Research

Politicians, funders and university leaders all intone the mantra of interdisciplinarity. But what does the concept really mean? Will it really yield the insights it promises? And how best can it be fostered? Ellie Bothwell reports

German research institute aims to reshape academic incentives with cash bonuses

The UK’s structures for supporting and nurturing research leaders are woefully underdeveloped, says Matthew Flinders

Even as medics scramble to address the coronavirus, research into its social and political entanglements is vital, says Robert Peckham 

Harvard case was meant to get academia’s attention, and did, prosecutors proclaim

Academics studying gender-based violence highlight emotional impact of their work

Observatory looks beyond politics to psychology and ergonomics for ways to boost voters’ democratic participation

Scientists warily await details of Harvard chemistry chair’s case

Excessive criticism reflects a dearth of research funding and space in top journals. But peers needn’t play ball, says an anonymous academic

Debate over status of new agency for ‘high-risk, high-payoff research’ is non-issue compared with its direction and leadership, others suggest

A feudal approach to intellectual property has turned the academy into a modern police state, says Steve Fuller

Furore over Oxford doctoral student’s journal article reignites debate over the limits of free speech

The hunt for a new UK research supremo continues, apparently after the shortlisted candidates failed to pass muster

Dutch virologist says partnerships are vital in race to develop vaccines

Huge rewards could ensue if governments bankroll the systematic sharing of research data, but experts warn of unintended consequences

Announcements on visas, funding and bureaucracy seen as sign of growing influence of Dominic Cummings

‘Commercial entanglements’ a deadweight on prosperity, Australian university insists

With careers riding on young scientists’ position in author lists, friction is all too common. A snowballing initiative to list authors’ contributions aims to make sure credit is always given where it is due. But will it be enough to ease the angst? Jack Grove is first author

Joybrato Mukherjee says Chinese researchers ‘not always on the same page’ over IP – and looks forward to a VR-enabled ‘entirely virtual semester abroad’

Center for Open Science project will pass judgment on journals’ commitment to research transparency

UKRI’s decision to axe the impact sections of grant applications could hobble consideration of the process and politics of research, says Jude Fransman

Research-intensive university groups ask funders to provide additional support for data management

The Buckingham education professor’s musings on educational decline are a mainstay of the British press. But is academia right to be dismissive of his views and unusual modus operandi?

Reversing the relationship between authors and publishers would ease perverse incentives that impede progress, say Hilal Lashuel and Benjamin Stecher

UK Research and Innovation to manage uncapped visa programme

Universities minister says north-south divide cannot be solved ‘in a top-down way, driven by central government diktat’

Inability to begin reruns of experiments highlights the problem of weak methodologies of journal papers, say Center for Open Science director

A growing number of data detectives are on the hunt for sloppy science and dodgy statistics. Jack Grove examines the methods they use

As we enter REF submission year, Nicholas Stern and David Sweeney urge universities to broaden their conception of a good submission

Union condemns ‘short-sighted’ suspension of institution-funded research leave, saying move amounts to ‘institutional self-sabotage’

Yukon University will offer its own degrees and combine Western and Indigenous approaches to science

Share of country’s research involving international collaboration more than halves as domestic publications surge

New organisation should help build partnerships between academics and content developers

In an era of anti-expert populism, it is more important than ever to stand up for scientific truth. But it is also harder, coming with a high risk of personal attack. Anna McKie speaks to those who have paid a high price for their advocacy, and draws out the lessons for those who want to take up the cause

Poll of 4,000 researchers reveals half have sought or wanted help for mental health problems, and four in 10 are victims of bullying or harassment

Academics are taking advantage of their freedom to launch new research, but question how long this will last

Experts say Derry-Donegal institution could support access and post-Brexit research collaboration

Stanford scholars hope common usage agreements might ease long hold-ups in obtaining corporate and government information

Matthew Reisz considers the researchers who keep on top of the issues we most want to avoid

Scientific excellence is not the only relevant criterion – either morally or legally, says Alex Conway 

Reverse culture shock is among the tricky situations that scholars may face when returning to their native country for research fieldwork, says Olga Burlyuk

Anne-Kathrin Kreft tells Matthew Reisz how interviews with Colombian women’s activists left her mentally and physically exhausted – and ideologically transformed

Researchers in developing countries have often been confined to minor roles as translators and data gatherers. But there are signs that the scales are tipping. Simon Baker considers the extent and nature of collaboration between the Global North and South, while Andrew Thompson reflects on the next iteration of the UK’s Global Challenges Research Fund

Falling numbers of NHS-based scholars and lack of research time must be reversed, warns Academy of Medical Sciences

The blessing of big data can be a curse without resources for analysis. But how much computerised help do we really want, asks Kristen Sadler

Text scans by artificial intelligence will flag inconsistent or unusual patterns in reviewer behaviour, says Wolverhampton professor

‘MIT of the North’ idea seen as ignoring imbalances in research funding that undermine regions

Latest data on income, staff and research funding show the key challenges facing UK higher education in the coming years

Making participant-derived data available is not a panacea but, with careful support and management, it can improve reproducibility, says Jonathan Grigg

Study says comments such as ‘she should be in the kitchen, not writing papers’ affect the careers of under-represented groups

Academics able to specify areas of interest to collect imagery of

Asian academics lend their own languages and experiences to the budding field of queer studies, says ‘godmother’ of the Taiwan LGBT movement

Altmetric list of scholarship getting the most online attention shows that authenticity in science, and society more generally, is major theme of the year

Initiative to tackle issues around openness and poor incentive culture in science gains vital ‘middle’ layer in fight to boost research quality

Technicians and teachers will also receive more awards under learned society’s plan to ‘reflect how science is carried out today’

Some academics feel incentives do not reflect that motivation for research comes from ‘the pursuit of knowledge’, says researcher

Web of Science study says articles with more than 100 authors or involving dozens of countries can artificially boost citation impact

University of Texas at Austin scholar argues that the poor state of quantitative psychology makes replication impossible

Research partnerships with the Asian giant keep homegrown AI innovation afloat, new report argues

The dream of robot researchers is edging closer with automated laboratory producing five years of experiments in just two weeks, experts claim