China must ensure innovation trickles down
Measures should be put in place to ensure that innovative scientific information is available to Chinese researchers, says Lan Xue.
Source: Nature
SciDev.Net
Science and Development Network
News, views and information about science, technology and the developing world
Opinions
Here is a list of the latest articles
Snubbing of local journals skews research
Researchers' preference for publishing in globally recognised journals is skewing the direction of scientific inquiry away from local research, writes Priya Shetty.
Source: New Scientist
We must restore scientific integrity in Indian research
For its own international credibility, Indian science must be seen to deal with scientific misconduct, says N. Raghuram.
3 July 2008 | EN
Online library needs to sharpen up
An initiative to bring biomedical research journals free to the developing world is faltering, protest a group of academics in Lima.
Source: PloS Medicine
2 July 2007 | EN
Environmental journalists must dig deeper
Talli Nauman argues that environmental journalists must be more than simple informers to provide better coverage of development issues.
Source: The Herald Mexico
'Free' access to research should not be limited
All scientists — rich or poor — should have free and open access to published data; any attempt to restrict such access is unacceptable, argues Donat Agosti.
28 December 2006 | EN
Muslim science must join the 21st century
A study of scientific research in the Muslim world shows that it lags far behind the rest of the world, but there are encouraging signs of improvement, says Athar Osama
3 November 2006 | EN
Science cannot prosper if its basis is rejected
Pervez Hoodbhoy argues that Pakistan cannot develop scientifically by focusing solely on producing PhDs and research papers.
23 March 2006 | EN
Making science open access demands a new mindset
Governments need to actively encourage the sharing of scientific knowledge and expertise if the open access movement is to revolutionise the way science works, says Arthur Carty.
Source: University Affairs
11 November 2005 | EN
Closing the 'publishing gap' between rich and poor
Phyllis Freeman and Anthony Robbins introduce AuthorAID, a mentoring initiative proposed to help close the 'publishing gap' between researchers in rich and poor nations.
2 September 2005 | EN
Tackling medical journals' lack of Southern voices
Ranjit Manchanda, Rajesh Varma, Ike Anya and Joseph Ting respond to recent research that revealed that leading medical journals lack input from authors and editors in developing countries.
Source: British Medical Journal
9 July 2004 | EN
Overcoming barriers to anti-HIV microbicides
Paul M. Coplan and colleagues suggest various measures to help developing nations overcome regulatory hurdles to the widespread use of microbicides.
Source: Science
25 June 2004 | EN
Authors do not suffer under open-access model
PLoS Biology argues that the publication fees that it and other open-access journals charge are not putting an unfair burden on authors.
Source: PLoS Biology
16 April 2004 | EN
A welcome retreat on publishing ban on 'rogue' nations
The US Treasury's decision to lift a ban preventing journals from publishing peer-reviewed papers by authors from sanctioned countries is a welcome step, says an editorial in Science.
Source: Science
8 April 2004 | EN
India's march towards open access
Subbiah Arunachalam argues that the best way to make scientific research more available worldwide is to encourage scientists to self-archive their research.
5 March 2004 | EN
Charting the impact of access to science journals
Barbara Aronson argues that HINARI — a programme to give developing countries access to science journals — is reducing the intellectual isolation of researchers in the world's poorest nations.
Source: New England Journal of Medicine
5 March 2004 | EN
In support of the traditional publishing model
Brian Crawford argues that there is little reason to overturn the current 'reader pays' publishing system – a system that has been refined over decades and works to the mutual benefit of various stakeholders.
Source: The Lancet
7 November 2003 | EN
Impact factors in Brazil: part of a research treadmill
Three Brazilian researchers argue that competition for scarce resources is creating unreasonable pressure to publish often and in foreign journals.
Source: Nature
14 August 2003 | EN
How 'impact factors' promote scientific excellence
Adam Łomnicki argues that, even though their use may be unjust, 'impact factors' can play an important role in boosting scientific productivity, particularly in the developing world.
Source: Nature
31 July 2003 | EN
Creating equal access to scientific information
Salim S Abdool Karim argues that bridging the information divide between rich and poor nations will require a fundamental rethink of the global knowledge economy.
28 March 2003 | EN
