Science advice for Europe

In the aftermath of the UK's vote for Brexit, this editorial considers the prospects for science advice across Europe, and the role of the European Commission's new Scientific Advice Mechanism. The article is intended to coincide with the start of the 2016 EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF), which is expected to bring 4500 scientists and friends of science to Manchester, UK

Responsible Metrics

In the past decade, there has been an explosion in the range and reach of metrics to benchmark institutional performance, research qualities and impacts, teaching and learning outcomes. Yet some of the most precious qualities and contributions of higher education resist simple quantification. This chapter explores how to develop measurement and management systems that are both effective and supportive of responsibility, diversity and integrity. Building on The Metric Tide review, it also considers recent developments in the UK's approach to metrics for research and teaching, which are the focus of ongoing debate

UK science, post-Brexit

Nine months since the British vote to exit the European Union (“Brexit”), the UK science community's initial dismay has given way to hard-boiled determination to limit the damage it will do to universities and research. On 29 March, Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to give formal notification of the UK's intention to withdraw under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the constitutional basis of the EU. This will set in motion a 2-year period of intense negotiation on the terms of the UK's divorce, and any future agreements with the EU—with research just one line item on a long list of issues to be resolved

The pandemic veneer: COVID-19 research as a mobilisation of collective intelligence by the global research community

The global research community responded with speed and at scale to the emergence of COVID-19, with around 4.6% of all research outputs in 2020 related to the pandemic. That share almost doubled through 2021, to reach 8.6% of research outputs. This reflects a dramatic mobilisation of global collective intelligence in the face of a crisis. It also raises fundamental questions about the funding, organisation and operation of research. In this Perspective article, we present data that suggests that COVID-19 research reflects the characteristics of the underlying networks from which it emerged, and on which it built. The infrastructures on which COVID-19 research has relied – including highly skilled, flexible research capacity and collaborative networks – predated the pandemic, and are the product of sustained, long-term investment. As such, we argue that COVID-19 research should not be viewed as a distinct field, or one-off response to a specific crisis, but as a ‘pandemic veneer’ layered on top of longstanding interdisciplinary networks, capabilities and structures. These infrastructures of collective intelligence need to be better understood, valued and sustained as crucial elements of future pandemic or crisis response

Next-generation metrics: responsible metrics and evaluation for open science

This is the final report of the European Commission's Expert Group on Altmetrics, which undertook its work over the course of 2016. The report outlines a framework for next-generation metrics in the context of the EC's Open Science agenda and includes a series of recommendations for how responsible metrics can be built into the design and evaluation of the EU's Ninth Framework Programme (FP9)