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The head of scientific work at the World Health Organization reflects on the agency’s challenges and achievements as it navigates the COVID pandemic. The head of scientific work at the World Health Organization reflects on the agency’s challenges and achievements as it navigates the COVID pandemic.

Team science suffers when junior researchers see their career-defining contributions to a paper downplayed. Here’s how to tackle disputes. Team science suffers when junior researchers see their career-defining contributions to a paper downplayed. Here’s how to tackle disputes.

Palaeontologists have been urged to share 3D scans of fossils online, but a Nature analysis finds that few researchers do so. Palaeontologists have been urged to share 3D scans of fossils online, but a Nature analysis finds that few researchers do so.

New oversight criteria aim to reassure the public and permit progress in contentious research, such as growing human embryos in the lab. New oversight criteria aim to reassure the public and permit progress in contentious research, such as growing human embryos in the lab.

It has been the historic responsibility of the social sciences to investigate human societies. Fulfilling this responsibility requires social theories, measurement models and social data. Most existing theories and measurement models in the social sciences were not developed with the deep societal reach of algorithms in mind. The emergence of 'algorithmically infused societies'-societies whose very fabric is co-shaped by algorithmic and human behaviour-raises three key challenges: the insufficient quality of measurements, the complex consequences of (mis)measurements, and the limits of existing social theories. Here we argue that tackling these challenges requires new social theories that account for the impact of algorithmic systems on social realities. To develop such theories, we need new methodologies for integrating data and measurements into theory construction. Given the scale at which measurements can be applied, we believe measurement models should be trustworthy, auditable and just. To achieve this, the development of measurements should be transparent and participatory, and include mechanisms to ensure measurement quality and identify possible harms. We argue that computational social scientists should rethink what aspects of algorithmically infused societies should be measured, how they should be measured, and the consequences of doing so.

University policies often present barriers to bringing assistance dogs into the lab or on campus. University policies often present barriers to bringing assistance dogs into the lab or on campus.

Protect privacy, equality and fairness in digital contact tracing with these key questions. Protect privacy, equality and fairness in digital contact tracing with these key questions.

Tear gas and pepper spray put lives at risk. Examine their effects and regulate their deployment, urges Dan Kaszeta. Tear gas and pepper spray put lives at risk. Examine their effects and regulate their deployment, urges Dan Kaszeta.

Artificial intelligence and brain–computer interfaces must respect and preserve people's privacy, identity, agency and equality, say Rafael Yuste, Sara Goering and colleagues.

Letter to the editors of "Nature" journal: We share the spirit of Plan S to achieve full open access to scholarly publications (see go.nature.com/2hszsaf), but we disagree with its implementation guidelines. The plan’s design ignores more than 20 years of widespread experience in open-access publishing in many developing nations, as well as Latin America’s widespread ethos of free-to-publish and free-to-read research. To rectify this, the Plan S guidelines need to tackle the long-standing issues of conventional scholarly publishing, including the high concentration of articles in commercial publications. Funders should promote open-access practices that are more globally inclusive, while improving the quality of editorial processes and keeping their control within the scientific community. Plan S has yet to demonstrate that it will also support the advancement of non-commercial open-access initiatives. We call for discussions to commit leading institutions and funders to global publishing that is more community-based and not commercial. Latin America should postpone any adhesion to Plan S until it can be sure that it will not be detrimental to less-privileged researchers, countries and institutions. (See also H. Debat and D. Babini PeerJ Preprints 7, e27834v2; 2019.) Nature 573, 495 (2019) doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02857-1

The goal is to create the continent’s first cross-disciplinary guidelines for collecting, storing and sharing data and specimens. The goal is to create the continent’s first cross-disciplinary guidelines for collecting, storing and sharing data and specimens.

The scientific community must take measures to keep preprints from distorting the public’s understanding of science, says Tom Sheldon. The scientific community must take measures to keep preprints from distorting the public’s understanding of science, says Tom Sheldon.

Cell line misidentification, contamination and poor annotation affect scientific reproducibility. Here we outline simple measures to detect or avoid cross-contamination, present a framework for cell line annotation linked to short tandem repeat and single nucleotide polymorphism profiles, and provide a catalogue of synonymous cell lines. This resource will enable our community to eradicate the use of misidentified lines and generate credible cell-based data.

China has lessons for the world when it comes to overseeing ethically sensitive research in the life sciences, argue Douglas Sipp and Duanqing Pei.

Predatory journals have shoddy reporting and include papers from wealthy nations, find David Moher, Larissa Shamseer, Kelly Cobey and colleagues.

The discovery of rare genetic variants is accelerating, and clear guidelines for distinguishing disease-causing sequence variants from the many potentially functional variants present in any human genome are urgently needed. Without rigorous standards we risk an acceleration of false-positive reports of causality, which would impede the translation of genomic research findings into the clinical diagnostic setting and hinder biological understanding of disease. Here we discuss the key challenges of assessing sequence variants in human disease, integrating both gene-level and variant-level support for causality. We propose guidelines for summarizing confidence in variant pathogenicity and highlight several areas that require further resource development.

New guidelines from the International Society for Stem Cell Research offer a model for self-regulation in contentious areas, write Jonathan Kimmelman and colleagues.