Research

As president vows to lower drug prices, academia sides with corporates against allowing waivers to legislation credited with driving US innovation

Tyler Prize winner talks about a career combating climate change scepticism and why he is skipping his award ceremony

Only a handful of UK universities maximised their public profiles during the pandemic because press officers were diverted towards internal crises or social media engagement, says Fiona Fox

Widespread withholding of potentially negative results has allowed misleading evidence reviews to gain traction, says study author

Identification of new species ‘a beautiful example of the impact indigenous culture and science can have when combined’

Universities and colleges have such a range of histories, missions and demographics that proposing single solutions is misguided, says Harvey Graff

Members lack expertise and groupthink is a constant peril. Better to entrust scrutiny to expert lawyers and ethicists, says Adrian Furnham

Culture change becomes a numbers game as agreement drafters try to pin down progress without spooking major players

Turbulence caused by pandemic may have reduced appetite for radical reform of research assessment and rewards, suggests study

With new divisions at NIH and NSF, federal government making long-promised structural changes to get universities and their scientists beyond their silos

Emilia Şercan has exposed a vast array of senior public officials for plagiarising their theses, writes Július Kravjar

Standard mentoring is not enough if we want a resilient, compassionate and happy research workforce, says Mark Reed

Head of Cardiff University’s new social sciences centre says virtual working has not dented the case for new ‘superlab’

Platform responds to online criticism by telling researchers they would be reported to their funders

First post-Brexit figures show limited demand in Europe for bespoke visa scheme designed to bring top researchers to the UK

Blow to new UK research agency as Peter Highnam steps back for ‘personal reasons’

Thirty years after his breakout book declared democracy to be an unstoppable force, the End of History author explains to Matthew Reisz why a new defence of liberal values is urgently needed, and why scholars must share some responsibility for destabilising them

Science committee hears evidence of ‘shocking’ levels of under-representation of ethnic minority experts at research council meetings

Grant reviewers should close the circle by evaluating final reports, and recipients should spend the money as they see fit

Science minister sets up working group to examine how academics can move more freely between public and private research

Radical measures to combat bullying in UK science may backfire, warns sector bullying lead, but ex-research council head urges boldness

Sweeping sanctions suggest international collaboration could become fragmented into regional power blocs, says sector leader

‘Big-picture thinkers’ would set national priorities, sidestep electoral cycles and deal with ‘boundary issues’ involving indigenous knowledge

A joint EU-AU document places universities in the vanguard of increased intercontinental collaboration, says Jan Palmowski

‘Vast majority’ of promised research commercialisation fund falls outside spending commitments, estimates committee also hears

Funding council statistics lend weight to anecdotal accounts that academics are self-censoring scholarship on superpower

‘Seemingly small regulatory requirements readily spawn large bureaucratic responses,’ says City president

Study analysing readability and citations suggests academics may have an incentive to keep their abstracts complex

Scientists should strive for real impact, not to impress a panel of busy peers, with their agendas, biases and blind spots, says Pedro Domingos 

The grip of Silicon Valley on commerce and culture is huge and ever-growing. But as concerns mount about tech firms’ ethics, is there anything that universities – with vastly lower research and salary budgets – can do to put them on a more responsible trajectory? Four experts give their views

Ministerial intervention in research council appointment highlights growing politicisation of British science, experts warn

Despite China’s rise, even the country’s government recognises that English usage is irrevocable, say Philip Altbach and Gerard Postiglione

Establishing a peer review accreditation scheme would also help incentivise higher standards, says Arfan Ghani

Furore over political interference shows no sign of abating, as government presses ahead with research commercialisation agenda

Losses perceived for holistic views as communications modes show humanists embracing data-heavy styles of the hard sciences

Time is running out to strike a deal that will cement the continent’s scientific strength, says Jan Palmowski

Publishers need to examine their biases and universities their support mechanisms, say Avi Staiman, Marnie Jo Petray and Gaillynn Clements

With both Oxford and Cambridge seeking new vice-chancellors, Rosa Ellis examines the unique pressures of leading these prestigious universities and the qualities that successful candidates will need to do the job

Two separate studies, including one that looked at early Covid papers, suggest majority of alterations are minimal

Growth in co-publications slowed in 2020 and so far shows decline for 2021

Forty per cent increase in investment by 2030 pledged, with BEIS ring-fencing majority of its spending for areas beyond golden triangle

Universities across Europe to launch ‘Stick to Science’ campaign warning against ‘politicisation’, as football-style ‘transfer market’ emerges to tempt away UK-based researchers

‘Unsung heroes’ of UK research are too often denied seat at the table, says major review of technical staff and skills

Open access platforms are no substitute for peer-reviewed periodicals, says Maria Leptin

Analysis of global database of policy documents suggests projects, especially in natural and social science, have widespread impact

The publication of three Nature papers demonstrates that money is no substitute for good ideas, open science and collaboration, says Andrea Morello

Tardy response to UKRI request meant greenlit research projects on pandemic could not begin, investigation concludes

Kick-starting a conversation on national funding levels is useful, but collaboration on frontier-led research needs attention, says Jan Palmowski

Ex-prime minister says cancellation of funding ‘betrays government’s hostility to higher education’

As the pandemic increases public scrutiny of science, the UK Parliament is holding another inquiry into the long-running issue of reproducibility. Five of its contributors give their views on how sloppy science can be eliminated and trust be more firmly rooted 

Rigorous ‘no deal’ planning paved way for significant concessions, says library head

Researchers decry ‘ridiculous’ travel for 30-minute interviews and ask colleagues and funders to commit to flying less

In biennial assessment, NSF analysts admit US still losing ground on many metrics but remaining most likely common partner for breakthroughs

National survey of pro vice-chancellors indicates widespread shift away from humanities subjects in near future

Following conviction of Harvard’s Lieber, expected clearing of fellow Cambridge nanotechnology expert fits with broader failures of Trump-led academic prosecutions

Pushing the ARC to focus on commercialisation neglects the complex interdependency between basic and applied research, says Duncan Ivison

While many governments struggle to predict workforce needs, Australia’s new tropical alliance is giving it a crack

Legislation gives Westminster government power to block or impose conditions on acquisition of intellectual property in 17 areas

Biden administration promises simplification long sought by research universities

The Maastricht University president and rector is shifting the emphasis away from only research, despite pushback from Nobel laureate