Search

Some publishers say they are battling industrialized cheating. A Nature analysis examines the 'paper mill' problem -- and how editors are trying to cope. Some publishers say they are battling industrialized cheating. A Nature analysis examines the 'paper mill' problem -- and how editors are trying to cope., Author(s): Holly Else, Richard Van Noorden Author Affiliations: Illustration by Ana Kova Cartoon of researchers looking at a stack of papers with Western Blots. A magnifying glass shows the blots [...]

Elisabeth Bik quit her job to spot errors in research papers -- and has become the public face of image sleuthing. Elisabeth Bik quit her job to spot errors in research papers -- and has become the public face of image sleuthing., Author(s): Helen Shen Author Affiliations: Credit: Gabriela Hasbun for Nature [see PDF for image] Elisabeth Bik poses for a portrait taken through glass reflecting a garden showing her sitting at [...]

Make science more reliable by placing the burden of replicability on the community, not on individual laboratories. Make science more reliable by placing the burden of replicability on the community, not on individual laboratories., Author(s): Olavo B. Amaral, Kleber Neves Author Affiliations: Reproducibility: expect less of the scientific paper Credit: David Parkins Illo of a person squashed by pile of papers. In 2018, we [...]

To thwart publishing rackets that undermine scholars and scholarly publishing, legitimate journals should show their workings. To thwart publishing rackets that undermine scholars and scholarly publishing, legitimate journals should show their workings., Author(s): Kyle Siler, Vincent Larivière, Philippe Vincent-Lamarre, Cassidy R. Sugimoto Author Affiliations: Illustration by David Parkins Cartoon of four researchers attacking a many headed hydra with swords Predatory publishers' latest [...]

Some researchers have their manuscripts screened for errors before they go to journals. Some researchers have their manuscripts screened for errors before they go to journals., Author(s): Alison Abbott Author Affiliations: Illustration by Ana Kova The science institutions hiring integrity inspectors to vet their papers On 15 June 2017, scientists at a respected biological institute in [...]

Productivity coaches, boot camps and online meet-ups teach researchers to avoid distractions and negative thoughts to get their writing projects done. Productivity coaches, boot camps and online meet-ups teach researchers to avoid distractions and negative thoughts to get their writing projects done., Author(s): Roberta Kwok Author Affiliations: You can get that paper, thesis or grant written -- with a little help Credit: Kristin Lee/Getty [see PDF for image] Pencil on open notebook [...]

Highlights from News & Views published this year. Highlights from News & Views published this year., Author Affiliations: Robots, hominins and superconductors: 10 remarkable papers from 2019 Credit: Sylvain Cherkaoui/Reuters [see PDF for image] A porter carries fish from a fishing boat to the beach at [...]

A giant data store quietly being built in India could free vast swathes of science for computer analysis -- but is it legal? A giant data store quietly being built in India could free vast swathes of science for computer analysis --but is it legal?, Author(s): Priyanka Pulla Author Affiliations: Carl Malamud in front of the data store of 73 million articles that he plans to let scientists text mine. [see PDF for image] Credit: [...]

The nonsensical computer-generated articles, spotted years after the problem was first seen, could lead to a wave of retractions. The nonsensical computer-generated articles, spotted years after the problem was first seen, could lead to a wave of retractions., Author(s): Richard Van Noorden Author Affiliations: Hundreds of gibberish papers still lurk in the scientific literature Nonsensical research papers generated by a computer program are still popping up in the [...]

Author(s): Dmitriy A. Dikin [1]; Sasha Stankovich [1]; Eric J. Zimney [1]; Richard D. Piner [1]; Geoffrey H. B. Dommett [1]; Guennadi Evmenenko [2]; SonBinh T. Nguyen [3]; Rodney S. [...]

Personality traits help to explain why some people and not others hoarded a humdrum product in the face of a deadly virus. Personality traits help to explain why some people and not others hoarded a humdrum product in the face of a deadly virus., Author Affiliations: Precious commodities: shoppers in Bangkok stock up on toilet paper and kitchen roll. [see PDF for image] Credit: Jack Taylor/AFP/Getty People wearing face masks manoeuvre a shopping trolley [...]

Analysis reveals that strange turns of phrase may indicate foul play in science. Analysis reveals that strange turns of phrase may indicate foul play in science., Author(s): Holly Else Author Affiliations: 'Tortured phrases' give away fabricated research papers In April 2021, a series of strange phrases in journal articles piqued the interest of a group of [...]

The Oxford-AstraZeneca partnership is the first major developer to publish detailed data from phase III trials. The Oxford-AstraZeneca partnership is the first major developer to publish detailed data from phase III trials., Author(s): Heidi Ledford Author Affiliations: Oxford COVID-vaccine paper highlights lingering unknowns about results The results suggest that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective. Credit: Juan Mabromata/AFP/Getty A scientist working [...]

Four journals also say they are scrutinizing papers coauthored by Cao Xuetao after scientists raise questions about images on Twitter and PubPeer. Four journals also say they are scrutinizing papers coauthored by Cao Xuetao after scientists raise questions about images on Twitter and PubPeer., Author(s): Andrew Silver Author Affiliations: Chinese ministry investigates duplications in papers by university president Articles written by university president Cao Xuetao are being investigated over suggestions that dozens of papers [...]

Hundreds of junk-science papers have been retracted from reputable journals after fraudsters used 'special issues' to manipulate the publication process. And the problem is growing. Hundreds of junk-science papers have been retracted from reputable journals after fraudsters used 'special issues' to manipulate the publication process. And the problem is growing., Author(s): Holly Else Author Affiliations: Scammers impersonate guest editors to get sham papers published Scammers have impersonated researchers to gain access to reputable journals and publish special issues filled with [...]

Allegations of fabricated data have prompted a university investigation and some soul-searching. Allegations of fabricated data have prompted a university investigation and some soul-searching., Author(s): Giuliana Viglione Author Affiliations: 'Avalanche' of spider-paper retractions shakes behavioural-ecology community Studies of social spiders such as Stegodyphus dumicola (pictured) have come under close scrutiny. Credit: Bernard Dupont (CC [...]

The latest science news, in brief. The latest science news, in brief., Author Affiliations: Devastating fires, Iran nuclear tensions and pirate papers A house is destroyed by wildfire in New South Wales, Australia. Credit: Matthew Abbott/NYT/Redux/eyevine A kangaroo rushes past a burning [...]

The latest science news, in brief. The latest science news, in brief., Author Affiliations: Thousand-author papers, lab outbreaks and a prisoner exchange White Island, a marine volcano off New Zealand, erupted while tourists were exploring its crater. Credit: Michael Schade/Xinhua News Agency/eyevine [...]

Letter to the Editor, Author(s): Angela I. N. Obasi, Seye Abimbola, Ndekya Oriyo, Ben Morton, André Vercueil, Refiloe Masekela Author Affiliations: Credit local authors fairly on international research papers As co-signatories on a consensus [...]

The discovery of high-temperature superconductors, the determination of DNA's double-helix structure, the first observations that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating--all of these breakthroughs won Nobel prizes and international [...]

Three examples show how public participation in research can be extended at every step of the process to generate useful knowledge.Three examples show how public participation in research can be extended at every step of the process to generate useful knowledge., Author(s): Gary Hickey, Tessa Richards, Jeff SheehyAuthor Affiliations:Co-production from proposal to paper Children with artificial limbs and their carers talk to researchers and industry representatives about improving prosthetics. [see PDF [...]

Author(s): Yiqin Alicia Shen; Yuichi Shoda; Ione Fine Our analysis of primary research papers in 15 prestigious multidisciplinary and neuroscience journals in the MEDLINE database indicates that the proportion of [...]

The Toolbox 'Need a paper? Get a plug-in' () stated that Éric Archambault is an independent bibliometrician. He is actually chief executive of Science-Metrix in Montreal, Canada. DOI: [...]

The systems of science must reward honesty about mistakes to speed progress. The systems of science must reward honesty about mistakes to speed progress., Author(s): Nicholas P. Holmes Author Affiliations: I critiqued my past papers on social media -- here's what I learnt Every year in June, I discover that the most self-critical scientists [...]

Author(s): Virginia Gewin Manuscripts may have a rigidly defined structure, but there's still room to tell a compelling story -- one that clearly communicates the science and is a pleasure [...]

To mark St Valentine's Day, Nature this week published a and sealed by science. One describes a science writer who was asked to investigate unusual crystals in a particle collider, [...]

Author(s): Stephen K. Donovan Eric Blackman bemoans the misuse of 'obviously' and 'clearly' in scientific publications (). He might also have mentioned another hackneyed adverb that conveys so little to [...]

Author(s): Ashish Arora; Sharon Belenzon; Andrea Patacconi The is witnessing a growing division of labour between universities and corporations. As industry conducts less research and more development, academia is picking [...]

Few people have heard of Michele Tobias's research field--and even fewer study it. Tobias is an environmental scientist at California State Parks in Sacramento, but in her spare time she [...]

Just how error-prone and self-correcting is science? We have spent the past 18 months getting a sense of that. We are a group of researchers working on obesity, nutrition and [...]

A deep dive into the physical-science literature links the most original research with the most recently formed teams of co-authors. A deep dive into the physical-science literature links the most original research with the most recently formed teams of co-authors., Author Affiliations: Fresh scientific collaborations lead to exciting results. Credit: Getty Scientists in a laboratory having a discussion. Want fresh results? Analysis of thousands of papers suggests trying new teammates [...]

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and climate are regulated on geological timescales by the balance between carbon input from volcanic and metamorphic outgassing and its removal by weathering feedbacks; these feedbacks involve the erosion of silicate rocks and organic-carbon-bearing rocks. The integrated effect of these processes is reflected in the calcium carbonate compensation depth, which is the oceanic depth at which calcium carbonate is dissolved. Here we present a carbonate accumulation record that covers the past 53 million years from a depth transect in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The carbonate compensation depth tracks long-term ocean cooling, deepening from 3.0-3.5 kilometres during the early Cenozoic (approximately 55 million years ago) to 4.6 kilometres at present, consistent with an overall Cenozoic increase in weathering. We find large superimposed fluctuations in carbonate compensation depth during the middle and late Eocene. Using Earth system models, we identify changes in weathering and the mode of organic-carbon delivery as two key processes to explain these large-scale Eocene fluctuations of the carbonate compensation depth., A list of authors and their affiliations appears at the end of the paper. The Pacific, as the world's largest ocean, is intricately involved in the prominent changes in the [...]

Author(s): Quirin Schiermeier Ross Mounce knows that when he shares his research papers online, he may be doing something illegal - if he uploads the final version of a paper [...]

All cancers are caused by somatic mutations; however, understanding of the biological processes generating these mutations is limited. The catalogue of somatic mutations from a cancer genome bears the signatures of the mutational processes that have been operative. Here we analysed 4,938,362 mutations from 7,042 cancers and extracted more than 20 distinct mutational signatures. Some are present in many cancer types, notably a signature attributed to the APOBEC family of cytidine deaminases, whereas others are confined to a single cancer class. Certain signatures are associated with age of the patient at cancer diagnosis, known mutagenic exposures or defects in DNA maintenance, but many are of cryptic origin. In addition to these genome-wide mutational signatures, hypermutation localized to small genomic regions, 'kataegis', is found in many cancer types. The results reveal the diversity of mutational processes underlying the development of cancer, with potential implications for understanding of cancer aetiology, prevention and therapy., Somatic mutations found in cancer genomes (1) may be the consequence of the intrinsic slight infidelity of the DNA replication machinery, exogenous or endogenous mutagen exposures, enzymatic modification of DNA, [...]

Conifers have dominated forests for more than 200 million years and are of huge ecological and economic importance. Here we present the draft assembly of the 20-gigabase genome of Norway spruce (Picea abies), the first available for any gymnosperm. The number of well-supported genes (28,354) is similar to the >100 times smaller genome of Arabidopsis thaliana, and there is no evidence of a recent whole-genome duplication in the gymnosperm lineage. Instead, the large genome size seems to result from the slow and steady accumulation of a diverse set of long-terminal repeat transposable elements, possibly owing to the lack of an efficient elimination mechanism. Comparative sequencing of Pinus sylvestris, Abies sibirica, Juniperus communis, Taxus baccata and Gnetum gnemon reveals that the transposable element diversity is shared among extant conifers. Expression of 24-nucleotide small RNAs, previously implicated in transposable element silencing, is tissue-specific and much lower than in other plants. We further identify numerous long (>10,000 base pairs) introns, gene-like fragments, uncharacterized long non-coding RNAs and short RNAs. This opens up new genomic avenues for conifer forestry and breeding., Gymnosperms are a group of land plants comprising the extant taxa, cycads, Ginkgo, gnetophytes and conifers. Gymnosperms first appeared more than 300 million years ago (Myr ago) (1), well before [...]

Henry Oldenburg created the first scientific journal in 1665 with a simple goal: apply an emerging communication technology--the printing press--to improve the dissemination of scholarly knowledge. The journal was a [...]

The Pulitzer prizewinner shares his advice for pleasing readers, editors and yourself. The Pulitzer prizewinner shares his advice for pleasing readers, editors and yourself., Author(s): Van Savage, Pamela Yeh Author Affiliations: Novelist Cormac McCarthy's tips on how to write a great science paper Actor Josh Brolin as Llewelyn Moss in the 2007 film adaptation [...]

Corporate research in the life sciences endures, despite diminishing in other fields of science. Corporate research in the life sciences endures, despite diminishing in other fields of science., Author(s): Ashish Arora, Sharon Belenzon, Wesley Cohen, Andrea Patacconi Author Affiliations: Companies persist with biomedical papers Many advanced countries struggle to increase their productivity. Between 1970 and 2014, real GDP [...]

Anaemia is a chief determinant of global ill health, contributing to cognitive impairment, growth retardation and impaired physical capacity. To understand further the genetic factors influencing red blood cells, we carried out a genome-wide association study of haemoglobin concentration and related parameters in up to 135,367 individuals. Here we identify 75 independent genetic loci associated with one or more red blood cell phenotypes at P < [10.sup.-8], which together explain 4-9% of the phenotypic variance per trait. Using expression quantitative trait loci and bioinformatic strategies, we identify 121 candidate genes enriched in functions relevant to red blood cell biology. The candidate genes are expressed preferentially in red blood cell precursors, and 43 have haematopoietic phenotypes in Mus musculus or Drosophila melanogaster. Through open-chromatin and coding-variant analyses we identify potential causal genetic variants at 41 loci. Our findings provide extensive new insights into genetic mechanisms and biological pathways controlling red blood cell formation and function., Haemoglobin, an iron-containing metalloprotein found in the red blood cells of all vertebrates, provides the primary mechanism for oxygen transport in the circulation. Haemoglobin levels and related red blood cell [...]

Emma Rosi-Marshall's trouble started on 9 October 2007, the day her paper was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Rosi-Marshall, a stream ecologist at Loyola University [...]

Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal malignancy with few effective therapies. We performed exome sequencing and copy number analysis to define genomic aberrations in a prospectively accrued clinical cohort (n = 142) of early (stage I and II) sporadic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Detailed analysis of 99 informative tumours identified substantial heterogeneity with 2,016 non-silent mutations and 1,628 copy-number variations. We define 16 significantly mutated genes, reaffirming known mutations (KRAS, TP53, CDKN2A, SMAD4, MLL3, TGFBR2, ARID1A and SF3B1), and uncover novel mutated genes including additional genes involved in chromatin modification (EPC1 and ARID2), DNA damage repair (ATM) and other mechanisms (ZIM2, MAP2K4, NALCN, SLC16A4 and MAGEA6). Integrative analysis with in vitro functional data and animal models provided supportive evidence for potential roles for these genetic aberrations in carcinogenesis. Pathway-based analysis of recurrently mutated genes recapitulated clustering in core signalling pathways in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, and identified new mutated genes in each pathway. We also identified frequent and diverse somatic aberrations in genes described traditionally as embryonic regulators of axon guidance, particularly SLIT/ROBO signalling, which was also evident in murine Sleeping Beauty transposon-mediated somatic mutagenesis models of pancreatic cancer, providing further supportive evidence for the potential involvement of axon guidance genes in pancreatic carcinogenesis., Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death, with an overall 5-year survival rate of Clinical cohort A cohort of 142 consecutive patients with primary operable, untreated PDAC [...]

Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, the two common forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), affect over 2.5 million people of European ancestry, with rising prevalence in other populations (1). Genome-wide [...]

The rapid disruption of tropical forests probably imperils global biodiversity more than any other contemporary phenomenon (1-3). With deforestation advancing quickly, protected areas are increasingly becoming final refuges for threatened species and natural ecosystem processes. However, many protected areas in the tropics are themselves vulnerable to human encroachment and other environmental stresses (4-9). As pressures mount, it is vital to know whether existing reserves can sustain their biodiversity. A critical constraint in addressing this question has been that data describing a broad array of biodiversity groups have been unavailable for a sufficiently large and representative sample of reserves. Here we present a uniquely comprehensive data set on changes over the past 20 to 30 years in 31 functional groups of species and 21 potential drivers of environmental change, for 60 protected areas stratified across the world's major tropical regions. Our analysis reveals great variation in reserve 'health': about half of all reserves have been effective or performed passably, but the rest are experiencing an erosion of biodiversity that is often alarmingly widespread taxonomically and functionally. Habitat disruption, hunting and forest-product exploitation were the strongest predictors of declining reserve health. Crucially, environmental changes immediately outside reserves seemed nearly as important as those inside in determining their ecological fate, with changes inside reserves strongly-mirroring those occurring around them. These findings suggest that tropical protected areas are often intimately linked ecologically to their surrounding habitats, and that a failure to stem broad-scale loss and degradation of such habitats could sharply increase the likelihood of serious biodiversity declines., Tropical forests are the biologically richest ecosystems on Earth (1-3). Growing concerns about the impacts of anthropogenic pressures on tropical biodiversity and natural ecosystem services have led to increases in [...]

An algorithm developed to spot abnormal patterns of citations aims to find scientists who have manipulated reference lists. An algorithm developed to spot abnormal patterns of citations aims to find scientists who have manipulated reference lists., Author(s): Richard Van Noorden Author Affiliations: Signs of 'citation hacking' flagged in scientific papers Scientists who get too many references to their own work inserted in others' papers -- whether [...]

Author(s): Sara Reardon A storm of criticism has rained down on a paper by genome-sequencing pioneer Craig Venter that claims to predict people's physical traits from their DNA. Reviewers and [...]

Obesity has become a major worldwide challenge to public health, owing to an interaction between the Western 'obesogenic' environment and a strong genetic contribution (1). Recent extensive genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified numerous single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with obesity, but these loci together account for only a small fraction of the known heritable component (1). Thus, the 'common disease, common variant' hypothesis is increasingly coming under challenge (2). Here we report a highly penetrant form of obesity, initially observed in 31 subjects who were heterozygous for deletions of at least 593 kilobases at 16p11.2 and whose ascertainment included cognitive deficits. Nineteen similar deletions were identified from GWAS data in 16,053 individuals from eight European cohorts. These deletions were absent from healthy non-obese controls and accounted for 0.7% of our morbid obesity cases (body mass index (BMI) ≥ 40kg [m.sup.-2] or BMI standard deviation score ≥ 4; P = 6.4 X [10.sup.-8], odds ratio 43.0), demonstrating the potential importance in common disease of rare variants with strong effects. This highlights a promising strategy for identifying missing heritability in obesity and other complex traits: cohorts with extreme phenotypes are likely to be enriched for rare variants, thereby improving power for their discovery. Subsequent analysis of the loci so identified may well reveal additional rare variants that further contribute to the missing heritability, as recently reported for SIM1 (ref. 3). The most productive approach may therefore be to combine the 'power of the extreme' (4) in small, well-phenotyped cohorts, with targeted follow-up in case-control and population cohorts., The extent to which copy-number variants (CNVs) might contribute to the missing heritability of common disorders is currently under debate (2). Because most common simple CNVs are well tagged by [...]

It seems like such a natural fit. Nuclear fission has proved that it can produce greenhouse-gas-free energy: the roughly 440 nuclear plants operating in 31 countries around the world collectively [...]

New policy tackles perverse incentives that drive 'publish or perish' culture and might be encouraging questionable research practices. New policy tackles perverse incentives that drive 'publish or perish' culture and might be encouraging questionable research practices., Author(s): Smriti Mallapaty Author Affiliations: China bans cash rewards for publishing papers Chinese institutions have been told to stop paying researchers bonuses for publishing in journals, as part of a [...]

Author(s): Ciara Breathnach, Tiziana Margaria Author Affiliations: Census: on paper, by governments, is still best We agree that hard-copy censuses are crucial to public-health surveys in developing economies (see https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03116-z [...]

If science's current predicament has taught us one thing, it is that we should beware of perverse incentives (see ). So let us imagine the cascade of woe that could [...]