Elsevier and the Dutch Open Science goals

The VSNU, NFU, NWO and Elsevier have announced a national deal that bundles Open Access and data services. Is the deal consistent with Dutch Open Science goals, and will undesirable platform effects be avoided?

Sarah de Rijcke • May 20, 2020 • 1 comment

Going back to normal?

With Covid-19 forcing university staff to work from home, there is ample opportunity for rethinking all the commuting we were doing in ‘normal' times. However, staying all at home is not so enjoyable, either. Could there be an alternative?

Ed Noyons • May 14, 2020

The bright side of the lockdown: the experience of conducting PhD studies remotely

Beyond the lockdown: COVID-19 forces change in remote learning

Eleonora Dagiene • May 11, 2020

COVID-19: What do funders consider relevant research?

As emergency calls for research funding are made to tackle the COVID-19, some difficult questions come to mind: What types of knowledge are relevant? What types of research should be prioritised?

André Brasil, Soohong Eum, Wouter van de Klippe and Ismael Ràfols • April 30, 2020

Reminiscence: A note by two former interns

In 2015 and 2017, we were interns at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), and it was a valuable experience. Let us tell you about it, and why you may consider applying there.

Grischa Fraumann and Tung Tung Chan • April 28, 2020

Delineating COVID-19 and coronavirus research

Many initiatives are keeping track of research on COVID-19 and coronaviruses. These initiatives, while valuable because they allow for fast access to relevant research, pose the question of subject delineation. We analyse here one such initiative, the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19).

Giovanni Colavizza, Rodrigo Costas, Vincent Traag, Nees Jan van Eck, Thed van Leeuwen and Ludo Waltman • April 21, 2020

Precarious careers: postdoctoral researchers in the Netherlands

As the number of postdoc researchers grows, studies in the Netherlands reveal that they experience high stress levels. This post discusses mental health and the main stressors: a lack of academic career prospects, publication and grant pressure, work-life imbalance and lack of institutional support.

Inge van der Weijden and Christine Teelken • April 21, 2020

Broadening the perspective on Covid-19

While the pandemic has led many to first seek biomedical and epidemiological expertise, we should be careful not to overlook inputs from different scientific fields that could provide important insights in the current crisis. Here are some early academic responses you might have missed.

Jochem Zuijderwijk • April 16, 2020 • 1 comment

Beyond Open Access articles: briefs can provide wider and faster access to scientific knowledge

Many journals are making research on COVID19 publicly available. This is valuable, but studies on usability of research suggest scientists need to develop media to quickly reach professional stakeholders. Diego Chavarro explains how briefs helped address faster the bud rot disease in palm oil.

Diego Chavarro • April 09, 2020