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The article discusses contributions by researchers in Central, East and South Europe to science and technology research. Topics include expanding research base, institutional organizations and physical sciences research. Institutions including Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) and Academy of Sciences (RAS) in Russia and National Science Center in Poland are discussed. Academy of Sciences in Hungary is mentioned. Charts presenting details of the research papers are included.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including research papers, scientific literature and researcher surveys.

The article discusses contributions by researchers in Africa to science and technology research. Topics include domestic science spending, international funding and research articles from Africa. African universities including Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, University of the Witwatersrand and University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa are mentioned. Charts presenting details of the research papers are included.

The article discusses contributions by researchers in Australasia and Pacific Islands to science and technology research. Topics include research output and science spending in New Zealand and Australia. Budget cuts in Australia and increase in research budget by New Zealand is mentioned. Institutions including University of Sydney and Monash University in Australia and University of Auckland in New Zealand are mentioned. Charts presenting details of the research papers are included.

The article discusses about the scientific breakthroughs and research in West Asian countries. Topics include the science papers published by Israeli scientists, the budget allocated for research and development, and its weighted fractional count (WFC). The quality of research in Saudi Arabia, its university KAUST, and comments by its vice president Jean Frechet are included. Charts for research efficiency and research strengths of West Asian countries are also given.

The article offers science research and related news briefs as of June 2014. Stem cell researcher at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, Haruko Obokata agreed to retract one of her controversial research paper. The European Union (EU) member states allow cultivation of any genetically modified (GM) crops which are safe for health and the environment. The European Commission has rejected a petition for legislation to ban the funding of research that uses human embryonic stem cells.

The article offers the author's insights on the policy report called "Science as an Open Enterprise" from the Royal Society in London, England concerning access to scientific papers and theories. He mentions that open inquiry to scientific research and publication of scientific papers and theories allow others to identify errors, refine theories and reuse of data. He states that everyone will benefit from a more open information access.

The article reports on a study conducted by Isaac Kohane and his colleagues at Harvard Medical School Center for Biomedical Informatics in Boston, Massachusetts, that shows that shorter geographical distance between authors on a research paper can make a better citation of their project. It shows that when researchers within a building collaborate, the more highly cited were their papers. Moreover, it looks into the connection between building proximity and impact in scientific productivity.

The author reflects on the scientific research papers that are being retracted by periodicals. It states that the periodical "Nature" has published four retracted research papers in 2010. It mentions a survey which shows that the proportion of retracted research papers has increased tenfold since 1990, which was the time when the number of research papers has doubled. Furthermore, it says that "Nature" is well-aware of the damage that could be done to authors as a result of false allegations.

The article reports on the launch of an Internet database, called the SCImago Journal & Country Rank database, allowing users to generate on-the-fly citation statistics of published research papers for free. The open-access database calculates papers' impact factors using an algorithm. It is collaborating with Amsterdam-based science publisher Elsevier. SCImago is a data-mining and visualization group in Spain. The company ranks journals and countries using citation metrics as the popular Hirsch Index. It also includes the SCImago Journal Rank (SJR).

The article presents statistics concerning Spanish authors and researchers contributing to "Nature." 32 percent of researchers working in Spain have contributed to papers in the periodical in 2006. 86 percent of papers in the periodical with contributing authors from Spain are related to biological sciences.

The article cites a U.S. report that states that Asian nations are catching up with Europe and the United States in terms of scientific output. According to the report, in 2004, countries from the Asia Pacific region including China, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore and India produced 25 percent of the world's research papers. By comparison, Europe produced 38 percent of the world's scientific papers, and the United States produced 33 percent. Within Asia, China, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan grew the most. In China, some institutions even pay researchers extra for publications in indexed journals, especially ones that carry widely cited articles.

Focuses on the development of a rejected paper on involuntary unemployment into basic research. Occurrence of involuntary unemployment in a state of equilibrium in a free-market economy; Impact of fairness concerns with the functioning of the labor market; Implementation of the economic environment assumed in the theory paper.

Reports on the warning of experts for the potential future legal actions from a paper published criticizing research on the physics preprint server ArXiv. Critics on astronomer Martin Rees; Accounts of paper of De Rujula as libelous in a court law; Actions taken by the court.

Comments on the issue of politics that goes into publication of research papers in popular journals. Motive behind the urge of scientists to publish in well-known journals; Criteria that ought to followed for selection of papers for publication; Need for change in the funding of scientific research.

Reports on a dispute between two molecular biologists at the University of Gottingen in Germany regarding the order of their names on a research paper. Research topic; Accusation made by Marco Lewdon against Frauke Alves which prevented the paper from being submitted to the periodical 'Biological Chemistry'; Consideration given to the verbal agreement between the two scientists by the court.

Reports the plan of the `Langmuir' chemistry journal to deal with a dispute over a submitted paper by publishing it along with an addendum that disputes some of its conclusions. Discussion on the contents of the addendum; Information on the research paper on nanotechnology submitted by Peter Schwartz.

The article focuses on the issue of how to make it easier for com­puter programs to extract facts and data from online research papers. It also reports on a discussion led by the European Commission (EU) regarding the issue which includes research­ers, librarians on how to encourage the techniques, known as text mining and data mining. It also expands on debate within the scientific and research community on the issue.

The article reports on the declaration made by the White House that government-funded research in the U.S. would be made accessible for the public by 12 months after publication, rather than kept behind paywalls. It notes that federal agencies have been give until August 22, 2013 to produce plans for making the data and papers from the research they fund more accessible to all. Open-access advocacy group Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition called the memorandum a landmark.

The article focuses on souring relations between Russia and Western countries and how Russian President Vladimir Putin's isolationism and anti-Western rhetoric may negatively impact Russian science. It states Russian research institutes and universities have started to instruct scientists to gain permission from the Federal Security Services prior to submitting papers or giving talks at scientific conferences. It mentions concerns of foreign-funded foundations they could be placed on a list of undesirable organizations.

The author criticizes the organization the European Commission for ending consideration of the initiative known as Science 2.0. He argues that a change in the commission's research programmes that were anticipating Science 2.0 could have assisted in the development of younger Europeans to approach knowledge development differently. The article discusses peer-reviewed papers and peer-reviewed single-investigator grants in the digital age, a programme initiated by European Commission research commissioner Carlos Moedas, and the organization the US National Institutes of Health.

The article reports on the science funding in Great Britain. This paper gives observation on the changing landscapes in the funding that the government provides. Research councils may be pressured to deliver results as the government now seeks for results to the long and heavily invested science researches. Scientists had enjoyed tremendous funding in the past decade and the government wants to see results as indicated by the council documents implying economic competitiveness and social impacts.

The article reports that officials of the Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy are dissenting a finding of an investigation that the alleged scientific misbehavior at a national laboratory qualifies for public release. David Williams stresses that the investigators allotted time reviewing the papers received from Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee but failed to charge the management with misconduct despite the presence of errors. Lawyers of Oak Ridge claim that there was no conflict of interest in the case.

The article reports on the launch of a new science journal called "Answers Research Journal" (ARJ) by Answers in Genesis, a Christian ministry run by evangelical Ken Ham in Kentucky. This peer-reviews scientific research journal is a free, online publication devoted to research on new creation and the global flood within a biblical framework. Editor-in-chief Andrew Snelling said that the papers will be peer-reviewed by people who support the positions taken by the journal. Keith Miller, a geologist at Kansas State University in Manhattan, claimed that for the most part, creationism is ignored by the scientific community.

The article presents the summaries of several studies related to scientific research. They include papers about a mutation commonly found in endurance athletes, antibiotics that target different cellular pathways that have been found to have a common mode of killing, and how the membrane that wraps a cell's nucleus regenerates after cell division. The article also features research that deal with population ecology, observations of stars shooting away from the Milky Way's core, and reasons why the brain can detect a visual phenomenon that does not naturally occur.

The article presents abstracts of various research papers, including: the characterization of a toxin secreted by some strains of the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; a report by Stephen Webster of the British National Physical Laboratory on their progress with an optical cavity that stabilizes an atomic clock; and a 10-year study which shows that the rate at which nitrogen is released from decomposing plant matter does not depend on climate or ecosystem type.

The article features about the governments are giving cash prizes to scientists for publishing high-profile papers. Many scientists are not happy as they think that the driving force for research should be curiosity, not money. This system of rewards is now practised in South Korea, China and in Pakistan and many developing countries. But some critics fear this trend is not good,m as it involves plagiarism and ethics are compromised, and some feel insulted for equating excellence with money.

The article presents several issues and developments related to nature conservation. Senators John Cornyn and Joe Lieberman have introduced as bill which would require researchers with public funding to make their papers freely available. Japan have created a major medical research prize wherein such prize will go towards research and clinical work on disease prevalent in Africa. The European Bioinformatics Institute has launched a project called FELICS (Free European Life-science Information and Computational Services).

The article reports on the result of the investigation on the series of RNA studies from the laboratory of biochemist Kazunari Taira conducted by the University of Tokyo in Japan. The investigation claimed that there is a high possibility that fraud was involved in a series of studies and that the paper in question had no reproducibility and no credibility.

Presents trends and developments affecting the scientific community. Details of the lawsuit filed by Meena Chandok of the University of Maryland against her former postdoctoral supervisor and co-author for damaging her scientific reputation by retracting her plant-biology papers; Efforts of the European Space Agency to relaunch its satellite CryoSat which crashed into the Arctic Ocean; Recommendations of the U.S. National Academies for measures to ensure that the U.S. remains a leader in global research.

This article focuses on recent findings. More than 170 million people worldwide are infected with the virus that causes hepatitis C, a major liver disease. Understanding the life cycle of the virus is essential for developing effective treatments. In independent papers, three teams now report successful in vitro systems for propagation, using a unique hepatitis C virus clone derived from a Japanese patient by Takaji Wakita at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Neuroscience. Mussels stick tenaciously to the hulls of boats, and this increases the boats drag. But Phillip Messersmith and colleagues at Northwestern University in Illinois, have developed an antifouling polymer that prevents biological adhesion.

Focuses on the advantages of 'open' peer review technique in Germany. Evaluation of scientific papers; Comments given by various scientists; Avoidance of technical errors.

Reports on developments in scientific research as of February 17, 2000. European Commission's setting up of a benchmarking system to compare the scale and quality of research in the member countries of the European Union; Launching of the PubMed Central which gives access to the full text of life-science papers; Increase in prices of genomic stocks of biotechnology company Curagen.

Examines a discussion paper by European Union (EU) Research Commissioner Edith Cresson, which says the EU's Fifth Framework Program for research (FP5) should focus more on social needs. The paper's approval in July 1996 by the full commission and presented to the EU Council of Ministers; Cresson's view that FP5 should be organized around a limited set of objectives; Trying to meet the social and economic needs of European citizens.

Reports on the South African's publication of a paper on science and technology which acknowledges that a crisis is confronting the research sector. Launch of the paper that is deemed the basis of a new science and technology system; Decline in the spending on research; Other suggestions on research and development cited in the paper.

The author argues that the use of metrics in scientific research should support but not replace expert judgement. He states that peer review is the best form of academic governance despite its drawbacks and should remain the central standard for assessing research papers, proposals, and scholars. The author discusses the scheduled publication of an independent review of the use of research metrics at the behest of the British government.

The article presents Changchun, China's contribution to the Nature Index based on weighted fractional count of scientific articles published in 2013, with Jilin University as the city's largest contributing institution. Jilin's outputs include the design and synthesis of porous materials for water purification applications. Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry's papers include topics on artificial enzymes, catalysis and cell imaging and development of enzymatic fuel cells to produce energy.

The article presents Hefei, China's contribution to the Nature Index based on weighted fractional count of scientific articles published in 2013, with the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) as the city's largest contributing institution. USTC's contributed papers include topics on chemistry such as the development of graphene-like materials and carbon aerogels, and on physics like quantum optics. The Hefei University of Technology focused on engineering topics like nanowires.

A letter to the editor is presented in which the author agrees with Jie Zhang, President of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, who said that change is needed to improve the Chinese research papers quality.

The article discusses Ig Nobel Prizes presented by the scientific humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research (AIR), that recognizes funny and strange research papers that are usually unrecognized.

States that last week's government White Paper on British research policy has the air of finality proper in a policy statement. Assertion that there are several passages which deny the Haldane principle; Other criticisms of the document; Additional information.

The article offers information on the importance of enhancing the measure adopted to reward research program conducted in Australia. It states that publicly funded researchers faces significant pressure to generate academic papers at universities in Australia. Information on possible calculation of citation equivalents for issued patents in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines is also offered.

A letter to the editor is presented related to the requirement of reduction in innocent errors that are more commonplace than fraud in research papers.

In this article, the author suggests recognizing researcher's impact with inclusion of measure of contribution of research paper author in peer reviewer for high scientific standards maintenance in research.

In this article, the author discusses presentation of science as a compelling story for capturing scientific community's attention in context of the retraction of the scientific papers.

A letter to the editor is presented regarding the impact of the increased of scientific papers published in China which are being inflated by a payment scheme offered by some Chinese institutions to boost journal publications.

A letter to the editor is presented which discusses a debate regarding self-archiving of pre-and-post print versions of research papers on the arXiv.org server, an open-access publishing, in high-energy physics.

The article focuses on the open-access venture called "PeerJ," a journal which was launched on June 12, 2012. According to founders Peter Binfield and Jason Hoyt, the journal is aiming to drive down the costs of research publishing. It adds that the authors are asked in the journal for only a one-off fee to secure a lifetime membership that will allow them to publish free and peer-reviewed research papers.

The article discusses aspects of China's scientific research. The author is critical on the performance of China in making high-quality scientific papers due to lack of collaboration among Chinese, unorganized division of work and efforts. Moreover, he relates the incapability of Confucius and Zhuang Zhou's writings to the improvement of Chinese scientific research due to its negative influences in the society.

In this article, the author discusses the need for China to improve the quality of its research publication. According to a 2011 report of the Londons's Royal Society, China produced the second highest quantity of scientific papers but is ranked ninth in the citation aspect. He presents several areas that must be addressed by China to improve its research's quality including the importance of wide data sharing, better data access, and international collaboration improvements.