Author Archives: Stephen

Open Access Juggernaut Hits London

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Stephen

Everyone’s talking about open access (OA). It has been a year of dramatic developments in the drive to liberate access to the research literature and the blogosphere is buzzing with excited chatter. Well, perhaps not everyone and not even the … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

What is it like to be a Scientist?

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Stephen

It is a year to the day since the release of my film, “I’m a Scientist“, in which six different scientists talk openly about their lives in the laboratory and what makes them tick. The aim of the film is … Continue reading →

Posted in Science & Media | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Booked

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Stephen

Everyone of a certain pretension likes to think they have a book inside them. I know I do. But I’ve looked and I can’t find it. Maybe it’s in there somewhere but at too early a stage of germination to … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review | Tagged | 19 Comments

Evaluating scientists: take care

Posted on September 8, 2012 by Stephen

A resonant blogpost is the gift that keeps on giving. One of the latest comments in my Sick of Impact Factors polemic bemoaning the corrosive effects of journal impact factors on scientific lives provided a link to a quite wonderful … Continue reading →

Posted in Scientific Life | Tagged , | 15 Comments

Key Questions for Open Access Policy in the UK

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Stephen

It’s not even two months since the tectonic plates shifted underneath academic publishing in the UK. But in the few weeks since the government’s response to the Finch report and the announcement of the new open access (OA) policy of the UK Research Councils … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access | Tagged , , , , | 14 Comments

Sick of Impact Factors: Coda

Posted on August 19, 2012 by Stephen

My ‘Sick of Impact Factors‘ blog post seems to have struck much more of a chord than I anticipated. At the time of writing it has attracted over 12,900 page views and 460 tweets, far higher than my usual tallies. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access, Scientific Life | Tagged , , | 47 Comments

Sick of Impact Factors

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Stephen

I am sick of impact factors and so is science. The impact factor might have started out as a good idea, but its time has come and gone. Conceived by Eugene Garfield in the 1970s as a useful tool for … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access, Science | Tagged , , | 233 Comments

Here goes something: Occam’s Typewriter cornered

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Stephen

Well this is nice. Today Occam’s Typewriter opens a new cornershop, so to speak, at the Guardian. For me, this closes a social media circle that started over four years ago because I can trace my entry to the scientific … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Communication, Science & Media | Tagged , | 6 Comments

“You can’t read this book” but you should

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Stephen

Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games spread a warm glow through liberal hearts. His imaginative sweep over British history and culture, which managed to be both reverent and irreverent, was filled with a human chaos that constituted a nicely … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Libel Reform, Science & Politics | Tagged , , | 22 Comments

Your Invitation to the Open Access Debate

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Stephen

I said the open access debate had been torrid. And it continues apace in the wake of last week’s announcements from the UK government and RCUK, the organisation that represents the common interests of Britain’s Research Councils. This week at … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access | Tagged , | 7 Comments

UK Government Goes For Broke on Open Access

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Stephen

Well that was quick. Less than a month after the Finch working group published its recommendations on the future of open access, UK science minister David Willetts has responded, saying in effect “Let’s go for it.” The government has taken … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access, Science & Politics | Tagged , , | 23 Comments