Jeffrey Brainard

Major Chinese funder to stop paying fees for 30 pricey open-access journals Move comes amid effort to grow the country’s own journals

Are #openaccess fees that some journals charge authors too high? The Chinese Academy of Sciences, the world’s largest research institution, reportedly thinks so and plans to stop funding some, a move that could shake up #scientificpublishing. @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Journal giant Elsevier unveiled an AI tool that scans millions of paywalled papers. Is it worth it? First-of-its-kind product raises questions about costs, access, and equity

Can researchers effectively use artificial intelligence to develop better understanding and insights into the rising number of scientific research papers if the content searched is siloed by publisher? #scicomm #scientificpublishing @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Open-source AI program can answer science questions better than humans Developed by and for academics, OpenScholar aims to improve searches of the ballooning scientific literature

Many want to use AI to accelerate science, and utilizing it to explore the growing tsunami of research articles is getting lots of attention. Measuring the quality of AI answers to questions about science is a challenge. @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Some guest editors pack special issues with their own articles Thousands have penned more than one-third of a journal issue, raising conflict-of-interest concerns

#SpecialIssues have fueled the growth of some of the largest #OpenAccess publishers. Does a journal that allows a #GuestEditor to both plan a special issue and write many articles in it have a conflict of interest? #scicomm #peerreview @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Is ‘open science’ delivering benefits? Major study finds proof is sparse It’s hard to measure social and economic impacts of making papers and data free, researchers say

#OpenScience costs money - think author fees/ APCs - but is assumed to provide benefits for academe, the public, and the economy. The PathOS study explored new ways to measure that. But proving a direct effect is tricky. #scientificpublishing #scicomm @science.org
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U.S. senator asks Science to provide its coronavirus manuscripts, emails Rand Paul has blasted government science officials and scientists over COVID-19’s origin

@science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

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This could be for you if you're a student from a community historically underrepresented in #journalism who's interested in in covering science for general audiences: recruiting.ultipro.com/AME1123ASEM/...

After Coalition S disrupted scientific publishing, new plan retreats from strict requirements The group’s latest strategy emphasizes consultation, lacks spending pledges

A sequel to #Plan_S -- the carrot, not the stick. Will that approach improve what ails #scientificpublishing? #ScholarlyComm #openaccess @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Letters to scientific journals surge as ‘prolific debutante’ authors likely use AI New study reinforces worries about “mass production of junk” by unscrupulous scholars aiming to pad their CVs

A rapidly growing share of letters to journals may be drafted by machines, undetected by editors. Study quantifies recently ‘prolific debutante authors’ who had published no letters before 2022, when ChatGPT debuted. #academicjournals #peerreview @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

At futuristic meeting, AIs took the lead in producing and reviewing all the studies Organizers aim to tune AI to help accelerate science

A human reviewer's take on an AI-written paper: 'Technically correct but neither interesting nor important.' Yesterday's first-of-its-kind #Agents4Science conference, where all papers were written and reviewed by #AI, considered their promise, limitations @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Whose papers have an edge at Science? In unusual study, journal looks in the mirror Confidential data show being in the U.S., at a prestigious institution, and in a large team all may help

The journal Science’s editorial reviews came under the microscope in a rare study using internal data it supplied. #peerreview #scientificjournals #scientificpublishing @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Far more authors use AI to write science papers than admit it, publisher reports Finding highlights promise, questions about detectors of AI-generated text

Trust but verify? #mlsky #scientificpublishing #sciencejournals @science.org
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AI tool labels more than 1000 journals for ‘questionable,’ possibly shady practices New algorithm could help scientists avoid publishing in shady titles

Can AI help identify high-volume, low-quality, “questionable” scientific journals (which some, controversially, call #predatoryjournals )? Authors of this new study emphasize aiding not replacing human evaluators of these journals. @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

AI-generated scientific hypotheses lag human ones when put to the test Machines still face hurdles in identifying fresh research paths, study suggests

The idea that AI-as-scientist will replace human researchers, or augment their creativity and productivity, is drawing attention. But how soon? @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

NIH details options for limiting its payments for open-access publishing fees Other publishing proposals would scrap reimbursements or pay peer reviewers, unprecedented steps for a major government funder

Can authors afford APCs for #openaccess publishing if NIH caps its payments for them? Institutional read-and-publish deals offer an APC-free alternative, but NIH also wants to lower the indirect cost rate to 15%, which could squeeze money for such deals. @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

‘Lazy’ authors? One in six scientific papers mischaracterize work they cite New study of long-standing problem takes novel approach, asking cited authors to evaluate accuracy

Are scientists citing papers without reading them? #scientificpublishing #AcademicChatter #peerreview @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Journal plagued with problematic papers, likely from paper mills, pauses submissions The halt will let Taylor & Francis focus on checking Bioengineered’s papers for fraudulent works and paid authorships

#researchfraud #papermills #academicpublishing @science.org
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Should grant applicants judge competitors’ proposals? Unorthodox approach gets two real-world tests Distributed peer review enlists more researchers in the process, but some may lack expertise

If getting a research grant required scoring applications from your competitors, would you apply? New evidence on this novel method, “distributed #peerreview,” at #Metascience2025. @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

What scientists need to know about sharing—and protecting—their published work With research papers becoming increasingly free to read and use, understanding open-access licenses is key

Under a new NIH rule, the number of journal articles with #CreativeCommons licenses may soon grow. Many authors say they don't understand how CC licenses do - and don't - protect #intellectualproperty. A copyright lawyer explains. #openscience @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Open-access revolution is squeezing scientific societies’ budgets, survey shows Decline in journal revenues puts scholarships, advocacy, and other activities at risk

As AI presents new costs for scientific-society publishers, their revenues are strained. #openscience #publishingmodels #scholcomm @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Research may be increasingly incremental—but studies making lasting paradigm shifts are on the rise New metric identifying “persistently disruptive” papers offers a “bright spot” amid signs of declining innovation

Is science becoming less innovative? A 2023 paper suggested many fields are. But a new study finds evidence that a growing subset of papers catalyze enduring new paths in research. #ScientificInnovation #bibliometrics @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

DOGE order leads to journal cancellations by U.S. agricultural library “We can’t do science without these,” one researcher says of the hundreds of journals no longer accessible

DOGE-driven journal cancellations at USDA's National Agricultural Library: '[like] burning down the Library of Alexandria.' #scientificpublishing #libraryscience #academiclibraries @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Fear spreads that NIH will terminate grants involving South Africa Trump has promised to cut off funding, claiming nation discriminates against white citizens

EXCLUSIVE: Fear spreads that NIH will terminate grants involving South Africa | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

In bid to expand, bioRxiv and medRxiv preprint servers move to newly formed nonprofit Backers seek to increase contributions from authors at institutions beyond the global elite

#bioRxiv and #medRxiv strike out on their own, as #medRxiv's preprint volume approaches its COVID-era peak. #peerreview #openscience #scientificpublishing @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Got a tip? Got a tip for Science’s news department? Our reporters would like to hear from you. Here are ways to contact us.

Any conservative/Trump-voting federal scientists who have been fired and are willing to discuss their views on that whatever they may be?--or can others suggest people in that situation we should reach out to? Contact the News from Science team www.science.org/content/page...

‘... posting Federal Register notices, and “we do not have any information” on when it will be lifted, an NIH spokesperson said on background. Study sections ... are also being canceled if a notice was not published before 20 January. That means many new grants are on hold at NIH’s 27 institutes.’

‘… HHS wants to hold only the closed sessions that review grants. Making that change, however, apparently requires the government to publish a new notice of each meeting at least 15 days ahead in the Federal Register. … But the administration has imposed a communications pause that bars NIH from …

Judges suspend NIH plan to slash payments and order health agencies to restore web pages Lawsuits argued that cutting “indirect cost” rate would have “devastating” impact on research

@science.org reported about this in a news article on 11 Feb: ‘The meetings of institute councils that provide a second stage of grant peer review have been on hold since 22 January because ... @labonnelab.bsky.social @docbecca.bsky.social @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social www.science.org/content/arti...

Welcome to Trump Tracker Follow President Donald Trump’s impact on U.S. research and science globally

Depending on your perspective it's a good/bad week for @science.org's news team to launch our Trump Tracker. Were recent NIH resignations voluntary? Will RFK Jr start firing scientists today? Why did a judge unfreeze U.S. foreign aid needed for clinical trials? www.science.org/content/arti...

Renowned scientific integrity investigator endows fund to support fellow sleuths Microbiologist Elisabeth Bik donates $200,000 to support training, travel

Many #researchintegrity sleuths are volunteers with little financial support for their often-daunting work to uncover #scientificfraud. One of the most prominent, Elisabeth Bik, has now provided money to change that. @elisabethbik.bsky.social @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...