, UK, as a funder with the Wellcome Trust, in London, and as director of research planning for University College London. Find out her unique perspective on the limitations of the existing evaluation systems, be it for academic institutions or individual scientists. In this exclusive interview with the EuroScientist, she shares the lessons learned from her various positions related to academia. Read more […]
Science is changing. The widespread reach of the internet means we can access more papers and connect with more researchers than ever before. With the growing adoption of open access policies around the world this trend is only set to increase. As a result, scientists’ ability to collaborate effectively over long distances is now a key challenge for scientists at all stages of their career. Read more […]
European science conversations by the community, for the community
