Welcome to this special edition of the EuroScientist looking into how sharing practices are affecting research and innovation. And why sharing matters! You will find, in our lead article, a wealth of information concerning the impact that the technology has had on sharing practices. We also look into the limitations of current sharing practices, despite the unprecedented availability of technologies to make collaborations happen. Read more [...]
Sharing practices build the essence of science. In the process they generate two important “Rs” for scientists: recognition and reputation. This trend has been exacerbated by an increase scientific activity. This means they have the potential for enhancing the sharing practices associated with the scientific endeavour. Ultimately, this trend will also have an impact on the way research is translated into innovation, albeit at the cost of enhanced collaboration and at the detriment of competition. Read more [...]
Welcome to this special issue of the EuroScientist focusing on the evolving solution for research evaluation! The very existence of scientific career progression hinges on researchers being judged by their peers. Yet, technology is bringing disruption in what was until now a well-oiled peer-review system. The upcoming generation of scientists is likely to be evaluated through an evolved versions of peer-review. Read more [...]
With the development of web-based technologies, the new generation of scientists, often referred to as digital natives, will not be evaluated in the same way as previous generation scientists, the digital migrants. This creates a generational divide. It also could create some potential tensions between them. 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 [...]
The current dogma says that the largest part of available research funds must be assigned only to the best scientists. This way, researchers are put in competition with each other . Only a small fraction will be able to obtain the research funds needed to fully develop their own scientific projects. There is a fundamental flaw in this strategy. If some competition is good for public research, it is clear that there is a threshold beyond which competition creates more adverse than positive effects. 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 [...]
Academics love to measure things. But how well do they react to being measured? In the UK, that question has been thrown into sharp focus by the Research Excellence Framework, dubbed REF. It is a massive exercise, in which every university in the land has been invited, to prove the quality of the research it undertakes. 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 [...]
In the RRI Tools research project is designed to map out and share good practice in Responsible Research and Innovation across Europe. The challenge is to make the findings of the project relevant to countries spread across a wide geographic area. Countries in the South Eastern European region, for example, are constituted of a diversity of nations including both EU Member States and countries still in the process of EU integration. Read more [...]
New research evaluation indices may bring initial confusion, before the community finds its bearing in the new maze of alternative metrics. As quantum physicists well know, measuring a system ends up disturbing it. And changing the way we measure the outcome of research is currently ruffling many feather in the scientific community. Read more [...]
The impact of a stone falling at high speed in water represents, in a metaphoric way, the type of impact that scientists would like their ideas to have on research. Alternative metrics have emerged to weight the impact of researchers' work, almost in real time. They have become the object of scholarly study to help validate them.
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European science conversations by the community, for the community
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