Stephen Curry: scientist who uses X-rays to look at the atoms of protein molecules. Wonders about the place of science in the world. Works at Imperial College but views expressed here are his own.
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- Peter Suber’s Open Access book is now available under an open-access license | O'Really? on Open Access by Peter Suber
- Giants’ Shoulders #60 Part I: Five Full Years: A Retrospective | The Renaissance Mathematicus on I get my kicks from thermodynamicks!
- The Finch Report | Steelgraham's Weblog on The Finch Report on open access: it’s complicated
- Alternative stimulus response | Libtools on Sick of Impact Factors
- Impact Factor’s flaws, in 200 words - sMemo on Sick of Impact Factors
- My News Extra - Trust in science would be improved by study pre-registration on Sick of Impact Factors
- Open access for UK researchersWeeding the Gems on Impact Factors — the revised RCUK open access guidelines
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Blog: Reciprocal Space Topics:science, arts, life -
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Author Archives: Stephen
The Hunters
I had never heard of James Salter till I read a profile of him in the Observer a couple of weeks ago, on the occasion of the publication of his latest book, his first in a long time. Salter is … Continue reading
Posted in Book Review, Scientific Life
2 Comments
Impact factors declared unfit for duty
Regulars at this blog will be familiar with the dim view that I have of impact factors, in particular their mis-appropriation for the evaluation of individual researchers and their work. I have argued for their elimination, in part because they … Continue reading
Reinventing Excel
In Reinventing Discovery Michael Nielsen says that one of the great things about the Internet is the way it can connect problems with problem-solvers. Well, let’s see if that’s true. I have a problem with Excel, or rather, with a particular spreadsheet … Continue reading
Science: better messy than messed up
I am fascinated by the psychology of scientific fraudsters. What drives these people? If you are smart enough to fake results, surely you have the ability to do research properly? You should also be clever enough to realise that one day … Continue reading
Posted in Scientific Life
Tagged Diederik Stapel, fraud, Impact Factors, Norovirus, Structural Biology
29 Comments
Libel Reform – smells like victory
For those few resilient readers who have weathered the year-long storm of open access posts at Reciprocal Space and still look in here occasionally for reports of the libel reform campaign, there is good news. Within days I should be … Continue reading
A vision for a better future – using new tools of openness and transparency to improve the scientific process
This is a guest post by Pete Binfield and Jason Hoyt, co-founders of the open access journal PeerJ. I don’t make a habit of running posts from private companies here at Reciprocal Space but have been impressed by the innovative … Continue reading
Impact Factors — the revised RCUK open access guidelines
It has happened. Yesterday RCUK published the revised guidelines on its new open access policy and, as requested by this blog and everyone who signed up in support, the document (PDF) now includes, on page one no less, a statement … Continue reading
Impact Factors — Letter to RCUK
Following my post of last week asking RCUK to include in the guidelines on their new open access policy a statement disavowing the use of impact factors in assessing funding applications, I wanted to thank everyone who registered their support. … Continue reading
Impact factors — RCUK provides a chance to act
If I had more time, this post would be shorter. But it explains how we have an opportunity to get UK research councils to help break the corrosive dependence of researchers on impact factors. Please at least skim all the … Continue reading
Royal Society Meeting on Open Access in the UK: What Willetts Wants
After all the excitement of open access (OA) developments last Friday, there was a chance to take stock this Monday at the Royal Society’s conference on “Open access in the UK and what it means for scientific research”. The meeting, … Continue reading
Posted in Open Access
Tagged David Sweeney, David Willetts, HEFCE, open access, RCUK, Royal Society, Tom Welton
25 Comments
Continental drift: important open access developments in the UK and US
Last Friday was a big day for open access — it felt like a kind of transition. In the morning the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Lords (the unelected second chamber in the UK parliament) published the … Continue reading
The Royal Institution: not time to move on
Less than a week after the Royal Institution announced that it was contemplating the sale of its historic home in Albermarle Street, Nature published an editorial criticising the 200 year old organisation for having lost its science communication mojo in … Continue reading
