Research administrator

After yet another minister falls to a plagiarism scandal, observers lament that a long German tradition of doctorates has descended into academic ‘credentialism’

Allowing faulty papers to go unchallenged damages integrity and threatens dangerous real-world consequences, says Peter Bowbrick

Politicians developing the European Research Area must grasp how new knowledge comes about – and what it can do, says Jan Palmowski

Careers can depend on publishing in higher-quartile journals, but the statistics are too easily gamed, says Jakša Cvitanić

Universities are moving in the right direction, but they can and must go further and faster, says Alice Gast

Changes to funding mechanisms can feel like a threat, but Aria will be a blast of fresh air for science and technology, says Tom Stephenson

Policy should focus more on research’s benefits to a region than on where it is conducted, say Sarah Chaytor, Grace Gottlieb and Graeme Reid

The REF and TEF should be brought together, but adopting low-quality shortcuts would undermine the whole purpose, says Thom Brooks 

Simpler options are imperfect but perhaps no more so than the panels’ unavoidably cursory ‘peer review’ of submissions, says Dorothy Bishop

The focus of research evaluation on papers and grants excludes far too many vital contributions. We must change that, says Simon Hettrick

Merging metrics for the REF, KEF and TEF would free up time for academics to become researchers once again, says Robert MacIntosh

Three countries even received double-digit increases in 2020, but with so much new government debt, some fear cuts could be in store further down the line

Long-term public and economic health depends on empowering universities, businesses and health systems to work together, says Michael Spence

Universities have decried the GCRF cuts, but being corralled into promoting justice globalism is not academic freedom, says Bruce Macfarlane

Anonymising applications and reserving studentships and starter grants for Black researchers would go a long way, says Daniel Akinbosede

Government concern has not yielded concrete steps to address chronic faculty shortages and adjunctification, says Pushkar

Without audit studies, we would have an impoverished understanding of discrimination, say S. Michael Gaddis, Charles Crabtree and nine others

Amid the economic ravages inflicted by the coronavirus, the EU has agreed a huge stimulus package. But while research in some countries looks set for a transformational boost, it may be a different story for teaching

Former Downing Street guru says UK’s new research agency must be freed from ‘expensive disaster zone’ of science bureaucracy

Local and international collaboration will allow institutions to tackle the challenges of sustainable development, says Tawana Kupe

Different university groupings should have strong, distinctive capabilities that address specific markets, says John H. Howard

Evidence shows that universities outside the golden triangle are among the best at creating successful companies, says Brian McCaul

As Netflix’s film on Sutton Hoo illustrates, collaboration between academic and commercial research enriches understanding of history, says Susan Greaney

Researchers should campaign with the public to build back better, say Stephen Bradley, Jessica Butler and Chris Chambers

Only losers focus on excellent science. Better to cook the books, spin the wheel and trust to cronies, say Robert de Vries and John Jerrim

Russia may still have no universities in the world’s top 100, but its 5-100 Project has made progress, says Philip Altbach

Universities express concern about diversion of clinical academic staff to front-line services and impact of lockdown

The country’s universities have shot up global rankings on the back of huge investment and a ruthless focus on publication. But as the country gears up for its next five-year plan, Joyce Lau asks whether stratospheric ambitions for a ‘Chinese Harvard’ can be met

New measures that provide insight into how universities build personal qualities of their graduates are needed, argue Doug Cole and Dino Willox

While eLife is planning to publish only preprints, even it concedes that journal brand still counts for a lot, notes Michael Marinetto

Academics remain wedded to prestige indicators, but peer reviewers may conclude that the journal is profiteering, says Dorothy Bishop

The ‘Tasmania Model’ of addressing social need offers lessons for the wider sector, say Rufus Black and Nick Fowler

With global warming a priority for the next US president, the International Universities Climate Alliance can lead the academic response, says Ian Jacobs

For a successful transition to open access, we must respect the needs and requirements for different types of output and disciplines, says Rhodri Jackson

As the pandemic reshapes both conferencing and publishing, melding talks and papers makes a lot of sense, says Richard Oliver

The potential involvement of the UK, Australia and Canada requires a fair payments mechanism between the EU and associate countries, says Jan Palmowski

Until we stop glorifying self-achievement, collaboration will remain transactional, say Maru Mormina, Romina Istratii and Alex Lewis

Supporting pure open access publishers can save money and help cement the transition to full open access, says Helen Dobson

The country’s deep belief in cooperation coexists with a quiet opportunism about recruitment and funding, say Tim Seidenschnur and Georg Krücken 

Urgent action is needed to help doctoral candidates whose research has been halted by Covid-related travel bans, says Lorena Gazzotti

If governments commit extra funding and researchers accept the growing industrial emphasis, the European Research Area can fly, says Jan Palmowski

Jean-Eric Paquet warns that on open data, research collaboration and academic mobility, EU-China links are not always reciprocal

Education minister Ingrid van Engelshoven says too much research funding is now competitive, leading to intense work stress

The focus on conducting research in independent institutes is holding the country back, say four academics

Those planning new universities might think that a good institution will attract top staff wherever it is located. But is the quality of the environment beyond the ivory tower really so insignificant – and has the pandemic changed the calculus? Paul Jump runs through our survey results

Set up by young researchers, new publication will highlight where studies went wrong – but it may struggle to attract submissions

The Research Australia report has exposed the fault lines in health research funding, says Ross Coppel 

Managers must acknowledge that supervising some types of doctoral candidates is more labour-intensive, say Roger Watson and David Thompson

The halting of trials for a coronavirus treatment following the publication of dubious data highlights the perils of opacity, says Ron Iphofen

This week’s deal will tip the balance back towards fundamental research – and it might not have been done at all, says Jan Palmowski 

Plan S shift backed by European Commission will be ‘detrimental’ to researchers, says commission-created ERC

Senior scientists and sector bodies call for more ‘reasonable’ financial terms that would allow the UK to join Horizon Europe

Still on mute? Then let’s begin, says Emma Rees

Horizon Europe will receive only a tiny fraction of an unprecedented €750 billion pandemic recovery package

Academic research is not having any significant impact on the national economy or health of society, laments Tahir Shah

An oft-overlooked component of the research process is that simple little thing called leadership, says Matthew Flinders

Simplistic performance measures hold research back, says Jim McCluskey, as Melbourne becomes the first Australian university to sign up to Dora

The ability for PhD students to research previous students’ experience with particular examiners could reduce bad practice 

Covid-19 has underlined the need for more coordinated and comprehensive engagement with policymakers, say David Price, Sarah Chaytor and Andrew Wathey

It is those who commit research misconduct – not those who expose them – that damage science, according to David Sanders. But while the biologist has embraced the role of data detective thrust upon him, he wishes more scientists would share the thankless, legally fraught burden