Bibliometrics: The Leiden Manifesto for research metrics

Bibliometrics: The Leiden Manifesto for research metrics

 Use these ten principles to guide research evaluation, urge Diana Hicks, Paul Wouters and colleagues.


Data are increasingly used to govern science. Research evaluations that were once bespoke and performed by peers are now routine and reliant on metrics1. The problem is that evaluation is now led by the data rather than by judgement. Metrics have proliferated: usually well intentioned, not always well informed, often ill applied. We risk damaging the system with the very tools designed to improve it, as evaluation is increasingly implemented by organizations without knowledge of, or advice on, good practice and interpretation.

Mars might have liquid water

Mars might have liquid water – Niels Bohr Institute - University of Copenhagen

 Researchers have long known that there was water in the form of ice on Mars. Now, new research from NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity shows that it is possible that there is liquid water close to the surface of Mars. The explanation is that the substance perchlorate has been found in the soil, which lowers the freezing point so the water does not freeze into ice, but is liquid and present in very salty salt water – a brine. The results are published in the scientific journal Nature.

UK university leaders lobby Brussels on research cuts

UK university leaders lobby Brussels on research cuts

 More than 50 UK university leaders will travel to Brussels on Monday to lobby European policymakers against possible cuts to research funding.

The group, led by Prof Sir Steve Smith, Vice-Chancellor of Exeter University, fears for the future of the European Union's Horizon 2020 research fund.

2014 Research Highlights

2014 Research Highlights - NIH Research Matters - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

2014 Research Highlights from the National Insitutes of Health: U.S.Department of Health & Human Services