Research

The publisher Sage has slashed the price of publishing in its flagship open-access journal to just $99 (£63) in the wake of concern about whether researchers in the humanities and social sciences will be able to afford to comply with the UK’s new open-access mandates.

Four UK universities join forces to gain competitive edge in funding shoot-out. Elizabeth Gibney writes

Rise in staff submissions predicted despite tightened funding formula. Paul Jump reports

Effort to halt male bias on event panels sparks controversy. Elizabeth Gibney and Paul Jump write

Departing head of Nottingham’s infections centre calls for redoubled efforts. Matthew Reisz writes

Call for European Union to establish output-tracking database. Paul Jump reports

Nanoscientist waits three years to see critique of controversial ‘discovery’ printed. Paul Jump writes

LHC maintenance crew turn into zombies in film by Cern-based student. Matthew Reisz reports

A court in Germany has given a “glimmer of hope” to inventors hoping to patent human embryonic stem cell technologies in Europe.

The REF’s impact case studies present myriad challenges. Seeking an outside view might be no bad thing, argues Neil Robinson

Elizabeth Gibney on the Wellcome Trust’s top job, one of the most powerful roles in UK research

Joined-up thinking across theory and practice could revolutionise our public services, says Jonathan Shepherd

Third of sector expects staff to hold qualification, FoI request shows. Elizabeth Gibney reports

MPs told that universities can’t always take their IP straight to the bank. Elizabeth Gibney reports

Principal investigators on large research projects do not have the necessary skills to foster strong relationships between the academy and business, according to a council member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Eleven journal papers have been retracted after it was discovered that they were accepted on the basis of fake reviews.

History publications press funders to rethink ‘gold’ licence and ‘green’ embargo. Paul Jump writes

Jack Grove reports from the SRHE annual conference on efforts to clarify an ‘unclearly defined’ role

Ten Australian universities are performing “above the world standard” for research, including four performing “well above” world standard, according to an evaluation of Australian research.

A managerial culture is growing in universities as they “position themselves to align more systematically with government and industrial sectors”, a conference has heard.

Internationally diverse departments outperform others, study finds. David Matthews writes

The perception among science, technology, engineering and maths PhD students that any career outside academia is akin to failure is denying industry access to high-quality, PhD-educated employees, a leading neuroscientist has claimed.

Regions could be hurt by research concentration, conference told. Elizabeth Gibney reports

The government’s drive for cuts in the next spending review could jeopardise the ring-fence for science funding, as well as putting additional pressure on student finance and numbers, the sector has been warned.

Report draws US notice but experts say journals will not ‘play RCUK game’. Paul Jump reports

The government has agreed to introduce an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act to prevent the premature disclosure of research data.

Scholar’s use of company document elicits legal letters and ‘cave-in’ by OU. David Matthews writes

KTPs bring together businesses and universities for their mutual benefit

Graphene discoverer takes aim at applied bias and short-term thinking. Paul Jump reports

Sir John O’Reilly will soon become the sector’s most powerful civil servant. He talks to Elizabeth Gibney

Astrid Wissenburg helped set the policies she will be bound by in her new OU role. Paul Jump writes

Council’s chair ditches ‘misleading’ wording on strategic importance of research. Paul Jump writes

ESRC offers grants for ambition

Is there an optimum size for research labs? Are larger labs more prone to research misconduct and harder to manage? Paul Jump investigates

Technicians, the academy’s ‘Cinderellas’, play vital roles and deserve proper recognition and support, argue Kelly Vere and Roger Murphy

It’s time for physics to make a big bang, the woman from the ministry tells Elizabeth Gibney

Grant awards success rates rise but income falls for some research-intensives. Elizabeth Gibney writes

Senior scientists critical of allocation rules and assumptions behind £100m grant for ‘gold’ fees, writes Paul Jump

Research councils benefit from external and internal pressures. Paul Jump reports

Not a peep from Finch as scholarly journal firms fly off to tax havens and grow ever more profitable. Simon Lilley does the sorry sums

The REF is coming and many institutions are looking to poach premier league researchers to boost their scores (and income) before it is too late. Elizabeth Gibney takes a look at the recruitment ‘feeding frenzy’

Research will be focused in just 25 universities by 2025 as the UK sector becomes increasingly stratified, higher education experts have predicted.

The system of examination for PhDs in the UK is a “scandal”, a conference on postgraduate issues heard last week.

Professor says he was suspended by Sheffield for mentioning a touchy subject. Paul Jump writes

Sciences and the arts are re-entering each other’s orbits in a burst of boundary-blurring creativity, Arthur I. Miller observes

Research misconduct accounts for a much higher proportion of retractions in biomedical literature than previously believed, a new study has concluded.

A renowned immunologist whose life was turned upside down when it emerged that one of his postdoctoral researchers had falsified experimental results tells Paul Jump that the sector needs a culture change if it is to fulfil its duty to expose research misconduct

For six years the government has targeted the decline in UK health research. But a law putting GPs in charge of allocating local resources has left many clinicians fearing that those advances could be derailed. Elizabeth Gibney reports

Unlike our major competitors, the UK has avoided a major research misconduct scandal over the past decade, but unless the government and the academy shake off their complacency, we won’t be ready when it is our turn to suffer, argues Michael Farthing

Research funders’ long-awaited “concordat” on research integrity deliberately steers clear of “heavy-handed regulation”, one of its authors has said.

Bullying and fear of being fired may deter staff from lifting lid on scientific misconduct. Jack Grove writes

Dutch begin documenting top psychologist’s supermassive fraud

Miles Hewstone discusses a heinous data-faking scandal and the lessons that must be learned to stop the ‘betrayers of the truth’

MPs want to see a more robust and transparent peer-review process. Paul Jump writes

The UK needs an independent regulator to oversee research integrity, a committee of MPs has concluded.

UKRIO, set up to ensure probity in research, needs funds - but some can’t see a role for it, writes Paul Jump

Global ethics guidelines set out researchers’ duties to be clear and above board, writes Paul Jump

Personal testimony and anecdote enliven a text on a vital subject, writes Michael Farthing