Science of Science

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Escalation in Ukraine, a Trilateral Imperialist Threat, Disaster Recovery: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the risk of escalation in Ukraine, the threat of a North-Korea-Russia-China partnership, the economics of disaster recovery, and more.

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Progress or Peril? The Brave New World of Self-Driving Science Labs

Self-driving laboratories (SDLs) promise to reshape our very understanding of research. But, as with all groundbreaking innovations, SDLs bring their own set of intriguing questions and potential challenges.

Joshua Steier, Rushil Bakhshi

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The Future of REF: Driving a Culture to Maximise High-Quality Research and Impact

To understand the impact of the Research Excellence Framework, RAND Europe studied the attitudes of the United Kingdom's research community towards the assessment. Through surveys, interviews, and focus groups, the study team was able to gain valuable insight into researcher views across disciplines, career stages, and types of institutions.

Catriona Manville, Camilla d'Angelo, et al.

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Commercialisation and Open Science Do Not Have to Be Uneasy Bedfellows

On the surface, tension exists between commercialization and open science approaches to research. But the two approaches are not irreconcilable--they can exist in harmony and complement one another to generate greater impact from investments in research and innovation.

Hamish Evans, Sarah Parkinson, et al.

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Culture, Performance, and Assessment in Research

The unwritten, and often unsaid, concern in the debate about research culture in the UK is an apparent trade-off between excellence in research and a healthy research culture. But the evidence shows that this is a false dichotomy.

Susan Guthrie, Jonathan Grant

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Before Redesigning the REF, a New Survey Could Help in Understanding What Is and Isn’t Working

September's call for more sustainable and agile research funding signaled a renewed push by research-intensive universities for a funding and assessment system with a lighter touch. Before embarking on a further round of changes, it is important to listen and learn from researchers and managers about what has and has not worked well.

Catriona Manville, James Wilsdon

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The Future of Research Outputs

The changing nature of research outputs has the potential to affect a wide range of organizations and people. A proactive stance could help drive research towards better practices in information storage, sharing and communication, but requires early action and shared goals at a sector level.

Susan Guthrie, Maja Maricevic, et al.

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Leading with the Proper Use of Scientific Evidence Is Better Than Hiding Behind It

Evidence only has scientific meaning when it is part of a body of disciplinary knowledge produced by a community of scientists. Leading with scientific evidence, coupled with a wider values framework, may result in better outcomes for all.

Tom Ling

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What Is the Future of England's Research and Research Assessment?

Rapid technological developments, changes in public policy, and shifts in the international environment all affect academia. To help understand these effects, RAND researchers asked more than 3,600 academics in England how they expect their research to evolve over the next decade.

Catriona Manville

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Outputs of the Future

Are all types of research outputs of equal value? How do different outputs serve different purposes? Exploring these questions could benefit not only funders and universities, but also result in overall better use of research resources.

Catriona Manville, Steven Hill

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How Citizen Scientists Are Protecting Their Communities

After Superstorm Sandy, residents of Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood cleaned up debris, pumped out basements, and teamed up with researchers to find out what was in the floodwater. They established safety protocols to help local businesses prevent their chemicals from escaping and wrote a guide to help other communities.

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Measuring Up: How to Ensure Peer Review for Grant Applications Remains Up to the Mark

Expert peer review is considered the gold standard for assessing the validity, significance and originality of research. When it comes to grant applications, however, peer review is not without its shortcomings. Addressing some of the challenges that peer review poses could ensure that the best research receives the financial support it deserves.

Daniela Rodriguez-Rincon, Susan Guthrie

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Research Rigor Is Undermined by Translating Into Years of Learning

The research field increasingly recognizes that we need metrics that everyone can understand. Translating the result into years of learning has become a popular approach, but this metric has major flaws. There are better options.

John F. Pane @JohnFPane, Matthew D. Baird

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DMZ Meeting, Students with Disabilities, Iran: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on Trump's meeting with Kim Jong Un, supporting students with disabilities, the flawed logic of a proportional response in Iran, and more.

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ISIS, Homelessness, India's Election: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on what can be done about ISIS detainees, a program that helps reduce homelessness, Modi's reelection in India, and more.

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Assessing Confidence in 'What Works' in Social Policy

Policy decisions are increasingly informed (or expected to be informed) by research evidence. Making the process as systematic, transparent and explicit as possible provides users with ways to understand, question and contribute to the eventual policy recommendation, and gives policymakers and practitioners confidence in its credibility.

Yulia Shenderovich, Alex Sutherland, et al.

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How to Design a Research Funder

Emerging challenges are leading to an increased emphasis on the impact of research beyond academia. At the same time, funders must adapt to changing expectations about what research can and should deliver, financial austerity, and developments in the topics and methods of research.

Catriona Manville, Catherine A. Lichten

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CONSORT-SPI 2018: Announcing an Extension for Randomized Controlled Trials of Social and Psychological Interventions

Complete and transparent reporting of randomized controlled trials is integral for replication, critical appraisal and understanding context. A new extension of the CONSORT Statement aims to improve the reporting of randomized controlled trials of social and psychological interventions.

Paul Montgomery, Evan Mayo-Wilson, et al.

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Open Science and a Culture of Health: You Two Should Talk

By working together, the Culture of Health and Open Science movements could increase their potential to accelerate the use of scientific evidence to address impediments to population health and collective well-being.

Sean Grant @GrantSeanP, Kathryn E. Bouskill @kebouskill

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Exploring Trust, Leadership, and 'Analytic Courage'

Leaders in business, government, academia, and philanthropy gathered at RAND's headquarters in Santa Monica to pay tribute to the seven-decade relationship between RAND and the U.S. Air Force. Panelists discussed the importance of trusted advice to inform national security descisonmaking.

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Tracking Global Trends in Open Peer Review

Open peer review is happening in a variety of forms, but it still accounts for a small percentage of reviews carried out, and it is not clear whether open peer review is increasing in usage. In the future, as the Publons dataset grows, it will be worth exploring the data in more detail.

Sarah Parks, Salil Gunashekar

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Can Open Science Help to Make Research More Accessible?

The leading principle of open science is that anyone, whether they are part of the research community or the public, should be able to access scientific knowledge. Free circulation of knowledge, the sharing of research results, and transparency of methodology are core tenets of the scientific method.

Anna Knack, Elta Smith, et al.

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Professional Expectations, Families and Brexit Shape Future for UK International Researchers

Mobility has become an even higher priority for researchers since the results of the UK’s EU referendum, Brexit. To continue to attract and keep top talent, the UK needs to understand how and why researchers move between countries.

Susan Guthrie, Catherine A. Lichten

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Why We Need to Experiment with Grant Peer Review

More than 95 per cent of academic biomedical research funding is controlled by peer review of grant applications. It is generally cited as the gold standard for awarding funding, but it appears most effective when used conservatively.

Steven Wooding, Susan Guthrie

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Who's Funding Mental Health Research Worldwide?

The size and diversity of mental health research is significant, but it remains a loosely defined field in which funders tend not to spell out what counts as mental health. An outline of the current state of mental health research funding worldwide helps to address the huge challenges of mental illness.

Steven Wooding, Alexandra Pollitt

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Why Research Funders Looking for Impact Need to Be 'DECISIVE'

Funding decisions in the UK direct the flow of billions of pounds of public and philanthropic funding but there is little evidence to suggest how to allocate grants to researchers to increase the chances that the work they support changes lives and improves society. New research helps inform funders' strategies.

Steven Wooding, Adam Kamenetzky

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What's Next for REF?

In 2014, the research of 154 UK universities was evaluated, accounting for the efforts of 52,061 academic staff members. For the first time, the impact that the research had on wider society was part of the assessment. As we approach the next assessment period, there is opportunity for discussion to tweak and refine future measures of impact.

Catriona Manville

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Three Cheers for Research Users Engaging in REF 2014

In the UK, research outputs from universities are assessed every five years to determine future funding allocations from government. In 2014, for the first time, the Research Excellence Framework included an assessment of research impact. Research users played key roles throughout the process.

Catriona Manville