Discriminating against child care (or any care work, for that matter) in #academia is rampant. For one, I acknowledge that female colleagues bear the brunt of this discrimination and we should all strive to make our communities inclusive, care for all of their members as human beings, and create a meaningful work-life balance.

But, as much as I appreciate funders of research grants acknowledging the structural gender gap in providing flat-rate extensions for care work (looking at you my, fellow cis male colleagues, who use parental leave for travelling or writing books), we have to call them out for doing so on the cheap! You cannot create a meaningful change by playing a zero-sum game, simply redistributing existing funds from “dads” to “moms” (solely read in a binary, biological terms of sex).

As small as this group might be, there are parental care givers out there, who do not identify as moms. Who work part-time, who are single parents, who continue to take informal parental leave etc. etc.

#careWork

Apparently an engineering issue with Springer Nature platform is inflating citations for their online journal articles through circular citation links. They were informed by the preprint authors months ago, but nothing's happened so far.

Found this one while I was typing up something on a couple of spectacularly terribly written Scientific Reports papers and asking how they passed peer review. Hmm.

#publication #academia

arxiv.org/abs/2511.01675

Incorrect Citation Association for Articles in Online-Only Springer Nature Journals

We show that citation metrics of journal articles in many of the online-only Springer Nature journals and associated ones are distorted, going back to articles from 2001.

^arXiv.org

@kristine_willis @ArneBab @foaylward @bitbraindev
A key point here is that in scientific research competition is counterproductive. That no scientist in their right mind would want to compete with anyone. And if a work is so obvious that multiple labs are on it, collaboration beats competition any day. There's no point in being a month faster and scooping someone; even the concept of scooping is absurd: if anything, that'd be confirmation, validation – and very valuable. Most, though, would rather work on questions whose answers push the horizon of knowledge.

Resources are indeed finite, hence let's stop competition for papers, for grants, for positions. There is no point in that. Define what size of scientific research sector can the country support and go with that, with properly funded labs.

#academia #ScientificPublishing

@kristine_willis @ArneBab @foaylward @bitbraindev
Indeed, the evaluation problem is a tough one. Two points.

1. Outsider perspectives are always needed. Hence I'd value most an evaluation committee composed on 1/3 internal, 1/3 national, 1/3 international. The result should be biased towards not squashing potentially great people or projects, at the cost of letting some less good ones continue. While the cost of an error in the latter is small, the cost on the former is gigantic.

2. Since it's impossible to be perfect, I'd use, again the Ross Cagan proposal of funding levels: go up, go down, and so on, depending on past performance, not future perspectives. In other words, no grants: the evaluation is done on past work only.

#academia

@druedin @kristine_willis @ArneBab @foaylward @bitbraindev
Same as now: who is interested, who did a sensible internship or rotation, who do you happen to know, who has sensible grades on relevant subjects, who can come up with a project proposal that reads sensible. Plus the equivalent of a visitor project for juniors: short-term positions of 3 months to a year where they can prove themselves. Actual work in a lab is the best recruitment basis there is.

Frankly, my problem is finding people who want to work in academic scientific research. There aren't enough. And the issue isn't entirely salaries, which is a major one. It's also that not everybody is comfortably being wrong all day long, all year wrong, not knowing exactly how to do something, not knowing what the outcome may be. Perhaps this can be learned, but at the PhD/postdoc level it may be too late.

#academia

Part of the issue are the incentives. Science has to stop evaluating scientists by the number of publications. Never was a good idea and now even less.

#academia

This should be required reading for anyone in HE or education.
(via Ben W)

defector.com/higher-eds-rush-t…

#academia #academicchatter #ai #GenAI

*... the accelerated conversion of universities into profit centers for private equity is their accelerated conversion into glorified job-training centers. Most schools are treating their AI procurements as vocational training, in some cases directly transferring university resources toward this perceived demand for AI-literate workers.*

Higher Ed’s Rush To Adopt AI Is About So Much More Than AI | Defector

If you don’t work at a university or have college-age kids, you may have missed the flurry of news stories and social media banter about AI adoption in higher ed, stories which have snowballed into the early fall semester.

^defector.com

Hidden inside every growing hypha lies a microscopic powerhouse — the #Spitzenkörper.
It’s not just a blob at the fungal tip — it’s the traffic controller, architect, and GPS of fungal growth. 🍄
This video will uncover how this mysterious vesicle cluster orchestrates the very architecture of life beneath our feet.
#fungi #mycology #Mushrooms #FungiFriday #Science #nature #NatGeo #academia #aspergillus
#hyphae #mycelium #phdone #conidia #youtube #Education #microbiology

youtu.be/9-bKdXCxz3Y?si=ofbNKA…

I have been enjoying @OpenAlex for journal searches and citation reports. I like that I can specifically search for review articles and sort by various citation metrics.

Seems like a great alternative to Google Scholar, Web of Science, etc!

#journals #academia

Anyone (academic / researcher) had recent experience with submitting to #ScienceAdvances (science.org/journal/sciadv)? Good or bad?

We submitted there about 3 months ago and heard absolutely nothing since then..

#SciRev does not have many reviews of that journal for 2025: scirev.org/reviews/science-adv…
(BTW, please try to comment on your submission experience on there when you can!)

#Academia #Research #AcademicChatter

Latest comic on the convenience of making less ethical choices

#comic #cartoon #journalism #academia #ethics #socialmedia

Students Angry Over AI

It's not Just Students That Cheat Using AI

#YoutubeShort #Education #Academia #AI #AIAbuse

Kudos to the #Rutgers University Senate:
senate.rutgers.edu/wp-content/…

"Be it resolved that, the Rutgers University Senate urges the President of Rutgers University to formally propose and help establish a Mutual Academic Defense Compact (#MADC) among all members of the Big Ten Academic Alliance [#BTAA]…Under this compact, all participating institutions shall commit meaningful funding to a shared or distributed defense fund…Participating institutions shall make available, at the request of the
institution under direct political infringement, the services of their legal counsel, governance experts, and public affairs offices to coordinate a unified and vigorous response."

#Academia #Universities
@academicchatter

Looking into #ScienceAdvances as a journal to publish in..
Why is there a reference limit, and why is it so low (80 references)? In this day and age? For an online-only journal?

science.org/journal/sciadv

PS: remember that you can rate the submission & revision process of journals on #SciRev scirev.org/

#ScientificPublishing #Academia #ScientificJournals

AAMC Statement on Drastic Cuts to NIH-Funded Research

"Every American has benefited from NIH-supported medical research conducted at medical schools, academic health systems, and teaching hospitals nationwide. Every American will be harmed by the undermining of this long-standing partnership between academic institutions and the federal government"

aamc.org/news/press-releases/a…

#academia #nih

#Academia
#AcademicChatter

If you work at an r1 in the US, it's likely that at least some of them will bankrupt in the next year. New guidance issued instantly capping indirects at 15%.

Those that don't go bankrupt are going to be purged of a substantial amount of staff and faculty.

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/no…

🌟Hello #AcademicMastodon🌟

I'm Hannah and currently working on the research project to understand the role of #Mastodon in #academia during my internship here.

If you haven’t done so already, please consider participating in the project. I would love to hear from you:

🔗rug.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/…

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has already participated in the survey! It is really insightful to read your opinions and experiences.

#AcademicChatter #OpenScience #Plushtodon #SocialMedia

Why is it concerning that the analysis relies entirely on Matlab toolboxes?

1. Reproducing the analysis requires access to the exact toolbox with the exact version number. May also have platform dependencies (e.g., outputs slightly different results on macos, linux, and windows).
2. Often the version of the toolbox is not reported. It isn't in this paper.
3. Increased use of the toolbox may lead to price gouging, excluding many who can't afford to purchase it. Besides the unfairness, this impacts the ability of just about anyone to reproduce the analysis from the raw data.
4. After some years the toolbox may not be available at all, for example if the company considers its maintenance a burden with negative returns on investment.

If you are a reviewer or an editor: at the very least demand the reporting of the toolbox version and the operating system version where it was run. And ideally demand enough specification of the algorithms used by the functions provided in the toolbox that an independent reimplementation and reanalysis is possible.

#reproducibility #academia

Universities are not just businesses, but an investment in future generations

I would go a step further and argue that universities should nit be treated like businesses at all

nature.com/articles/d41586-024…

#academicchatter #academia

Universities are not just businesses, but an investment in future generations

Many UK universities are in a financial crisis. But the government is leaving them to flounder, treating higher education as a private-sector industry and research as a public investment.

^{www.nature.com}

"The Failed Migration of Academic Twitter"

arxiv.org/html/2406.04005v1

Academic Twitter was great, & it breaks my heart that the community I found there has done so little to rebuild on Mastodon, even tho Mast is far better. I loved learning abt new research & pubs (& occasionally posting abt my own). A fair # of people migrated to Mast but most didn't stay, at least in my field of literary studies.

What can academics do to build & rebuild academic exchange on Mastodon?

#Academia @LitStudies

Post the kind of posts you want to see. Tell your colleagues. Email links to good posts to colleagues. Mention your handle in Mastodon in conference talks as a way to reach you.

All of that was done to promote Twitter, unwittingly. Now we can do it purposefully, until it becomes self-sustaining.

#Academia

Have you ever thought about questionable research practices (QRPs) in academia?

The Retraction Watch team have highlighted this new paper in PLoSOne that has a systematic analysis. The authors identify 25 QRPs and then survey a lot of academics.

The results are interesting, widespread use of QRPs, sort of a grey area of acedemic behaviour, with some explanatory factors.

I'm bookmarking this for future use.

journals.plos.org/plosone/arti…

#academia #academicchatter #research #researchethics #academicpublishing

Is something rotten in the state of Denmark? Cross-national evidence for widespread involvement but not systematic use of questionable research practices across all fields of research

Questionable research practices (QRP) are believed to be widespread, but empirical assessments are generally restricted to a few types of practices.

^{journals.plos.org}

I often get invited to speak at bizarre meetings that are not in my field of expertise. I have often wondered what these meetings must be like, or if they really exist.

What is it like to attend a predatory conference?

nature.com/articles/d41586-024…

#academia #academicchatter

What is it like to attend a predatory conference?

Nature sent a reporter to find out as part of an investigation into dud events.

^{Ro, Christine}

"A History Instructor Complained About Parking Fees. It Cost Him His Job"
chronicle.com/article/a-histor…
(#paywalled)

He complained about the high price of parking. He disputed the President's numbers in a "cordial" but "tense" public meeting on the topic. He turned over the research documenting his numbers. Two and a half weeks later, the provost fired him, explaining that #TarletonStateUniversity would not "tolerate intolerable behavior."

#Academia #AcademicFreedom
@academicchatter

Inkscape, Johnny, Inkscape. But you know that already 😀

For figure panels, for posters, even for presentations now with its multi-page documents. Works brilliantly. I could not have done my work as a scientist over the last 20 years without #inkscape.

Inkscape has existed for 20+ years and, thanks to the power of open source, will continue to exist for decades to come, when all these and more subscription services have come and gone.

#academia

Why Scientific Fraud Is Suddenly Everywhere

"We’re so fixated on metrics because they determine funding for a university based on where it is in the rankings. So it comes from there and then it filters down. "

nymag.com/intelligencer/articl…

#academia #academicchatter

Here's a question for #academia: why shouldn't I count my contributions to major open-source projects which are scientifically relevant (e.g. Linux [1], OpenCV [2]) just like publications?

- They have a unique identifier.
- They are most certainly peer-reviewed (if you don't believe me, try to submit a Linux patch sometime)
- They are archived long-term.
- They are publicly available.

So... where's the difference?

[1] github.com/torvalds/linux/blob…
[2] github.com/opencv/opencv/pull/…

[RFC] Java Camera2 View for Android by floe · Pull Request #10081 · opencv/opencv

Based on #10050, here's a first alpha implementation of the Camera2 adapter class which should allow zero-copy access to preview image data. Comments very welcome. Known issues at the moment: tuto...

^GitHub

Counting citations hasn't been a reliable measure of scientific impact for a while, especially on platforms like Google Scholar that compile info from random documents. Hyper-authorship, predatory journals, etc have all contributed to the problem.

This preprint just drives home how important it is to measure scientific impact more carefully and without reliance on automated metrics

Google Scholar is manipulatable

arxiv.org/abs/2402.04607

#science #academia #publishing #citations

Google Scholar is manipulatable

Citations are widely considered in scientists' evaluation. As such, scientists may be incentivized to inflate their citation counts.

^arXiv.org

Holy shit I love this research paper

biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/70…

#anthropology #anthro #academia #academicresearch #longevity

You all… it has started 😱

What should I do if I suspect one of the journal reviews I got is Al-generated?

#PeerReviewing #Academia #PublicationEthics

What should I do if I suspect one of the journal reviews I got is Al-generated?

I've submitted a paper to one of the well-reputable journals and received two reviews asking for a revision. One of the reviews is on-topic and helpful. The other, however, I suspect was generated ...

^{Academia Stack Exchange}

Job! An endowed professorship at Arizona State University in the systematics and taxonomy of ants. A rare opportunity for the right sort of ant nerd/desert rat.

#Ants #Academia #Entomology

apply.interfolio.com/135564

From Chris Brink: "It is not difficult to construct a university ranking. What is needed is not so much any technical skill as enough blind self-confidence to tell the world that the arbitrary choices you have made in constructing your ranking actually represent reality."
universityworldnews.com/post.p…

#Academia #Rankings #Universities
@academicchatter

Academic rankings: The tide begins to turn

The development of academic rankings has reached an inflection point as some of the world’s leading universities – concerned about fundamental fla...

^{University World News}

The #UMontana is cancelling more than 5,000 #journals from #Elsevier, #TaylorAndFrancis, and #Wiley, forced by "rising journal…#prices and a stagnant #budget…The library has seen a $700,000 reduction in money received since fiscal year 2020."
nbcmontana.com/news/local/mans…

#Academia #Cancellations #Libraries #Publishers #ScholComm #Universities
@academicchatter

Mansfield Library at UM set to cut largest e-journal packages

Cuts are coming to the Mansfield Library’s collections to address a more than $300,000 funding gap.When University of Montana students access the library’s onli

^KECI

So true – it's nigh impossible to weigh the impact of research but years afterwards. Ask the microbiologists who were studying extremophile bacteria in a Yellowstone pond whether they thought their work would lead to the sequencing of the human genome and modern medicine as we know it. Or ask the zoologists who pulled out bioluminescent and fluorescent jelly fish out of the sea whether they thought scientific research in developmental biology, neuroscience and biology as a whole, remarkably even DNA sequencing, would be so thoroughly transformed. And these are just two examples in biology.

PCR: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymera…

GFP: jellyfish Aequorea victoria en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_fl…

#academia #science

Protein that converts blue and ultraviolet light ranges to green light.

^{Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)}