Concerns abound that authors who publish on a weekly basis are cutting corners, corrupting authorship norms and overburdening the peer review system – with AI likely to make matters worse. But if incentives are misaligned, what can be done? And is the moral panic exaggerated? Jack Grove reports  

In principle, permanent positions are awarded to the most deserving – but perceptions remain that, in reality, many universities value connections over merit. Phillip Haubrock describes his struggles to find a permanent position in Germany, while João Conde recounts how he finally secured one in Portugal