Emma Francis

A comic strip in six panels. The panels inerlock like a jigsaw with knobs and sockets. Two stick figures walk right to left through all the panels. Panel 1: Person 1 says "I hear you're working on a new theory." Panel 2 & 3: Person 2 says: "Yes, I'm calling it the jigsaw model. I think it could change our whole View of reality." Panel 4: Person 1 says "When Will you publish?: Panel 5: Person 2 says "But a couple of things are still bothering me." (this piece/panel is a bit squint) Panel 6: This piece is rotated ninety degees and fits to the others very badly. Person 2 is saying "Soon. I feel like I'm really close" A second look at the whole comic shows that the last two panels read in the wrong order because the jigsaw has been put together incorrectly.

My cartoon for this week’s @newscientist.com

The Lower Decks 2.0: A Symposium on Janeway and Open Access Publishing Theme: Users and Community Location: Dublin City University Library, Glasnevin Campus, Dublin, & hybrid streaming online Dates: 21st – 22nd May 2026 Cost: Free Sign-up to attend Janeway is an …

Join us in person or online for The Lower Decks 2.0: A Symposium on Janeway and Open Access Publishing / @janewayolh.bsky.social

21–22 May 2026
Dublin City University Library
Free |Open to all

Call for Papers now open!
📅 Deadline: 9 January 2026

Full info here:

Note that this analysis applies to before the latest openalex "Walden" rebuild update still in beta. Quick check shows quite different results.

Headline from an article in Nature this week that states "Prizes must recognize machine contributions to discovery. The future of science will be written by humans and machines together. Awards should reflect that reality."

Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.

This made me laugh more than it probably should 😂
#funny

Are you a social science or humanities scholar who has heard about ORCID iDs but isn't completely sure what it does? In today's #FeedingTheElephant post, James Shulman explains the importance of having an ORCID id.
➡️ networks.h-net.org/group/discus...

I remember watching that episode when it originally aired! Might have to rewatch.

If you'd asked me which celebrity would posthumously unveil a list of people she wanted fired into the sun, I would not have guessed Jane Goodall

Discworld QOTD, from I Shall Wear Midnight

"They're trying to convince people they can't do the things they've been doing easily for years - to write emails, to write a presentation. Your daughter wants you to make up a bedtime story about puppies - to write that for you." We will get to the point, she says with a grim laugh, "that you will essentially become just a skin bag of organs and bones, nothing else. You won't know anything and you will be told repeatedly that you can't do it, which is the opposite of what life has to offer. Capitulating all kinds of decisions like where to go on vacation, what to wear today, who to date, what to eat. People are already doing this. You won't have to process grief, because you'll have uploaded photos and voice messages from your mother who just died, and then she can talk to you via Al video call every day. One of the ways it's going to destroy humans, long before there's a nuclear disaster, is going to be the emotional hollowing-out of people."

This. Is. Why. I. Paint.

My article "Data is not available upon request" was published in Meta-Psychology. Very happy to see this out!
open.lnu.se/index.php/me...

"Among articles stating that data was available upon request, only 17% shared data upon request." (Or: you keep saying these words. I do not think they mean what you think they mean)

Julia Roberts in a tweed jacket

Andrew Garfield in a denim shirt

IMHO, the posters for After the Hunt look like ads for Marks & Spencers' autumn range.

“They asked for a sword, and we said, ‘Well, we do have swords, but we can’t give them away because they’re museum artifacts,’” said Todd Arrington, forced to resign as head of Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library.”

Article reads: Woman named as Archbishop of Canterbury in historic first The 63-year-old archbishop-designate is married to Eamonn Mullally, with whom she has two children. Originally from Woking in Surrey, she was the UK's chief nursing officer from 1999 to 2004.

This article manages to name her husband before it names… her.

Data protection (UK GDPR) Obtain confirmation that Anthology will continue to meet its UK GDPR Article 28 obligations as your data processor throughout the process. Get clarification of sub processor stability (no changes planned; if changes are anticipated, please provide advance notice and details). Confirm that no organisational changes arising from the restructuring will alter how your personal data is accessed, processed, or transferred; if any changes are envisaged, please outline controls, locations, and safeguards.

The situation with Blackboard - now its owner is bankrupt and it's coming under new private equity ownership and control - is serious enough the UK agency for HE tech is advising all affected universities to seek assurances regarding data security inspiringlearning.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2025/10/s...

Main figure from the paper. Violin plots showing the length of acknowledgments sections in books by sociologists, broken out by gender, race, sexuality, parents’ education, millennium of author’s PhD, and publisher type.

I'm excited to share my new paper with a former student, Tommy Smith. "'This Work Would Not Have Been Possible without...': The Length of Acknowledgments in Sociology Books"

Open Access in @sociusjournal.bsky.social : doi.org/10.1177/2378...

Oh, it's ON @openresearchuoa.bsky.social Inspired by your contest, we're now taking your advice/guidance/contest and created a competition at LJMU. It's now live for all of our @ljmudoctoral.bsky.social PGRs. Check your inboxes and let's GET CARVIN'. With thanks to our open research friends!

Christopher Walken in The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh.

christopher walken in works of art: thread

Jane Goodall on Fighting Sexism and What Chimpanzees Taught Her Jane Goodall discusses what keeps her motivated six decades into her career and how she combated sexism.

"I had to work 10 times harder than the average man just to get the same level of recognition," Jane Goodall told us in 2020. "But once I had made a name for myself, I let the data speak for me."

Once again, for #blackhistorymonth I'll be highlighting some of the all time greats from the world of sport and performance in a month-long thread.

Trailblazers, record breakers, game-changers. One every day.

Settle in....

Let's start with...

a person with a pumpkin on their head dancing in a cemetery Alt: a person with a pumpkin on their head dancing in a cemetery

It's the first day of October and therefore the start of the Halloween Season 🎃👻🍬

We're thrilled to announce another year of our Carve your PhD contest, where we challenge our wonderful PGRs to represent their dissertation topic as a Jack O' Lantern. Have Fun! Get Spooky!
abdn.site/phD

I’m delighted we have been able to launch this project and develop a digital preservation platform. I’ve been involved in discussions around the importance of digital resilience and longevity for over 15 years so this is a milestone to be celebrated 🥳

I am starting a new service where I slash the tires of expensive cars in Silicon Valley unless their owners specifically opt-out.

Release v1.8.0 Paris · openlibhums/janeway Main Changes Typesetting plugin is now integrated into Janeway core and , as such, the typesetting plugin will be deprecated. Janeway now integrates with the Research Organization Registry for aut...

Janeway version 1.8 is available rolling out onto our hosted installations now. Checkout some of the awesome features including work on @researchorgs.bsky.social and CRediT by @joemull.bsky.social.

github.com/openlibhums/...

“Ah," said Mr Pin. "Right. I remember. You are concerned citizens." He knew about concerned citizens. Wherever they were, they all spoke the same private language, where 'traditional values' meant 'hang someone'.

- Terry Pratchett, The Truth

Great news!
JSTOR now have a free account with an Independent Researcher category. You can access 100 documents per month

www.jstor.org/action/showL...

So, Sunday Times runs with latest poll showing Farage winning if there was an election now. But makes NO mention of Reform’s collusion with Russia. And this is how democracy gets beaten to death in the dark. Voters are not being told the truth. Reform is given the stage but is NEVER held to account.