The Chronicle of Higher Education
Lindsay Ellis
November 22, 2019
The impact of the University of California system’s decision in February to walk away from negotiations with Elsevier over journal subscriptions has rippled out to Pittsburgh, where Carnegie Mellon University’s libraries have struck a deal with the company that marks a significant stride in open-access publishing.
Under the agreement, Carnegie Mellon researchers will be able to read all Elsevier academic journals and, next year, can publish their articles in front of a paywall without having to pay an extra fee. The company and the university on Thursday said it was the first contract of its kind between Elsevier and an American university.
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NIH Open Mike Blog
Mike Lauer
March 13, 2019
We recently released our annual web reports and success rate data with updated numbers for fiscal year (FY) 2018. These web products represent annual snapshots of NIH research investments, which are highlighted in this post.
Before delving into the numbers, we want to draw your attention to the new and modernized NIH Data Book recently released. This easy to navigate tool enables users to access and interact with a wealth of data ranging from NIH funding, research grant types, success rates, and much more (see this NIH Open Mike post for more).
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NSF Dear Colleague Letter 19-053
March 29, 2019
Dear Colleagues:
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has publicly communicated its commitment to promoting safe, productive research and education environments for current and future scientists and engineers, including efforts to help reduce sexual harassment and other forms of harassment in STEM contexts.
Recently, to learn about the challenges related to sexual harassment in STEM settings, NSF and other organizations funded the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to conduct a study on the prevalence and impact of sexual harassment in science and engineering departments and programs. The results of the study are available in the report, Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture and Consequences in Academic Science, Engineering, and Medicine. As the most comprehensive examination to date of sexual harassment in academic science, engineering, and medicine, the report brings together behavioral and social research on types of sexual harassment and prevalence, data on legal and policy mechanisms, and new approaches for changing the climate and culture in higher education to prevent and effectively respond to sexual harassment.
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The Chronicle of Higher Education
Henry Farrell and Jack Knight
March 10, 2019
Agatha Christie’s murder mystery The Mousetrap is the longest running play in history. Its first run began in 1952, and it hasn’t stopped since. Another perennial whodunnit — "Who Murdered Political Science" — is mounting a strong challenge for the runner up. Regularly repeated performances haven’t stopped audiences from enjoying the traditional denouement, in which the detective accuses Quantitative Methods and Game Theory of conspiring to bash the victim’s head in.
Discerning critics were unimpressed with Michael Desch’s recent "cult of the irrelevant" production, which played recently in this magazine. They found it too reminiscent of past stagings — all recycled quotes and stale nostalgia — and would have preferred a more novel interpretation. Even so, like Christie’s play, it’s a traditional crowd-pleaser.
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The Chronicle of Higher Education
Michael C. Desch
February 27, 2019
In a 2008 speech to the Association of American Universities, the former Texas A&M University president and then-Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates declared that "we must again embrace eggheads and ideas." He went on to recall the role of universities as "vital centers of new research" during the Cold War. The late Thomas Schelling would have agreed. The Harvard economist and Nobel laureate once described "a wholly unprecedented ‘demand’ for the results of theoretical work. … Unlike any other country … the United States had a government permeable not only by academic ideas but by academic people."
Gates’s efforts to bridge the gap between Beltway and ivory tower came at a time when it was growing wider, and indeed, that gap has continued to grow in the years since. According to a Teaching, Research & International Policy Project survey, a regular poll of international-relations scholars, very few believe they should not contribute to policy making in some way. Yet a majority also recognize that the state-of-the-art approaches of academic social science are precisely those approaches that policy makers find least helpful. A related poll of senior national-security decision-makers confirmed that, for the most part, academic social science is not giving them what they want.
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The Chronicle of Higher Education
Lindsay Ellis
February 18, 2019
Debate over the future of scholarly publishing felt remote to Kathryn M. Jones, an associate professor of biology at Florida State University — that is, until she attended a Faculty Senate meeting last year.
There she learned that the library might renegotiate its $2-million subscription with the publishing behemoth Elsevier, which would limit her and her colleagues’ access to groundbreaking research. Horror sank in. Like other experimental scientists, Jones regularly skims articles published in subscription journals to plan future experiments. What would happen if she couldn’t access that body of important work with the click of a button?
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NIH
Notice number NOT-OD-19-032
February 19, 2019
NIH's Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) has issued a Request for Information intended to gather broad public input on a revised definition of behavioral and social sciences research. The definition, originally developed in 1996 and updated periodically since then, is available on the OBSSR website. The field has evolved significantly during the last two decades, and a more extensive update of the definition is needed to improve the way funding is monitored and assessed.
The OBSSR invites input from behavioral and social science researchers in academia and industry, health care professionals, patient advocates and advocacy organizations, scientific or professional organizations, federal agencies, and other interested members of the public.
To ensure consideration, input must be submitted at https://obssr.ideascale.com by February 22, 2019.
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The Chronicle of Higher Education
Heather Joslyn
February 11, 2019
Giving to colleges and universities grew 4.6 percent in the academic year that ended in June, with donor-advised funds showing significant growth as a source of gifts, according to a report released on Monday.
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National Science Foundation News
Arthur Lupia
February 7, 2019
This letter from SBE’s Assistant Director, Arthur Lupia, is posted to alert the SBE research community about substantial funding opportunities from NSF relevant to SBE scientists.
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The Chronicle of Higher Education
Lindsay Ellis
January 15, 2019
Neal F. Lane didn’t mince words when he spoke at the 1996 American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting, in Baltimore. On the heels of a 21-day government shutdown, then the longest in U.S. history, the National Science Foundation’s director was reeling.
Funds for many continuing grants had run out. He expected funding gaps for renewals and delays in funding new awards. New programs could be pushed back significantly — perhaps six months to a year — or canceled. The shutdown, he said, had “demoralized our work force and destroyed any efficient timetable for our already pressured work.”
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