erinnacland

erinnacland, 1 month ago to science

"Fewer U.S. scientists are pursuing postdoc positions, new data show" 📉

"The trend underscores concerns that the academic community is facing a postdoc shortage and that early-career scientists are increasingly favoring higher paid positions outside academia."

“It’s not a situation that’s good for the country.”

#Science #AcademicChatter @academicchatter via @klangin https://www.science.org/content/article/fewer-u-s-scientists-are-pursuing-postdoc-positions-new-data-show

erinnacland, 1 month ago to academicchatter

In a recent Dan Ariely paper:

"An experiment was conducted. It was preregistered. The results section was written up in a way that reads as if the experiment worked as planned. But if you go back and forth between the results section and the preregistration plan, you realize that the purportedly successful results did not follow the preregistration plan.

They’re just the usual story of fishing and forking paths and p-hacking."

@academicchatter #ResearchIntegrity
via https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2024/04/04/its-ariely-time-an-example-of-the-success-of-preregistration-in-revealing-problems-with-a-published-paper/

erinnacland, 1 month ago to science

"The easiest way to grow in academia is to pay other people to produce papers on which you, as the grant holder, can put your name.

[...] and those papers are what the supervisor uses to apply for more grants. The result is a paper production machine, in which students and postdocs are burnt through to bring in money for the institution. Most of that money come from your taxes."

"That's how academia works."

@academicchatter #Science
h/t @neuralreckoning
via: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKiBlGDfRU8

erinnacland, 2 months ago to Canada

Pay for graduate students and postdocs has been stagnant for DECADES in Canada.

"Budget 2024 is currently being finalized - let decision makers know graduate students and postdocs are important! Email, call, and tweet before March 8th for maximum impact."

See their website for easy action options: https://www.supportourscience.ca/action-budget-2024

#Canada #Science @academicsunite #AcademicChatter

erinnacland, 2 months ago to academicchatter

Wanted: Scientific Errors.

Cash Reward.

"Scientific-misconduct accusations are leading to retractions [...] But there’s no telling how widespread errors are in research: As it is, they’re largely brought to light by unpaid volunteers.

A program launching this month is hoping to shake up that incentive structure [...It] will pay reviewers to root out mistakes in influential papers,"

#OpenScience #AcademicChatter @academicchatter

https://error.reviews/

via https://www.chronicle.com/article/wanted-scientific-errors-cash-reward

erinnacland, 4 months ago to science

Ex-president Dr. Gay "certainly copied from other people. But [...] the conservative activist who brought the accusations to light [...] openly did so as part of a larger conservative battle against elite colleges. Under those circumstances, for the left to join the calls for Gay to step down could feel like playing into the hands of the right. On the other hand — well, she does seem to have plagiarized [...] So how do you handle that?"

#Science @academicchatter
via https://www.vox.com/culture/24036154/plagiarism-claudine-gay-neri-oxman-bill-ackman

erinnacland, 5 months ago to science

Former Stanford president retracts Nature paper as another gets expression of concern

"The two Nature papers – which have together been cited more than 1,000 times, according to Clarivate’s Web of Science – were among five the university investigation examined on which Tessier-Lavigne was the principal author. The other three have been retracted – two from Science and one from Cell."

@academicchatter #ResearchIntegrity #Science #AcademicChatter
https://retractionwatch.com/2023/12/18/former-stanford-president-retracts-nature-paper-as-another-gets-expression-of-concern/

erinnacland, 5 months ago to science

New study warns "that protracted PhDs and lengthy postdoctoral stints are holding back even the best scientists from 'achieving independence and tenure'."

Author argues that "universities should have more flexible rules that allow them to promote people quicker if they prove to be 'really outstanding in their early steps' [...and that] funding should shift to younger scientists,"

@academicchatter #Science #PhDLife #AcademicChatter
h/t @ingorohlfing
via https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/lengthy-phds-and-postdocs-slowing-professor-promotions

erinnacland, 5 months ago to random

Harvard's President was found to have plagiarized in multiple instances across several papers. In one case, a full paragraph.

Harvard's response today?

An independent review found "a few instances of inadequate citation. While the analysis found no violation of Harvard’s standards for research misconduct [...] in this tumultuous and difficult time, we unanimously stand in support of President Gay”

I wonder how'd they treat an undergrad who did the same?

#ResearchIntegrity #AcademicChatter

erinnacland, 5 months ago to academicchatter

"Wiley to stop using “Hindawi” name amid $18 million revenue decline"

"In March, Clarivate removed 19 Hindawi journals from its Web of Science index for failing to meet editorial quality criteria. Wiley later shut down four Hindawi journals it had identified as 'heavily compromised by paper mills.'"

"[Retraction Watch has] logged more than 3,400 retractions from Hindawi journals [...] In April, an executive said the publisher would retract 1,200 more"

https://retractionwatch.com/2023/12/06/wiley-to-stop-using-hindawi-name-amid-18-million-revenue-decline/
@academicchatter

erinnacland, 5 months ago to science

What motivates research fraud?

"There is pressure to publish as scientists [...] There are labs that are run by big egos who might say to a young researcher, “Why did your experiment fail? I will hire someone else who will make it work [...] The graduate students and the postdocs might be the ones photoshopping, but who is responsible for the atmosphere and the integrity of the lab? That’s the professor" - @ElisabethBik

https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/science-sleuth-looks-to-expose-research-fraud
@academicchatter #Science #ResearchIntegrity

erinnacland, 5 months ago to Canada

The "top" postdocs in Canadian are awarded 40,000 CAD/year by the government. It costs 45% of that salary to rent a 1-bedroom in Toronto.

The government announced yesterday that it's not increasing our funding.

"For over two decades, these critical contributors to research and innovation have received no funding increase from the federal government and now face significant financial challenges." - #SupportOurScience

https://www.supportourscience.ca/post/support-our-science-disappointment-with-the-lack-of-funding-for-graduate-students-and-postdoctoral
@academicchatter @academicsunite #Canada #Science

erinnacland, 5 months ago to academicchatter

Postdoctoral fellows are "expected to sacrifice evenings and weekends, and to neglect [their] social life and holidays, all for a career that offers no guarantees. The short-term nature of postdoc contracts prevents [...] settling down and starting a family,"

A Nature survey found that postdocs in their 30s are "more negative about job prospects, job security and work–life balance," and have more mental health challenges.

"We feel that we are falling behind in life.”

#PostDoc @academicchatter

erinnacland, 6 months ago to science

"Science is self-correcting": an argument sometimes used to dismiss concerns about research fraud and misconduct.

"We are swamped with scientific publications, but it is increasingly hard to distinguish the signal from the noise. In my view, it is getting to the point where in many fields it is impossible to build a cumulative science, because we lack a solid foundation of trustworthy findings. And it's getting worse and worse." - @deevybee

https://deevybee.blogspot.com/2023/11/defence-against-dark-arts-proposal-for.html
@academicchatter #Science

erinnacland, 7 months ago to academicchatter

"MDPI’s largest journal [...] was delisted from the Web of Science in March 2023. What came next was both expected and staggering. The journal shrunk by 88% in comparison to its peak."

"IJERPH’s decline is a stark reminder that in the absence of an Impact Factor, other journal traits matter little."

via https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2023/09/18/guest-post-reputation-and-publication-volume-at-mdpi-and-frontiers-the-1b-question/
#OpenScience @academicchatter #MDPI #AcademicChatter

erinnacland, 8 months ago to SciComm

Little comic I made about the tension between climate change headlines and misinformation

#SciComm #ClimateChange

lakens, 8 months ago to random

New blog post: Reflections on the viral thread by Dr Louise Raw spreading fake news about unethically performed radiation experiments on Punjabi women in the 1950's http://daniellakens.blogspot.com/2023/08/reflections-on-viral-thread-by-dr.html

erinnacland, 9 months ago to Canada

There is a concern that those with graduate degrees are leaving Canada to look for better opportunities elsewhere, contributing towards a "brain drain".

A new survey has been made to better understand the issue: If you are a current graduate student in Canada OR a graduate in the last 10 years please complete this 5-10 minute survey https://tinyurl.com/mrybapfp

If you aren't eligible, please share so this can reach those it applies to :)
#Canada #PhDLife #PhD @academicchatter @academicsunite

erinnacland, 9 months ago to academicchatter

"Academics, under pressure to conform to performance metrics, have produced more and more reading material. All this busy writing has resulted in the creation of a reading mountain, so large it is a sincere threat to our ability to do our jobs." - @thesiswhisperer

@academicchatter #AcademicChatter #HigherEd
https://thesiswhisperer.com/2018/05/23/we-need-to-talk-about-reading/

erinnacland, 9 months ago (edited 9 months ago) to science

Is academia hostile to families?

"As is the case for many parents in academia, parental leave has played a major part in the trajectories of our lives and scientific careers". In contrast to Canada, "the United States has no federally mandated paid parental leave."

Early career academics are often poorly paid and are required to relocate frequently, causing obvious major challenges for young families.

@academicchatter #AcademicChatter #Science
https://sites.google.com/view/parental-leave-in-academia
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02544-2

erinnacland, 11 months ago to science

Why is the work of graduate students so under-valued? 💵

"Despite being called 'students' [...they] have vastly different responsibilities and academic curricula than the majority of students"

They are the engines behind research labs, making them central to the "research ecosystem + [...] the innovation process in the country."

via https://sciencepolicy.ca/posts/recognizing-the-forgotten-workers-redefining-graduate-and-postdoctoral-training/
by Tim Xue, Julia Messina-Pacheco, @gmdouglas
#Science #PhD #PhDLife #SupportOurScience @academicchatter @academicsunite

erinnacland, 11 months ago to academicchatter

"For young life scientists hoping to land a prestigious faculty job in academia, postdoctoral research is practically a requirement. Freshly minted life science PhDs who have started families or have big loans, or are Black or female, plan to pursue postdocs at lower rates than their peers"

"For decades, postdocs were seen as a [...] reliable route into a faculty job [...] The low pay and demanding hours were rewarded in the end. But for many, a postdoc is now a dead end"

@academicchatter #PhD

erinnacland, 11 months ago to academicchatter

Are p-value reforms just going to move the goalpost?

"[T]he problem is not with p-values but with null-hypothesis significance testing, that parody of falsificationism in which straw-man null hypothesis A is rejected and this is taken as evidence in favor of preferred alternative B"

"the solution is not to reform p-values or replace them [...] but to move toward a greater acceptance of uncertainty and embracing of variation"

via https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2023/05/17/the-problems-with-p-values-are-not-just-with-p-values/
#AcademicChatter @academicchatter #Stats

erinnacland, 11 months ago to academicchatter

When hiring or giving awards to leaders....

Why do we ask for reference letters from their supervisors, but not those they've supervised?

Those working under someone tend to have a clearer picture of the lead's management style, efficacy, and ability to retain and train talent.

Bonus being that high-level supervisors with multiple projects—such as profs—wouldn't have to write a gazillion (often generic) reference letters annually.

#AcademicChatter @academicchatter