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Awards can propel academic careers. They also reflect the culture and values of the scientific community. But do awards incentivize greater transparency, inclusivity, and openness in science? Our cross-disciplinary survey of 222 awards for the "best" journal articles across all 27 SCImago subject areas revealed that journals and learned societies administering such awards generally publish little detail on their procedures and criteria. Award descriptions were brief, rarely including contact details or information on the nominations pool. Nominations of underrepresented groups were not explicitly encouraged, and concepts that align with Open Science were almost absent from the assessment criteria. At the same time, 10% of awards, especially the recently established ones, tended to use article-level impact metrics. USA-affiliated researchers dominated the winner's pool (48%), while researchers from the Global South were uncommon (11%). Sixty-one percent of individual winners were men. Overall, Best Paper awards miss the global calls for greater transparency and equitable access to academic recognition. We provide concrete and implementable recommendations for scientific awards to improve the scientific recognition system and incentives for better scientific practice. Research awards are an integral part of the universal "prestige economy" in science, but do they incentivize greater transparency, inclusivity, and openness? This study uses cross-disciplinary data to explore the level of transparency of publicly available award descriptions and assessment criteria, asking whether such awards contribute to or propagate existing reproducibility crises and inequities in science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article announces the winners of the Best Paper Award sponsored by Tsinghua University Press for papers published in Computational Visual Media. The winning paper is titled "Visual attention network," and two other papers received honorable mentions: "Full-duplex strategy for video object segmentation" and "Specificity-preserving RGB-D saliency detection." The authors of the winning paper will share a cash prize of US$1000, while the authors of the honorable mention papers will share US$500. The article encourages the submission of excellent papers for next year's Best Paper Award. [Extracted from the article]

The Journal of Materials Science awards the annual Robert W. Cahn Prize to recognize the best paper published in the journal each year. The winner of the 2023 Cahn Prize is a research paper titled "Molecular modelling of graphene nanoribbons on the effect of porosity and oxidation on the mechanical and thermal properties." The paper presents molecular simulation models of graphene nanoribbons and examines the impact of porosity and oxidation on their mechanical and thermal conductivity properties. The paper is well-written and provides valuable insights for researchers in this field. Two other papers were selected as runners-up for the prize. All the monthly finalists for the Cahn Prize can be downloaded for free on the journal's website. [Extracted from the article]

We are pleased to announce that the 16th Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics Best Paper Award (JRM Best Paper Award 2023) has been decided by the JRM editorial committee. The following paper won the JRM Best Paper Award 2023, severely selected from among all 113 papers published in Vol.34 (2022). The Best Paper Award ceremony was held on December 26, 2023 in hybrid style (both on-site and online; venue: Gakushi-Kaikan, Tokyo, Japan), attended by the authors and JRM editorial committee members who took part in the selection process. The award winners were given certificates and a JPY100,000 honorarium. Editorial committee members who participated online also congratulated them through Zoom. We congratulate the winners and sincerely wish them success in the future. Teppei Tsujita, Yuto Inoue, Yutaka Takagi, Atsushi Konno, Satoko Abiko, Xin Jiang, Atsuhiro Nakagawa, and Masaru Uchiyama Development of Haptic Interface for Neurosurgical Simulators with Micro Scissors Module for Displaying the Cutting Force Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.34, No.6, pp. 1284-1296, December 2022 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Journal of Construction Engineering & Management has announced the recipients of the 2023 Best Paper Award. The winning paper, titled "Deep Learning Image Captioning in Construction Management: A Feasibility Study," explores the automation of deep learning for image captioning in the construction management field. The authors present a systematic approach that includes developing a linguistic schema, creating a dataset of manually captioned images, and evaluating six deep-learning methods using eight metrics. The paper concludes that a method combining two advanced deep learning processes performed the best, and that automatic captioning in construction management is feasible. The article provides valuable insights and suggestions for future development in this area. [Extracted from the article]

The article announces the recipients of the Best Paper Awards for 2022 in the journal Circuits, Systems & Signal Processing. The awards were established in 2013 and nominations were invited from Associate Editors and readers of the journal. A Selection Committee was formed to choose the best papers in different categories. The recipients of the Armen H. Zemanian Best Paper Award for Circuits and Systems are Sudip Ghosh, Yuvam Bateja, Joshua Roy Palathinkal, and Hafizur Rahaman. The recipients of the Sydney R. Parker Best Paper Award for Signal Processing are N. Ramesh Babu, K. Sanjay, and P. Balasubraminam. The paper by Babu et al. was also chosen for the M.N.S. Swamy Best Paper Award. Each awardee will receive a certificate and cash prize. The Editor-in-Chief congratulates the winners and thanks the nominators and Selection Committee for their contributions. [Extracted from the article]

The article announces the winner of the 2023 Clemen-Kleinmuntz Decision Analysis Best Paper Award, which comes with a $2,000 prize. The winning paper, titled "Information Density in Decision Analysis," introduces the concept of "information density" as a new approach to sensitivity analysis in decision analysis. The paper provides a technical grounding of information density and offers examples for real-world implementation. Another paper, titled "An Empirical Comparison of Rank-Based Surrogate Weights in Additive Multiattribute Decision Analysis," was identified as a finalist for the award and provides valuable insights into converting ordinal rankings into attribute weights. The article encourages authors to continue submitting high-quality manuscripts for future consideration. [Extracted from the article]

This document is an interview with the winner of the Coatings 2023 Early Career Investigator Award. The winner discusses their current research study, which focuses on the development of optimal mix designs for sustainable construction materials. They explain that they are using flash calcined metakaolin and by-products from the ceramic industry to increase the sustainability of the materials. The winner also discusses the qualities that young scientists need, such as passion, curiosity, and problem-solving skills. They mention their previous work with Coatings and the impact of the open-access model on readers. Finally, they provide insights on the process of writing a high-quality research paper and describe the key to a happy laboratory life, emphasizing collaboration and respect. [Extracted from the article]

The profession of recreational therapy first established professional membership organizations in the 1940s and 1950s. The most recent national professional membership organization was developed in 1984, when the American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) was formed. The National Academy of Recreational Therapists (NART) was established in 2011 as an honor society to recognize the most accomplished practitioners and educators in recreational therapy and to provide a clearinghouse for the exchange of ideas that would ultimately lead to the advancement of the recreational therapy profession. Efforts to establish NART began in 2009 when David Austin and Ray West drafted a conceptualization of the academy and its operations, as well as proposed a set of by-laws. A steering committee was subsequently established to review and approve by-laws for NART and to establish the Founding Fellows of NART. The central purpose of the Academy was the advancement of recreational therapy by recognition, education, research, scholarly activity, advocacy, and the provision of advice to decision makers. Since its inception NART has established and funded a Future Scholars Fund to support outstanding graduate students considering pursuing a terminal degree, as well as the Marcia Carter Scholarly Manuscript Award for the best annual publication in the Therapeutic Recreation Journal. Over its first 10 years, NART made revisions to its bylaws to refine criteria and categories for Fellows, and by 2021 there were 77 elected Fellows. The invited paper summarizes the first 10 years and considers a number of original goals that remain to be realized to support and advance this honor society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Karen Sames was born and raised in Milwaukee, WI. From an early age, she was surrounded by art. An experience with occupational therapy during the third grade jumpstarted her journey connecting art to occupation. Karen believes that art is a necessary part of life and credits much of her own personal success with art to her friends and family for their inspiration and to the instructors at the Eagan Art House in Minnesota. Her piece "Cherry Blossoms," a pastel on paper, is based on a photograph taken by her son, who is currently living in Japan, and graces the cover of the Spring 2024 edition of The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy (OJOT). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indian Academy of Tropical Parasitology (IATP) is calling for nominations and applications for their awards and fellowships in 2024. These awards recognize the contributions of parasitologists in the field of parasitology. The awards include the Springer-Parija South East Asia Award, the Dr. S. C. Parija Oration Award, and the Fellow of the IATP. Additionally, there is an award for the best oral paper presentation and the best publication in Tropical Parasitology. The application deadline is March 31, 2024, and more information can be found on the IATP website. [Extracted from the article]

We are pleased to announce that the MURAKAMI Suminao Award for Disaster Research and the JDR annual awards (the JDR Award for the Most Cited Paper, the JDR Award for the Most Downloaded Article, and the JDR Award for the Most Contributory Reviewer) of 2023 have been decided by the JDR editorial boards. The award ceremony was held on December 6, 2023 at Gakushikaikan, Tokyo, Japan. We congratulate the winners and sincerely wish for future success. MURAKAMI Suminao Award for Disaster Research 2023 Prof. Fumihiko Imamura (Tohoku University) JDR Award for the Most Cited Paper 2023 Ryohei Kato, Ken-ichi Shimose, and Shingo Shimizu Predictability of Precipitation Caused by Linear Precipitation Systems During the July 2017 Northern Kyushu Heavy Rainfall Event Using a Cloud-Resolving Numerical Weather Prediction Model JDR Vol.13 No.5 pp. 846-859, 2018 JDR Award for the Most Downloaded Article 2023 Chun-Hao Shao, Pei-Chun Shao, and Fang-Ming Kuo Stampede Events and Strategies for Crowd Management JDR Vol.14 No.7 pp. 949-958, 2019 JDR Award for the Most Contributory Reviewer 2023 Prof. Reo Kimura (University of Hyogo) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Quality awards are widely considered symbols of successful quality management. The purpose of this paper is to empirically test the effects of the China Quality Award (CQA) on firms' performance. The study further explores how the benefits due to CQA are affected by contextual factors. Design/methodology/approach: Using the data of CQA winners from 2001 to 2016, the event study method is applied to analyze the abnormal performance of winners. Furthermore, multiple regression models are proposed to evaluate the effects of contextual factors on the relationship between the award and profitability. Findings: The findings show that CQA has positive impacts on profitability and fixed asset efficiency but not on labor productivity. Besides, state-owned firms and firms with high innovation intensity obtain more profitability benefits than others. Originality/value: This is the first study to explain the relationship between quality awards and firm performance from a theoretical perspective, providing new insights into the quality management and performance literature. Furthermore, this study deepens the understanding of the relationship between quality awards and performance and reveals new implications. Some of the contextual factors examined, such as innovation intensity, are considered for the first time in quality award research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a correction to: Mallory L Wiper, The 2024 ISCB Innovator Award—Dr Su-In Lee, Bioinformatics, Volume 40, Issue Supplement_1, July 2024, Pages i5–i6, https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btae287In the originally published version of this paper Dr Su-In Lee's name was given incorrectly in the title. This error has been corrected. [Extracted from the article]

The American Society for Horticultural Science Education Publication Excellence award was established in 1997 to recognize the most outstanding publication in ASHS journals related to education and teaching. This article reviews the award history, authors, and topics of the awarded papers. The award was recognized annually from 1998 to 2023 except for 3 years when no award was given. The majority of awarded papers were published in HortTechnology. Awards were presented to 70 authors from 23 institutions in 20 states and two other countries. Of the awarded papers, three had single authors, and 20 had multiple authors. Several awarded authors have been recognized in other ASHS publication awards or professional career awards. The majority of awarded papers focused on undergraduate students, teaching methods, and floriculture or ornamental topics.

The journal "Circuits, Systems & Signal Processing" has announced a call for nominations for three Best Paper Awards. The awards include the Armen H. Zemanian Best Paper Award for the best paper in the area of Circuits and Systems, the Sydney R. Parker Best Paper Award for the best paper in the area of Signal Processing, and the M.N.S. Swamy Best Paper Award for the best paper in the previous two years regardless of the area. Nominations should be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief, M.N.S. Swamy, by July 31, 2024, and should include the title of the paper, names of the authors, page numbers, the issue in which it was published, and a paragraph explaining the reasons for the nomination. [Extracted from the article]

The International Journal on Artificial Intelligence Tools has announced the winners of the Nikolaos Bourbakis Award for 2023. The committee evaluated all regular papers published in the journal in 2023 based on reviewer comments and content. The winning paper is titled "Top-k Learned Clauses for Modern SAT Solvers" by Jerry Lonlac and Engelbert Mephu Nguifo. The authors will receive a prize of $250. Congratulations to both authors! [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the issue of low participation in awards, grants, and fellowships offered by the Association of Plastic Surgeons of India (APSI). The author highlights that there are few applicants for these opportunities, and sometimes there is only one applicant for multiple awards. The author suggests that this lack of participation may be due to a lack of awareness or missed application deadlines. They propose several measures to improve participation, including providing a welcome kit for new members, making early announcements, proactive promotion by the executive council, and creating an information page on the APSICON website. The author emphasizes the importance of encouraging eligible members to apply for these opportunities to increase their value and benefit the association. [Extracted from the article]

Tatiana Erukhimova, an Instructional Professor at Texas A&M University, has been awarded the 2024 David Halliday and Robert Resnick Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Physics Teaching. Erukhimova is known for her approach to teaching, which focuses on creating a strong sense of community and personal connection with her students. She uses innovative and research-backed pedagogy, including interactive lectures, problem-solving, peer instruction, and experimental demonstrations. Erukhimova has received numerous awards for her teaching and has also mentored graduate students pursuing instructional faculty positions. Additionally, she has created outreach programs that provide experiential learning opportunities for students beyond the classroom. Chandralekha Singh, a Distinguished Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, has been awarded the 2024 John David Jackson Excellence in Graduate Physics Education Award. Singh is recognized for her research in physics education and her contributions to graduate physics education at the national and international level. She has published high-quality papers and served on various committees within the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). Singh's research focuses on quantum mechanics, cognitive issues in learning physics, and improving equity and inclusion in physics learning environments. She has also conducted workshops and conferences on these topics. [Extracted from the article]

The Maurice Holland Award is an annual award presented to the authors of the best paper published in the previous year's volume of Research-Technology Management. The 2023 award was given to Michael Obal, Todd Morgan, and Wesley Friske for their article titled "Is 'Cutting-Edge' Good? Assessing Product Newness Factors in Technologically Turbulent Environments." The article explores the challenge faced by firms in developing products that are both cutting edge and easily understood by customers. The authors found that while firms are effective at innovating, customers may not be driven to adopt the newest products. The award aims to bridge the gap between research and practice, and the winning article emphasizes the importance of striking the right balance in new product development. [Extracted from the article]

The article examines the efficacy of aromatherapy in managing cancer-related fatigue through a systematic review and meta-analysis. It also discusses the databases searched for relevant studies, the assessment of methodological quality using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool, and the planned meta-analysis using a random effect model.

The article highlights Dr. Pranab Kumar Basu's work in palliative care, emphasizing the need for ongoing support and companionship for bereaved persons. It also discusses the PEARL group's unique program for sharing stories, the role of palliative care in mental well-being, and the importance of healthy grieving.

Food is medicine (FIM) initiatives are an emerging strategy for addressing nutrition-related health disparities increasingly endorsed by providers, payers, and policymakers. However, food insecurity screening protocols and oversight of medically-tailored food assistance programs are novel for many healthcare settings. Here, we describe the pre-implementation planning processes used to successfully engage federally-qualified health centers (FQHCs) across Kansas to develop new FIM initiatives. A Kansas-based philanthropic foundation facilitated pre-implementation planning for FQHCs over 17 months across 3 stages: 1) Community inquiry, 2) FIM learning event with invitation for FQHC attendees to request pre-implementation funding, and 3) Pre-implementation planning workshops and application assignments for FQHC grantees to develop a FIM implementation grant proposal. We evaluated satisfaction and perceived utility of these pre-implementation planning activities via post-workshop surveys and qualitative comparisons of FIM design components from pre-implementation and implementation grant applications. All 7 FQHCs attending the learning event applied for and were awarded pre-implementation planning grants; 6 submitted an implementation grant application following workshop completion. FQHCs rated pre-implementation support activities favorably; however, most clinics cited limited staff as a barrier to effective planning. As compared to pre-implementation planning grant proposals, all FQHCs elected to narrow their priority population to people with pre-diabetes or diabetes with better articulation of evidence-based nutrition prescriptions and intervention models in their final program designs. In the midst of a nationwide FIM groundswell, we recommend that funders, clinic stakeholders, and evaluators work together to devise and financially support appropriate pre-implementation planning activities prior to launching new FIM initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My most heartfelt thanks to ACL for this tremendous honor. I'm completely thrilled. I cannot tell you how surprised I was when I got Iryna's email. It is amazing that my first ACL conference since 2019 in Florence includes this award. What a wonderful way to be back with all of my friends and family here at ACL. I'm going to tell you about my big fat 50-year journey. What have I been doing for the last 50 years? Well, finding meaning, quite literally in words. Or in other words, exploring how computational lexical semantics can support natural language understanding. This is going to be quick. Hold onto your hats, here we go. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychology and Philosophy are intertwined. Psychology deals with belief and feelings, which cannot be separated. Considering psychology, many writers adapted the idea of Sigmund Freud who explained about conscious and unconscious mind. The combination of Id, ego and super ego were accepted and this was blended in literature to describe various characters in their writings. Female and male writers tried to bring out various aspects of mind, emotions and feelings in their works. They tried to analyze the characters in depth and bring out the psychological aspects, which affects them. Various female writers in British Literature such as George Eliot, Agatha Christie, Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte were all brought out in their works the inner struggle and turmoil of their characters especially female characters. Zadie Smith, a contemporary writer, born to a Jamaican mother and an English father, has joined the list. She is a novelist and an essayist. Her debut novel ‘White Teeth’ won James Tait Black Memorial Prize and Betty Trask Award. She writes about the social controversies and her treatment of race and culture is well known. Zadie satirically shows the psychological struggle, suppression and oppression of the characters and multicultural aspects. She even depicts the inner turmoil of each character in her work. In all her novels, the reader can find many themes especially, cultural discrepancies, which has been rooted in their blood with an attitude, which is blended in their society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peter Jost is known to the international tribology community as the father of the subject—'the man who made the world spin a little easier'. He was the author of the eponymous 'Jost Report', the report of the Working Group set up in 1964 to investigate the state of lubrication education and research in the UK. Over the following five decades, up to his death in 2016, he was tireless in extolling the importance of tribology to manufacturing efficiency, energy conversion and environmental sustainability. He was instrumental in establishing the International Tribology Council and its prestigious gold, silver and bronze medals. Jost was himself the recipient of numerous national and international awards. In 1976, he was the President of the Institution of Production Engineers, and in 2013, he received the Sustained Achievement Award from the Royal Academy of Engineering. What is less well known is the story behind the Jost report—what was it that led the recently elected Labour government and its newly established Ministry of Technology to investigate lubrication and to choose Jost to lead the investigating panel? The story illustrates the combination of serendipity and determination on which success can so often depend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers would be more willing to prioritize research quality over quantity if the incentive structure of the academic system aligned with this goal. The winner of a 2023 Einstein Foundation Award for Promoting Quality in Research explains how they rose to this challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To establish principles informing a new scoring system for the UK’s Clinical Impact Awards and pilot a system based on those principles. Design: A three-round online Delphi process was used to generate consensus from experts on principles a scoring system should follow. We conducted a shadow scoring exercise of 20 anonymised, historic applications using a new scoring system incorporating those principles. Setting: Assessment of clinical excellence awards for senior doctors and dentists in England and Wales. Participants: The Delphi panel comprised 45 members including clinical excellence award assessors and representatives of professional bodies. The shadow scoring exercise was completed by 24 current clinical excellence award assessors. Main outcome measures: The Delphi panel rated the appropriateness of a series of items. In the shadow scoring exercise, a novel scoring system was used with each of five domains rated on a 0–10 scale. Results: Consensus was achieved around principles that could underpin a future scoring system; in particular, a 0–10 scale with the lowest point on the scale reflecting someone operating below the expectations of their job plan was agreed as appropriate. The shadow scoring exercise showed similar levels of reliability between the novel scoring system and that used historically, but with potentially better distinguishing performance at higher levels of performance. Conclusions: Clinical excellence awards represent substantial public spending and thus far the deployment of these funds has lacked a strong evidence base. We have developed a new scoring system in a robust manner which shows improvements over current arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shaunna M. Morrison has been awarded the Mineralogical Society of America Award for 2023 for her groundbreaking contributions to mineralogy. She has pioneered the use of data analytical and visualization methods to understand complex mineral systems over time. Dr. Morrison's work includes significant breakthroughs in Mars mineralogy, where she developed regression curves for mineral unit-cell parameters and solved the problem of using Mars minerals as internal standards to correct for errors in instrumental geometry. She has also made advancements in network analysis and mineral informatics, leading to discoveries in geochemistry, metagenomics, and paleobiology. Dr. Morrison's exceptional leadership skills and ability to inspire and collaborate with diverse experts have contributed to her growing influence in the scientific community. [Extracted from the article]

Sharon Tahirkheli, a retired geoscientist, has been awarded the Distinguished Public Service Medal by the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) for her contributions to the field. Although not a mineralogist, Tahirkheli's career focused on geoscience information and she has worked on projects related to mineralogy. The MSA defined mineralogy broadly for the award, including service to national and international geoscience societies. Tahirkheli expressed her gratitude for the recognition and reflected on her career, emphasizing her passion for information dissemination and the impact of community-based projects in the geoscience field. [Extracted from the article]