ORCID and CASRAI have initiated a project to establish a set of standard procedures to recognize the work of peer-reviewers. In this way the important work of peer-review, almost always anonymous, will be counted in the acknowledgments and be incorporated into scientometric indicators and altmetrics. But this will depend upon a sufficient level of adoption and acceptance of the procedures. … Read More →
SciELO Brazil revises indexing criteria
The indexing criteria that guide the journal review process to determine the inclusion and permanence in SciELO Brazil is being updated. The new criteria will be announced in the second half of 2014. The main objective is that indexing criteria reflects the priority lines of action of the SciELO Program to increase the visibility and impact of the research it communicates. … Read More →
The EU will centralize the registry of clinical trials
In April 2014, the European Union approved legislation regulating the registry of clinical trials. This will allow for transnational cooperation between laboratories and institutions of research. The measure will contribute to the transparency and dependability of the trials, and will also allow research into drugs for the treatment of rare diseases. The first registry of clinical trials was created by the WHO in 2004. Currently, registering clinical trials is mandatory in the majority of the countries. … Read More →
Ethical publishing – scholars have to make bibliographical references as well
Should top-flight scholars include bibliographic references in their works to sources they have used or is it the case that the bibliographical reference is an archaic technicality? This question became a topic for discussion at the beginning of this month because of the accusations made against Zygmunt Bauman, namely that his latest book includes sections of text copied from web sites and Wikipedia – a procedure known as “mosaic plagiarism”. … Read More →
Study highlights academic journal publication models in Brazil and Spain
Brazil and Spain have a commanding profile in academic output in their respective regions, and possess great potential in the field of scholarly publishing. Notwithstanding the differences in the history of scientific development between the two countries, both have a similar number of journals in the Web of Science database and have developed successful open access models. This article highlights a study carried out by researchers from those two countries and gives an outline of these programs and the reasons behind their success. … Read More →
Developing countries headed by China are posing a threat to American dominance in science
Over the last decade, the USA has been losing ground to emerging economies in science and technology, particularly in Asia, according to a report produced by the National Science Board in 2014. Nevertheless, the country remains a leader in innovation which can have a substantial impact on the resumption of its economic growth. Many countries are developing technological capabilities and human capital in support of a knowledge-based economy, which will bring with it clear benefits for these nations. … Read More →
Ethical publishing – Best practices in ethical publishing – Wiley updates its renowned manual and makes it available in Open Access
An updated edition of the renowned manual “Best Practice Guidelines on Publishing Ethics: A Publisher’s Perspective” was recently published in open access. This edition brings together topics which provide updates to the practices of editorial ethics in dealing with situations such as privacy and confidentiality, cultural differences, human rights, clinical trials using animals, and other topics that are sources of heated controversy today. … Read More →
Researchers reading habits for scientific literature
These days, researchers are finding themselves exposed to an avalanche of scientific information which is making it a constant challenge to select what is actually relevant and follow recent developments in a particular field. Studies show that for the first time in 35 years, researchers may have reached a plateau in their capacity to read articles and other sources of scientific information. The concept of reading may even be redefined over the course of time. … Read More →
In the beginning it was just plagiarism – now its computer-generated fake papers as well
Prestigious publishers had to withdraw more than 120 fraudulent articles that had been generated by computer programs and which managed to fool the peer review process. Learn how it is possible to create fraudulent articles in minutes and also how it is possible to detect them. The question that arises is: why can editorial control systems be fooled so easily. … Read More →
Article downloads: An alternative indicator of national research impact and cross-sector knowledge exchange – Originally published on the Elsevier newsletter “Research Trends Issue 36”
Download data can be used in research assessment to offer a different perspective on national research impact, and to give a unique view of knowledge exchange between authors and readers in the academic and corporate sectors. … Read More →
Experts give their opinion on Elsevier’s assault
In reaction to the DMCA requests sent out by Elsevier in December of last year to prevent articles which had been published in its journals from being made available on Web sites, the principal leaders in Open Access made their voices clearly heard. Among them were Steven Harnad, Charles Oppenheim and Richard Poynder where, in Poynder’s famous blog Open & Shut, they explain the different options that exist for an author to publish in repositories using the so called “Harnad-Oppenheim” solution. … Read More →
Reproducibility of research results: on-going initiatives
From Space Sciences to Clinical Medicine, different areas of knowledge are facing research results credibility problems. However, scientific societies, public health institutions and the private sector are engaged to curb this tendency. Those involved believe that increasing the transparency of data by way of publishing primary research data in open access repositories and promoting online forums for comments on published articles are promising initiatives. … Read More →
Reproducibility of research results: the tip of the iceberg
Research on clinical trials with drugs under development is the foundation upon which pharmaceutical companies base the development of their new drugs, thus the reliability of the outcomes of this research is of utmost importance. However studies show that between 60% and 70% of this research may include irreproducible results. It is necessary that the parties involved become aware of the extent of the problem and join together to find a solution. … Read More →
Reproducibility of research results: a subjective view
At a time when discussions about ethics in experimentation and scientific publication are going beyond laboratories and academic environments, and are peaking the interest of society as a whole, another threat is emerging to the credibility of science. Irreproducibility of research results is affecting the different areas of knowledge and is of concern to all. The pressure on researchers for positive and high impact outcomes is bound up with the natural desire of scientists to make groundbreaking discoveries, even if the evidence points to the contrary. … Read More →
Editorial ethics: the detection of plagiarism by automated means
The growth in plagiarism in academic articles requires publishers to have effective plagiarism detection systems, known as PDS, since there are multiple ways that this dishonest practice can be concealed. The issue is of such importance that, since 2004, the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin has been maintaining a specialized site of PDS software evaluations. … Read More →
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