A journal wants to publish “unsurprising” results
Vaccines, irony and positive discrimination: the latest in science policy
This journal has pledged to fight against publication bias or p-hacking. | Image: screenshot of blogs.canterbury.ac.nz/surejournal/instructions-to-authors/
SURE
The journal Series of Unsurprising Results in Economics (SURS) only publishes articles that have been rejected for the sole reason that the results are statistically insignificant or considered “unsurprising”. Its purpose is to fight against publication bias or p-hacking.
TRANSPOSESCI
This online database summarises the rules of scientific journals on peer review and authorisations for pre- and post-prints.
View research in a less naïve way
The Twitter account @JustSaysInMice tweets medical breakthroughs omitting to mention that the underlying study was performed not on humans but on rodents, as does its sister account @JustSaysInRats. @JustSaysRisks reminds us that it is better to quote absolute risks (“... to change the risk from 0.1% to 0.2%”) than relative risks (“...double the chance of...”). And @OnlyInMen points out that the results of studies conducted with male participants are not easy to generalise to the general population. Hashtags reveal the real life of scientists: #OverlyHonestPaperTitles, #FieldworkFail, #WhatProfessorsDo, #ScientistsWhoSelfie and the precursor #OverlyHonestMethods.
33%
The proportion of the French population that thinks vaccines are not safe, according to Wellcome Global Monitors. In Switzerland and Haiti, the figure is 22 and 20 percent respectively – both are in the ‘top’ eleven doubting countries.
USD 1,700 billion
An estimate of the contribution of academic innovation to industry revenues in the United States over the past 22 years, according to a report by the Association of University Technology Managers.
58,000
The number of articles in violation of copyright published each month on the ResearchGate platform, according to analysis by publishers, who have also filed lawsuits.
Not for men
The Technical University of Eindhoven (TEU) in the Netherlands will open about 100 permanent jobs for women only. Men will only be allowed to run if the position has not been filled after six months. Writing in Science, the president of TEU and former European Commissioner for Research Robert-Jan Smits admits that it is “absolute” discrimination against men, but the opposite has been true for years.
“It is time to end the tradition in science of all-male speaking panels.”
Francis Collins, the Director of the National Institutes of Health, said he would refuse invitations to conferences that did not show clear efforts to ensure the gender diversity of speakers.
