Research

The computational biologist and Royal Society prizewinner on empowering neurodiversity, academic humour and why emotions are key to problem-solving

Public confusion is one thing, but some subjects provoke quizzical and sometimes dismissive frowns even among colleagues from different departments. Here, nine academics set the record straight about what they do – and why it matters

Just 9 per cent of coronavirus papers have made efforts to help replication of experiments, European Commission open science champion tells summit

Experts on research security will help UK researchers to navigate concerns over growing research dependence on China

Senior leaders question why research funder has not tried harder to save at-risk projects

Survey of UK academics shows widespread belief that leaders have used ‘disaster management’ to shift focus away from research, cut jobs and increase managerialism

Politicians developing the European Research Area must grasp how new knowledge comes about – and what it can do, says Jan Palmowski

Scholars who stay at one university tend to take ‘safer’ and ‘less ambitious’ paths

Articles in leading journals that can be reproduced gain 16 fewer citations a year on average, say Californian economists

Four experts from the University of Bath give tips on how to create an open, creative and non-hierarchical environment at your next workshop

Careers can depend on publishing in higher-quartile journals, but the statistics are too easily gamed, says Jakša Cvitanić

ANU vows to be a negative net emitter by the end of the decade, as Adelaide unveils the panels and batteries powering its country campus

Long-running negotiations between Brussels and Berne have stalled, risking a repeat of 2014, when the country was shut out of EU research

Chief executive Dame Ottoline Leyser says existing ban on sharing project responsibilities does not help science

High-impact research early in pandemic may have put rocket fuel under country’s citation performance   

Universities are moving in the right direction, but they can and must go further and faster, says Alice Gast

Changes to funding mechanisms can feel like a threat, but Aria will be a blast of fresh air for science and technology, says Tom Stephenson

Researchers say system has potential to spot ‘hidden gems’ that may miss out on funding

My job is to help young researchers negotiate their own varied and wondrous paths, not track (a version of) my own, says Lucas Lixinski

Scholars say criticism of fields such as gender studies and race theory is leading to self-censorship

Scholars should model the constructive criticism of ideas, not yell ‘you're wrong’ during each other’s talks, says Katy Barnett

Policy should focus more on research’s benefits to a region than on where it is conducted, say Sarah Chaytor, Grace Gottlieb and Graeme Reid

Analysis argues that science has a ‘critical problem’ because its self-correction process is slow and ineffective

Future citations of a journal paper drop by more than a third after being included in a review

Often dismissed as an inordinately expensive quality assurance tool, ERA could become a gatekeeper for university registration

Country’s excellence strategy has pushed German universities to dial back rivalry and instead coordinate their research plans

Scientific leaders and politicians have embraced calls to reduce the stress and precarity faced by researchers. Jack Grove examines some radical proposals

Decision will impact other tools that relied on Microsoft’s database and raises questions about relying on private firms, critics say

Network aims to highlight problem of gender-based harassment in the field, support victims and encourage institutions to improve safeguarding

Richard Jones has chance to put into practice influential theories on boosting regions through research and development with role in new Innovation GM

The REF and TEF should be brought together, but adopting low-quality shortcuts would undermine the whole purpose, says Thom Brooks 

As Brussels tries again to push forward the European research area, the bloc remains fractured by investment levels, researcher mobility and national rules

Train up translation specialists and fix anomalies that discourage collaboration, Australian representative group says

Those who blur the lines between academic and professional staff are the connective tissue in the research ecosystem, say Matthew Flinders and Sarah Chaytor

Simpler options are imperfect but perhaps no more so than the panels’ unavoidably cursory ‘peer review’ of submissions, says Dorothy Bishop

Lawmakers ‘desperately seeking innovation nirvana’ fail to buttress it with steadfast policies or durable statistics

The focus of research evaluation on papers and grants excludes far too many vital contributions. We must change that, says Simon Hettrick

Relying on academic research, thinktanks translate findings into the language of politicians and media, EUA president Michael Murphy argues – but not always accurately

Joint statement from research-intensive institutions criticises plan to exclude UK and Swiss scholars from grants covering space and quantum computing

Scotland 2070 authors call for doubling of research spend and for institutional mergers, to boost global clout and innovation focus

Unfavourable policies stem from ‘frustrations’ over stymied reforms, former education minister says

Sectors should bury the hatchet and bolster each other’s intelligence capabilities, Australian paper suggests

Experts warn that some will be left behind amid rapid sector transformation 

The pandemic has curtailed urgent discussion of open access’ impact on scholarly societies, says Frank James

Australian minister offers no new details on proposed commercialisation scheme or timing of international students’ return

Initial data suggest a drop in published proceedings amid shift to virtual events

Co-authorship between academics based in Middle East, North Africa and Turkey is limited, study finds

Merging metrics for the REF, KEF and TEF would free up time for academics to become researchers once again, says Robert MacIntosh

In 15 out of 20 cities analysed, researchers just passing through tended to have the biggest impact  

The UK has an ambitious R&D road map but the necessary steps must be taken by politicians and funding bodies, says Andrew Thompson

Covid-19 has prompted an explosion in preprints but has curtailed networking and underlined the extra pressures on women and junior academics. Simon Baker asks whether the pandemic era is a dark blip or a bright new dawn

Border hold-ups and complex new rules are causing supply shortages in laboratories that jeopardise research, says Wellcome Sanger Institute

Scholars fear threat of lawsuits is deterring academics from exploring Polish complicity in genocide

Security committee chairman does not want to cultivate a culture of ‘learned helplessness’ where universities defer judgement to the government

Salary boost might be more effective than legal crackdowns in thwarting international recruiting and funding approaches, argues Oklahoma representative

UK academia’s champion for black postgraduate students, Anne-Marie Imafidon, and others explain how scholars can help diversify graduate education

Paper finds academics are less likely to work together if they focus on very similar areas

Universities have decried the GCRF cuts, but being corralled into promoting justice globalism is not academic freedom, says Bruce Macfarlane

Top-ranked global research institutions shine in many areas but lag on local growth and boosting skills

Too much attention is paid to academic titles and too little to the substantial contribution they should indicate, says Brian Bloch