For a kid growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, especially as American schools tried to close the perceived science and math gap after Sputnik was launched, a nearly constant refrain was the wonderful promise of DNA and the Watson-Crick double helix molecular structure. As it happens, there is a wee bit more to the story… Continue reading
Category Archives: Peer review
Developing world gains open access to science research, but hurdles remain
While the free flow of scientific information is now acknowledged as important, the battle for unrestricted access is far from over Continue reading
Posted in Education, Peer review
20 more retractions for scientist who made up email addresses so he could review his own papers
Hyung-In Moon, the South Korean plant compound researcher who came up with fake email addresses so that he could do his own peer review, has retracted twenty more papers, all in Immunopharmacology and Immunotoxicology, an Informa Healthcare title. Retraction Watch
Posted in Peer review
Richard Black: Climate science and acts of creation
The role of formal scientific processes in climate science appear to be under threat as never before. Continue reading
Steven Mosher: Climate Science & Post Normal Science
Science has changed. More precisely, in post normal conditions the behavior of people doing science has changed. Ravetz describes a post normal situation by the following criteria:
- Facts are uncertain
- Values are in conflict
- Stakes are high
- Immediate action is required
Whither Science Publishing?
As we stand on the brink of a new scientific age, how researchers should best communicate their findings and innovations is hotly debated in the publishing trenches. Continue reading
Posted in Education, Media, Peer review
Free access to British scientific research within two years
Radical shakeup of academic publishing will allow papers to be put online and be accessed by universities, firms and individuals Continue reading
Journal retreats from controversial arsenic paper
Two new studies of controversial research on a bacterium found in California’s arsenic-rich Mono Lake led the journal Science on Sunday to say that the 2010 paper it published on the microbe was incorrect in some of its major findings. Continue reading
Posted in Peer review, Scientific method
Bob Carter: Settled science? No such thing
THE Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a branch of the UN that advises governments on the topic of global warming allegedly caused by human greenhouse emissions. Contrary to common assumption, the IPCC does not deal with the wider topic of climate change in general. And neither is it the role of the scientists who advise the IPCC to conduct new research as such (though some, incidentally, do). Continue reading
Junk Science Week: Money corrupts peer-review process
Government cash influences the process Continue reading
Gone Feudal: Oregon State Uni (OSU) sack and target skeptics (and their children)
In an extremely worrying development, we can add Nick Drapela’s name to the list of skeptics fired for the heresy of speaking out. This email from Gordon Fulks came around today, and I want to spread the message. Continue reading
John Bynner: Open access publishing should not favour those with deep pockets
The leading model of open access publishing discriminates against academics unable to pay publication charges Continue reading
Posted in Peer review
Roger Pielke Jr.: Sarewitz on Bias in Science
In the current issue of Nature, Dan Sarewitz has a column about the threat posed by bias to scientific research. Continue reading
Roger Pielke Jr.Ignore the Gloss at Some Risk
Writing in the NYT yesterday, Jack Hitt discusses what Jerry Ravetz would call the “extended peer community” in the evaluation of knowledge claims. Continue reading
Posted in Peer review
Open access will be crucial to maintain public confidence in science
Making research papers freely available is about much more than breaking the monopoly of rich academic publishers Continue reading
Posted in Education, Peer review
Australia to ban scientific debate on climate change – report
Australian government endorses Report banning publication of all but government approved science; proof if it were needed that Australian politics and post-normal science is in crisis. Continue reading
Government backs calls for research data to be made freely available
Wellcome Trust’s proposal that results of public- and charity-fund[ed] research be made public receives ministerial backing Continue reading
Wellcome Trust joins ‘academic spring’ to open up science
Wellcome backs campaign to break stranglehold of academic journals and allow all research papers to be shared free online Continue reading
