Wellcome Trust  

The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) was developed at the American Society for Cell Biology meeting in late 2012.  It argues for the elimination of journal impact factors in assessing scientists in funding, appointment and promotion decisions.  In addition to the many US signatories, HEFCE and Wellcome have signed. The themes of the recommendations are summarised as..../

• the need to eliminate the use of journal-based metrics, such as Journal Impact Factors, in funding, appointment, and promotion considerations;
• the need to assess research on its own merits rather than on the basis of the journal in which the research is published; and
• the need to capitalize on the opportunities provided by online publication (such as relaxing unnecessary limits on the number of words, figures, and references in articles, and exploring new indicators of significance and impact).

Bruce Alberts, in a Science editorial, discusses the negative impact of metrics on innovation and risk taking in new areas of science: new areas of science are relatively sparsely populated with fewer papers consequently fewer citiations.  He says "the leaders of the scientific enterprise must accept full responsibility for thoughtfully analyzing the scientific contributions of other researchers. To do so in a meaningful way requires the actual reading of a small selected set of each researcher's publications, a task that must not be passed by default to journal editors".

The Wellcome Trust has awarded £5 million to the GSK Tres Cantos Open Lab with the goal of developing two high quality experimental drugs over a five-year period.

The UK parliament's House of Commons Committee on Science and Technology has published a report of its inquiry on Peer Review in Scientific Publications, with conclusions and recommendations. /... more

.../The Committee examines the current approach, reminding publishers, funders and scientists of the principles involved and urging caution on use of impact factors. Recommendations on better coordination and innovation, training for peer review, open access to data and other issues. The report looks at developments in virtual pre- and post-publication commentary and review.

A key conclusion is that there is insufficient oversight of research integrity in the UK: the recommendation is for a government body for regulation and key responsible individuals for each research employer (it is emphasised that the responsibility for ensuring integrity lies significantly with the employer).

This recommendation picks up on the late 2010 report from the UK Research Integrity Futures Group, formed by Research Councils UK (RCUK), Universities UK (UUK) and the UK Department of Health (DH), in association with the UK Higher Education Funding Councils (HEFCs), the Wellcome Trust, the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) and the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industries (ABPI). Some concern that the UK Research Integrity Office is not being funded beyond its current term.

Ken Arnold from the Wellcome Collection and Thomas Soderqvist have developed a challenging set of rules and contentions for museum exhibitions dealing with science - what would the effect be?  The rules in brief are as follows, but read the Wellcome blog for discussion:../more

1. Exhibitions should be research-led, not a form of
dissemination

2. A scientist should always be involved in the exhibition,
a technologist if it is about technology

3. Be clear about exhibitions being “multi-authored”

4. Use only original material

5. Never show ready-made science

6. Jealously guard a place for mystery and wonder

7. Reject most exhibition ideas

8. Leave out as much as possible

9. Embrace the showbusiness of exhibitions

10. Celebrate the ephemeral quality of exhibitions

11. Make exhibitions true to the geography of their venues

12. Avoid artificial lighting

13. Always involve more than one sense

14. Make exhibitions for inquisitive adults

15. Remember that visitors ultimately make their own
exhibitions

16. Make exhibitions the jumping off place for further
engagement

17. Don’t be afraid to bend, break or reinvent the rules