Learning from our mistakes
Critics have long held that only positive results (where the outcome fits the hypothesis) are published in journals. However, science has always progressed by learning from its mistakes as well as its successes. Research Trends investigates the impact of negative findings.
   
     
   
Analyzing the multidisciplinary landscape
Many of our most urgent scientific challenges require multidisciplinary approaches; however, research performance is typically measured on a unidisciplinary basis. Research Trends learns about a new study seeking to measure output in alternative-energy research in a novel way.
     
   
What’s leading the curve: research or policy?
Stem cell research often attracts headlines due to the controversial nature of human embryonic stem cell research, and most countries have strict rules governing what can and cannot be done with public funding in this field. Research Trends investigates the relationship between policy changes and publication rates in recent years.
     
   
Busting the open access myth
Open access has been touted as the future of scientific publishing, claiming benefits such as wider readership and, crucially, significantly higher citation rates. However, research carried out by Phil Davis at Cornell University suggests that the manner of publication may have very little to do with citations. He discusses his latest research.
     
   
...a classic paper?
Why do researchers continue to cite classic papers for many decades? Is it to formally acknowledge an intellectual debt or is it the ‘done thing’ in the field? We ask two researchers why they cited a classic paper.
     
 
 

Don’t panic! – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy makes a scholarly impact

With its publication in 1979, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1) (originally a radio series) single-handedly invented the genre of science-fiction comedy. It went on to spawn four more books, stage and film adaptations, and a video game. Selling more than 14 million copies and translated into more than 30 languages, the novel has also had considerable scholarly impact, with almost 100 citations to date in Scopus. A recent book (2) shows how author Douglas Adams successfully predicted (and may even have stimulated research towards) such advances as space tourism, parallel universes, instant-translation devices and sentient computers. But, as Slartibartfast noted to Arthur Dent: “Science has achieved some wonderful things of course, but I’d far rather be happy than right any day.

References
(1) Adams, D. (1979) The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. London: Pan-Macmillian.
(2) Hanlon, M. (2005) The Science of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan.
     
     

Editorial Board
Iris Kisjes | Gert Jan Geraeds | Andrew Plume | David Tempest | Judith Kamalski | Sarah Couffignal-Szymczak | Nina Mehta | Michelle Pirotta, The Write Company

Scholarly Kitchen

Research leadership redefined – measuring performance in a multidisciplinary landscape. Listen to the webinar here

ISSUE 11 MAY 2009

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Country rankings
November 2007

Country rankings
September 2007