bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Bilgi Yoğun Organizasyonlarda Liderlik
Authors: Mutlu Mustafa Doruk
Published: December 2024

Günümüz dünyasının toplumları eski zamanlardaki toplumlara göre bilgiye çok daha kolay ve hızlı ulaşmaktadır. Bu erişme zamandan ve mekândan bağımsız olmaktadır. Ayrıca bilgi gelişimin temelidir. İnsanlık var olan bilgilerin üzerine yenilerini keşfederek gelişme elde etmiştir. Günümüzde üretilen veya elde edilen yeni bilgiler sayesinde toplumsal hayat kolaylaşıyor yeni teknolojiler geliştiriyor, sağlık sistemleri iyileşiyor ve refah artıyor. Bilginin öneminin farkında olan günümüzün gelişmiş ve çağa önderlik eden toplumları bilgi toplumları olarak adlandırılıyor. Bilgi toplumlarının yeni bilgi üretiminde faydalandığı temel mekanizma yeni bilgi üretimine odaklanan örgütler olmaktadır. Bilgi yoğun organizasyonlar olarak adlandırılan bu örgütler sağlık, tarım, enerji, eğitim, teknoloji, ekonomi ve ulaşım gibi birçok sektörde yeni bilgi üretimini körükleyen en temel mekanizma pozisyonundalar. Peki bu kurumlarda yeni bilgi nasıl üretiliyor? Bu sorunun cevabı bilgi yoğun organizasyonların parlak çalışanlarında mevcut. Bilgi çalışanları (işçileri) denilen bu bireyler bilgi yetenek ve deneyimleri sayesinde sahip oldukları örtülü bilgiyi ve bilişim teknolojilerini kullanarak, diğer bilgi işçileri ile etkileşim içerisinde kompleks problemleri çözerek yeni bilgi üretimine katkıda bulunuyorlar. Bu çalışma da günümüz bilgi toplumlarının nadide örgüleri olan bilgi yoğun organizasyonlara mercek tutmakta ve modern dönemi geride bırakmış olan bu post-bürokrasilerde gerçekleşen liderlik dinamiklerini derinlemesine irdelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Ayrıca bilgi yoğun bağlamlar özelinde yöneticilerden beklenen liderlik becerilerini açığa çıkarmakta, post-modern dönemin gözde kurumlarında liderliğin evrildiği noktayı tartışarak teorik bir çerçeve sunmaktadır.
Kimlik Temelli Liderlik
Authors: Canbul Yaroğlu Aslıhan
Published: December 2024

Kimlik temelli liderlik, liderlik süreçlerinde bireysel ve sosyal kimliklerin nasıl etkileşimde olduğunu anlamaya yönelik bir perspektiftir. Bu perspektif, liderin sadece kendi kimliğini değil, takipçilerinin kimliklerini ve grup kimliğini de odak noktası olarak alır. Lider, etkili bir liderlik ortamı yaratmak için grup değerleriyle uyumlu bir kimlik sergileyerek, takipçileriyle güçlü bir bağ kurmalıdır. Bu yaklaşım, bireyin kendini grup üyeliği üzerinden tanımladığı sosyal kimlik teorisiyle yakından ilişkilidir. Sosyal kimlik, bireylerin bir gruba ait olduklarında kendilerini nasıl tanımladıklarını ifade eder. Lider, bu aidiyet duygusunu güçlendirerek, takipçilerin ortak bir kimlik hissetmelerini sağlar ve grup içindeki etkisini artırır. Bu liderlik modeli, grup kimliğine bağlılığı teşvik ederek, grup hedeflerine yönelik motivasyonu artırır. Liderin kimliği ile grubun kimliği arasındaki uyum, takipçilerin motivasyonunu güçlendirir ve hedeflere ulaşmaya yönelik istekliliği artırır. Kimlik temelli liderlik, bireysel ve toplumsal kimliklerin grup dinamikleriyle nasıl bütünleştiğini, bu birleşimin liderin etkisini nasıl şekillendirdiğini açıklar. Lider, grubun kimliği ve hedefleriyle uyumlu bir yol izlediğinde, etkili bir liderlik sergiler ve grup başarıya ulaşır. Bu yaklaşımla lider, lider-takipçi ilişkisini güçlendirerek karar alma süreçlerinin etkinliğini artırır ve takipçilerin grup içindeki bağlılığını derinleştirir. Bu kitap bölümü, kimlik temelli liderliğin çok boyutlu yaklaşımını inceleyerek, liderliğin grup kimliği ve bireysel kimlikler arasındaki karmaşık ilişkiler bağlamında nasıl anlaşılması gerektiğine dair hem teorik hem de pratik bir rehber sunmaktadır.
The Dual-Edged Sword Effect of Didactic Leadership on Employee Creativity in Chinese Military Technology Enterprises
Authors: Zhang Yinglei
Published: December 2024

This study investigates the impact of didactic leadership on employee creativity in Chinese military technology enterprises. Drawing on social information processing theory, the study examines the mediating roles of exploitative learning and exploratory learning, and the moderating effect of proactive personality. A sample of 426 employees and their leaders was surveyed using a three-stage, employee-leader 1:1 pairing method. The results show that didactic leadership has a positive effect on exploitative learning but a negative effect on exploratory learning. Both exploitative and exploratory learning significantly impact employee creativity, serving as mediating variables. Furthermore, proactive personality positively moderates the relationship between didactic leadership and exploitative learning, while negatively moderating the relationship between didactic leadership and exploratory learning. The findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the dual-edged sword effect of didactic leadership on employee creativity and offer practical implications for Chinese enterprises to enhance creativity through leadership and personal development strategies.
Pengaruh Brand Image, Product Quality, dan Customer Satisfaction terhadap Purchase Intention pada produk Belikopi di Sidoarjo
Authors: Sekar Kinasih Putri , Hariasih Misti , Yani Muhammad
Published: December 2024

Era globalisasi pada perkembangan zaman saat ini sangat berkembang pesat. Produk kuliner sudah banyak digemari oleh masyarakat sekitar dan mempunyai daya tarik masing – masing. Pada produk Belikopi dapat menggunakan pemasaran yang baik, termasuk pada pemilihan brand image, produk quality, dan customer satisfaction yang dapat memberi kepuasan pada pelanggan, dan memberi daya tarik produk yang berkualitas. Tujuan penelitian pada penelitian ini yakni untuk mengetahui pengaruh pada brand image, product quality, dan customer satisfactionterhadap purchase intention (minat beli) pada produk Belikopi di Sidoarjo. Pada penelitin ini menggunaka  metode kuantitatif yang pada dasarnya mencakup penelitiannya dilakukan pada aspek empiris yang berasal dari fenomena – fenomena dilapangan, dengan tahap analisisnya menggunakan data dan angket yang disebarkan. Penelitian ini juga memiliki sumber sumber referensi dari buku, jurnal yang di dukung oleh Google Scholar. Dengan demikian, kajian ini diharapkan dapat memberi wawasan bagi para pemasar dan para peneliti pada faktor yang mempengaruhi Purchase Intention. Pemasaran pada produk Belikopi ini ditekankan pada brand image yang dapat memberi pembeda pada produk lainnya dalam target pasar tersebut, dapat memberi kualitas produk yang baik dan memiliki nilai pada kepuasan pelanggan tersebut.
Data integration and sharing for Vietnamese businesses in the digital age
Authors:   Banking Academy of Vietnam, Chu Thị Hồng Hải , Triệu Thu Hương
Published: December 2024

The article highlights the importance and challenges of data integration and sharing in improving business operational efficiency, while also contributing to the growth of e-government and the digital economy. Data integration serves as the foundation for data sharing, which in turn optimizes the value derived from data. Despite being key components of the digital transformation process, many businesses in Vietnam have yet to fully acknowledge and implement these practices. Through a comprehensive literature review and expert consultations, the article presents and evaluates current data integration and sharing technologies, and subsequently proposes a detailed process for effective data integration and sharing. This aims to help businesses leverage data more efficiently, support decision-making, and enhance their competitiveness.
Legal situation of early intervention measures for commercial banks in Vietnam
Authors:   Faculty of Law, Banking Academy of Vietnam, Nguyễn Phương Thảo , Nguyễn Thị Ngọc
Published: December 2024

The establishment of a legal framework for early intervention mechanisms in commercial banks is essential for timely addressing risks and weaknesses, thereby preventing systemic collapse. This issue is increasingly garnering attention from various countries, including Vietnam. Through the synthesis and analysis of both domestic and international documents, particularly Vietnam's regulatory framework concerning early intervention mechanisms for commercial banks, this article evaluates the current legal status of early intervention as outlined in Law on Credit Institutions in 2024. The evaluation focuses on: (1) Situations where early intervention is applicable to commercial banks; (2) Authorities responsible for early intervention; (3) Procedures and processes for implementing early intervention; (4) Measures for early intervention. Based on this evaluation, the article offers several observations regarding regulations on authority, applicable situations, sanctions for involved parties, and the role of deposit insurance in the early intervention process, aiming to enhance legal regulations and improve practical enforcement effectiveness.
Vietnam's export patterns in APEC: A sectoral analysis using the Gravity model
Authors:   Faculty of International Economics, Foreign Trade University, Vietnam, Vũ Thị Phương Mai , Hoàng Xuân Bình , Cao Hải Vân ,   Faculty of Economics, Banking Academy of Vietnam
Published: December 2024

Using a gravity model applied to 21 APEC members from 2001 to 2022, this study has mapped Vietnam's export patterns by partners and sectors, marking a novel contribution compared to prior research. Alongside confirming the model's suitability, the study constructs an expanded theoretical framework incorporating modern factors such as trade costs and free trade agreements, tailored to Vietnam-APEC trade dynamics. The research results indicate that, at the sectoral level, textiles and garments, footwear, machinery, and transportation significantly contribute to Vietnam's trade. The study proposes strategic export orientations for Vietnam, offering solutions for key industries while emphasizing the importance of diversifying export markets, improving logistics infrastructure to reduce trade costs, and strengthening FTA negotiations to develop high-value industries for the country.
IMPLEMENTASI NILAI-NILAI KEPEMIMPINAN YANG MELAYANI DALAM PENGEMBANGAN KARAKTER SANTRI DI PESANTREN DARUL IHSAN SAMARINDA
Authors: Alfiandy Iqbal , Eka Wardhana Kautsar
Published: December 2024

This research explores the implementation of servant leadership values in developing student character in the Islamic boarding school environment. Islamic boarding schools as Islamic educational institutions have a strategic role in shaping students' character through formal and non-formal learning which is influenced by the leadership style of Islamic boarding school caregivers. This research used a qualitative approach with participatory observation methods and in-depth interviews. The research informants were Islamic boarding school leaders, caregivers, and students at the Darul Ihsan Islamic boarding school in Samarinda. The research results show that servant leadership values, such as empathy, commitment to student development, and example, are applied consistently by Islamic boarding school leaders in developing students' character. These values are transformed through daily interactions, spiritual formation, and religious-based self-development programs.Implementing servant leadership in Islamic boarding schools is not only influences students' moral and spiritual improvement but also increases their sense of social responsibility and discipline. This research concludes that servant leadership plays an important role in the character formation of students in Islamic boarding schools, and recommends this approach as an effective strategy for character education in Islamic educational institutions.
PERAN KEPEMIMPINAN DALAM PENERAPAN TIGA ASPEK MANAJEMEN SATU MENIT (PUJIAN, TEGURAN DAN PERMINTAAN MAAF) DI MI DARUSSALAM SAMARINDA
Authors: Nur Malik Novi , Eka Wardhana Kautsar
Published: December 2024

This research aims to examine the effectiveness of leadership in implementing the three main aspects of 1-minute management, namely praise, reprimand and apology at Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Darussalam. In educational leadership, madrasa heads play a strategic role in motivating and developing teaching and educational staff performance. This research used a qualitative descriptive method with a literature study approach and data collection through an online questionnaire distributed to 15 respondents consisting of teachers and madrasa staff. Data analysis was carried out using theme analysis techniques to identify patterns of behavior and responses to the three aspects of leadership. The results showed that the praise by madrasah heads significantly increased teacher motivation and self-confidence, while reprimands given constructively helped improve performance. In addition, a leader's attitude of apologizing when they make a mistake creates a more inclusive work environment and increases subordinates' trust in leadership. These findings indicate that leadership that integrates praise, reprimand, and apology can build positive relationships and improve performance in the educational environment.
Part-time talking – open science, research assessment and gender equality
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Things have come to a pretty pass when the UK can turn out Prime Ministers more frequently that I post to my blog. It might be taken as a sign of the times if the times weren’t so damned confusing. Black and white shot of people reflecting off the gleaming surfaces inside Barcelona airport Whatever. The itch to keep writing is still there, even if it remains distracted by the demands of work.
Losing my virginity and the Café Scientifique Reading List
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Last night I lost my virginity. To be precise, I lost my Café Scientifique virginity because I gave a talk about science in a café in Portsmouth at the kind invitation of local organiser Maricar Jagger. It was a really good evening. I gave a short talk about my research and how I see my role as a scientist in modern Britain to a varied and interested audience who proceeded to ask lots of questions.
The Lady in the Room
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

She’s here. She’s in the room. I’ve not noticed her before — not in previous years — but every now and then her presence is unmistakable. I am sitting in a lecture theatre in St Andrews University in Scotland, attending the 16th Meeting of the European Study Group on the Molecular Biology of Picornaviruses, or Europic, as it is more conveniently known.
Mars Attacks (the senses)
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Last night on Twitter someone posted a ‘selfie’ taken by the Mars Curiosity rover. It’s quite a photograph, particularly since it captures a fantastic piece of human technology amidst the landscape of another planet. The detail is what makes the picture. If you click to get a larger view you can see the nuts and bolts holding the rover together and the waves of sand on the Martian surface. My reaction was immediate.
Eyes on the prize are blind to reality
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Scientists’ quest for publication in journals with high impact factors is widely perceived as one of the more refractory barriers to the fuller adoption of open access, which I believe to be in the best interests of science.

But the barrier problem is complicated.
Puff The Biochemist
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Thought that some of you might like to know that the latest (Feb 2010) issue of

The Biochemist

is running a special series of articles on Science and the Media; science communication if you will.
Vanity project
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I haven’t written a book. And this is it. Well, I did write it of course. The words are mine. But there is nothing new here. I’ve just pulled together a selection of my blog posts from the last six years and self-published it as a hard-back book titled

A Thousand Nothings

using the services of lulu.com. It wasn’t that hard. Still. It is a bit… awkward.
Making Movies
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

For three days last week I was at the EMBL in Heidelberg taking a fantastic course on data visualisation. As is often the way with scientific training, the course was intense: lectures and practicals from 9 in the morning till 10 at night. This particular course was perhaps unusual in being divided into three modules even though each student focused on just one of them.
Imagine there’s no Earth
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

It’s easy if you try. I’ve never much cared for John Lennon’s song: despite the wistful melody and admirable sentiment, the scientific precisionist in me could never quite get past the poor grammar. “And no religion too, Mr Lennon? And no religion

either

!” But the song does at least draw attention to a very important human attribute: imagination.
Moving On (NN)
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

The time has come to say goodbye to Nature Network. I am moving Reciprocal Space to at new site at Occam’s Typewriter, which launches today. In part, to be perfectly honest, the move is motivated by the frustration accumulated in the transition to MT4 and other problems that have been aired thoroughly in the discussion threads and don’t need to be revisited today.
Important Bus Business
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

This is going to add minutes to my life – every time I take the bus.
Does science need to be saved? A response to Sarewitz.
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I wrote this piece a few months ago at the invitation of The New Atlantis. It was supposed to be one of a collection of responses to a polemical essay that they published last year on the parlous state of modern science by Dan Sarewitz.
Debating the role of metrics in research assessment
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I spent all of today attending the “In metrics we trust?” workshop organised jointly by HEFCE and the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at Sussex University. This was part of the information-gathering process of HEFCE’s independent review of the role of metrics in research assessment;
Here goes something: Occam’s Typewriter cornered
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Well this is nice. Today Occam’s Typewriter opens a new cornershop, so to speak, at the Guardian. For me, this closes a social media circle that started over four years ago because I can trace my entry to the scientific blogosphere to the time I heard someone called Jennifer Rohn talking about ‘Lablit’ – literature threaded with science and scientists – on the Guardian’s Science Weekly podcast.
From my pedestal
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I just wanted to clamber up onto my pedestal for a moment (it’s rented – I don’t actually possess one) and shout at the very top of my voice that Simon Jenkins has written an article in

The Guardian

that has made me VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY CROSS!!! I’ve already commented there (as scww) and have nothing more to say on the matter tonight.
What does the Higgs boson look like? (Audio Version)
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

As a little experiment I sat down and recorded an audio version of my Occam’s Corner post on the historical account of the difficulties that scientists had in accepting the reality of atoms. You can listen here:   And here is the video of Brownian motion that is mentioned:     Enjoy!
Evaluating scientists: take care
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

A resonant blogpost is the gift that keeps on giving. One of the latest comments in my Sick of Impact Factors polemic bemoaning the corrosive effects of journal impact factors on scientific lives provided a link to a quite wonderful paper. I missed Alexis Verger’s comment when it dropped into my blog on August 31st.
Touch, Feel
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I’m not proud of myself but I have to confess to a lascivious addiction. I know. It’s disgusting. But I can’t help it. The problem started in 1999. I remember all too clearly my first glimpse of the well-proportioned curves and smooth, smooth skin. After that I was hooked. Oh. God. I couldn’t resist. The Apple G3 PowerBook, my first ever laptop, was gorgeous.
Elsevier Break Dance
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Lately, it’s all been getting a bit intense. Not tetchy, as at the Scholarly Kitchen in recent days, but still pretty focused. Four of the last five posts here have all been about the arguments surrounding the Elsevier boycott and the future of academic publishing.
About a blog
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Taking my cue from Martin’s excellent suggestion, and following Henry, Steffi, Eva and Maxine, here’s my tuppence-worth:

1. What is your blog about?

Usually about 500 words… on the subject of the underbelly of science. The guts and bolts, so-to-speak.

2. What will you never write about?

Real-time experimental results – my lab-books are closed until peer review. Sorry Cameron.
ICYMI No. 6: What is the meaning of Brexit?
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Today EMBO Reports has published my commentary on the implications for scientific research of Britain’s recent decision to leave the EU. It’s free to read. The piece is trying to be more analytical than the more personal response that I posted at the Guardian.
Data not shown: time to distribute some common sense about impact factors
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

It’s that time of year when all clear-thinking people die a little inside: the latest set of journal impact factors has just been released. Although there was an initial flurry of activity on Twitter last week when the 2015 Journal Citation Reports* were published by Thomson Reuters, it had died down by the weekend.
Arsenic up for Review
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

This amused me. It might amuse you too. The other night Ed Yong asked on Twitter if anyone could remember mention in a recent blogpost of the fact that salts of arsenic often contain phosphate.
X marks the spot
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

X.
Books of 2022
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Another year, another tweet thread of the books I read these past twelvemonth. Click on the images to access higher resolution versions which are just about legible, or better still, read the thread on Twitter. In 2022 I managed just 20 titles, five of them novels and seven by women.
DORA, the Leiden Manifesto & a university’s right to choose: a comment
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

The post below was written as a comment on

Lizzie Gadd’s recent post

explaining in some detail Loughborough University decision to base their approach to research assessment more on the Leiden Manifesto than DORA, the Declaration on Research Assessment. So you should read that first! (The comment is currently ‘in moderation’ because, like myself, Lizzie is on holiday.
Faster than a Rocket
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I am pleased to be able to announce that, having taken up jogging at the turn of the year, I can now run faster than a rocket. Well, strictly speaking, I can now run faster that

the

Rocket–or rather a very fine replica thereof–which I overtook yesterday lunchtime in Kensington Gardens. This was the view as I whizzed past:

Stephen passes Stephenson

. Anyone wishing to take a ride in the train has until the 18th April.
Three weeks
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Just three weeks ago, on eve of the weekend, my wife and I met an old friend for dinner at a restaurant in Southwark. Even then, the most normal things in the world were beginning to feel risky. Our friend works for Public Health England, but even if he hadn’t, the conversation would still probably have locked onto the coronavirus pandemic.
Artful History
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

“There have been times in the history of man when the earth seems suddenly to have grown warmer… I don’t put that forward as a scientific proposition, but the fact remains that three or four times in history man has … Continue reading →
That Feeling
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

You know that feeling? That feeling you get? That feeling you get when you and your mate are climbing in the Andes and the weather closes in and before you know it you’ve slipped off an icy ledge and suffered a horrific impact fracture of the femur.
Harvard: we have a problem
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

This is astonishing. Harvard is one of the best and one of the wealthiest universities in the world but last week its Faculty Advisory Council* announced that it can no longer afford to maintain its subscriptions to academic journals. The announcement was made online by the Council as a message to the academic staff at the university. I have taken the liberty of quoting it in full below.
A change in the weather?
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I’m beginning to recognise the signs. Have you seen them too? The mercury is holding steady but there’s a sudden and unexpected stiffening of the breeze. And a darkening tint to the clouded sky. Yes — there can be no doubt — there’s a storm coming. A Twitter-storm. We’ve not had much of this kind of thing in the past but these squalls seem to be becoming more frequent. They are a very interesting phenomenon;
Time Travel
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Dublin Airport,” says the pilot. “Please remember to turn your watches back thirty years.” So goes the time-worn joke but last weekend that’s more or less exactly what I did. I flew to Dublin to hear a band I first saw in concert in the summer of 1977 when I was just thirteen years old. It was a little bit crazy but I’m glad I went — I was not the least bit disappointed.
To be or not to be exceptional?
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I can’t remember how I came across this video from philosopher Alain de Botton, but I feel seen. Like many academics, I guess, I have always prized scholarly achievement.
I’m a scientist, and there are fantastic kids out there
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

It is the day after the day after the fortnight before. I had hoped to write sooner about the relentless work and tremendous fun I had participating in I’m a Scientist, Get me Out of Here over the past two weeks. But such was the nervous energy expended in the last week that it has taken me till now to recover my bearings.
The battle for my eternal soul
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Let’s face it: scientists aren’t in it for the money (except perhaps those with a more entrepreneurial bent). More often we are preening our egos and chasing a kind of immortality—the chance to create a legacy that will outlive us. Of course, this is an entirely

irrational

goal, coming oddly from a profession that often spouts its single-minded adherence to rationality!
Scientia Pro Publica 22
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Roll up! Roll up! Lay-deeeez and Genne-men! Step right in! We have here today for your delectation and amazement a veritable cornucopia of comeliness, a festival of fecundity, a very large bucket of sciency bits, in all their wondrous and freakish varieties. We present Scientia Pro Publica Number Twenty-Two! Like a barnacle’s penis, this edition of Scientia Pro Publica is long and strange and packed with seeds–for thought.
Snow stopper
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

This post is

completely

justified since crystals are a central topic at

Reciprocal Space

and I awoke this morning to a landscape covered with them: Snow has the wonderful property of making the world look fresh and new. Even the disaster area known locally as ‘our back garden’ manages to look appealing under its cold white blanket.
Diamond nights
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Yesterday morning I awoke in crumpled clothes on a strange sofa, my mouth feeling furry and unwashed. I’d crashed there at about 5.30 am and only snatched a couple of hours of fitful sleep. As I gazed blearily at unfamiliar surroundings, a woman I barely recognised appeared and asked if I’d like a cup of tea. I nodded and mumbled thanks. Partying hard in the run-up to Christmas?
Virus Illusion Confusion
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Thanks to the very good offices of Matt Brown, who knows everything about everything happening in London, I found myself at the Smithfield Gallery last night. Jenny, Richard and myself joined Matt there to gaze at Luke Jerram’s artful glassy virus sculptures.
Follower
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

This post has nothing to do with science. Seamus Heany is dead. I am only begining to process what that means to me. I claim no deep knowledge of his poetry but it has been with me for a long time. I studied his work at school in the late 1970s; I have a few of his books of poems and prose on my shelves; I saw

The Cure at Troy

at the Tricycle theatre in 1991; I heard him speak once — when I was a postdoc in Boston in 1994.
A Bill to Amend the Law of Defamation
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

The libel reform campaign has yielded a spring crop: a bill to amend the law of defamation was introduced to parliament in the Queen’s Speech on May 10th. This means that legislation to amend the lax libel laws of England and Wales, which have caused a plethora of problems for scientists and science writers in recent years (not to mention many other worthy individuals and groups), will be debated in the Commons and the Lords.
The Cathedral on the Marsh
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I’ve already shared this video on Twitter and Facebook but wanted to post it here as a more permanent record. Two weeks ago I fulfilled the ambition, held since I had seen Nic Stacey’s and Jim Al-Khalili’s quite wonderful BBC documentary on thermodynamics, to visit the steam engines at the Crossness sewage pumping station.
Music that’s bound to be interesting
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

The inestimable Dr Rohn has, on more than one occasion,

sung

the praises of the engineering prowess of her lab-mates. But in this week’s Nature music and ingenuity were combined to produce a new high note of technical wonderment. A fascinating News and Views piece directed my attention to a recent paper* by Hua-Zhong Yu and colleagues at Simon Fraser University in Canada.
Writing Science
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Writing about science. It’s important. And not just because you could win some dosh from the Wellcome Trust. I tried to explain why (and a little bit about how) in a guest post on Grrlscientist’s blog today.
Science: better messy than messed up
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I am fascinated by the psychology of scientific fraudsters. What drives these people? If you are smart enough to fake results, surely you have the ability to do research properly? You should also be clever enough to realise that one day you will get caught. And you should know that fabricating results is a worthless exercise that runs completely counter to the spirit of enquiry. Why would anyone pervert their science with fakery?
Open access and public engagement: I need your help
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Dear Reader, I would appreciate your help. I am working on a chapter for a book on openness within science (to be published by Manchester University Press). The book is part of the ‘Making Science Public’ program run by Prof Brigitte Nerlich at Nottingham University and aims to take a critical look at the dilemmas of open science.
Science, it’s a bloody marvel
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Michael Brooks has scratched beneath the glossy surface of science to write a revealing and thoroughly entertaining book about its practitioners. By cutting so close to the scientific bone that it spills blood, his “Free Radicals” departs violently from the textbook image of white-coated professionalism. In eight gritty and gripping chapters Brooks uncovers the anarchy at the heart of many of the most famous advances made by scientists.
Out of the lab and into the world
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Most days you can call me Mr Molecule for I am to be found with my head buried in a thicket of atomic bonds. But every so often I pull myself free of my protein structures and take a look at the world outside.
God plays dice
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Sparked by a remark made by Kristi Vogel on blogging with images, here is one that’s been hovering at the back of my photo collection.

Does God play dice?

Apparently, despite Einstein’s objections, the deity

is

a bit of a gambler. What is disturbing is that this picture was taken in Palermo, Sicily last summer so it seems He may have been gambling with the mafia.
On the Freedom of Misunderstanding of Speech
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

“The Ruffian” is great title for Ian Leslie’s Substack given his predilection for roughing up lazy thinking.
You can call him Al. Again
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

It’s over. And over a week ago at that. But I only finally caught up with the third and last episode of Prof Jim Al-Khalili’s BBC4 series

Science and Islam

last night. I flagged it up just before the series started and had been quite excited, having enjoyed Atom, Al-Khalili’s earlier documentary about the hey-day of physics in the early 20th century.
Thunderbirds are go!
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I saw this and thought of you… …Steffi.
The Huxley Question
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Writing in The Observer a couple of weeks ago, Kenan Malik cast a sceptical eye over a report published by the history group at Imperial College that had been asked to reflect on “the current understanding and reception of the College’s legacy and heritage in the context of its present-day mission.” Linking the report’s controversial recommendation that that the Huxley Building be renamed because of Thomas Henry Huxley’s views on race to the
Prize Your Imagination
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

On Wednesday last I was fortunate to find myself an outlier among the great and the good at the Wellcome Trust Image Awards for 2011, where hefty glass slabs were being handed out by Adam Rutherford as prizes to imaginative individuals who had conjured a captivating image from their scientific work.
Cosmos and Kapoor
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Having delighted in Jacob Bronowski’s

The Ascent of Man

earlier this year, I sat down to watch Carl Sagan’s

Cosmos

, which several commenters had recommended to me. You can read what I thought of it in my guest post at Grrlscientist’s Punctuated Equilibrium blog over at

The Guardian

. As you will see, it is wrapped up with the recent apparition of shiny sculptures by Anish Kapoor in Kensington Gardens.
Message for my reader
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

For the longest time I have been meaning to get back to—ugh!—blogging. Regular readers, should any remain, will see that this is the first post of 2022. I haven’t broken any promises with the hiatus and have no excuses to make. I’ve been busy. I know – who

hasn’t

been busy in UK academia? Nevertheless, the first half of this year was intense, with several major deadlines that left little mental spare capacity.
PLoS ONE: from the Public Library of Sloppiness?
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I had an argument with my colleague in the tea-room the other day. Gratifyingly, I learned he had been reading my blogposts on the subject of open access, but it soon became clear he did not entirely share my enthusiasm for the topic. Specifically, he criticised open access journals such as PLoS ONE both for their lack of sub-editorial services and for creating a home for poor quality science.
The Schekman Manoeuvre
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

This is the original version

(with the original title)

of an article that has been published at The Conversation.

Having climbed all the way to the Nobel prize on a ladder made of Nature, Science and Cell papers, biologist Randy Schekman has turned around and declared that he is going to boycott these ‘luxury’ journals in future because of the way that they damage science.
A Reckoning with Huxley’s Legacy
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Recognition and Redistribution for Imperial College’s Community This is a guest post by my former colleague, Dr Rahma (Red) Elmahdi, in which she lays our her reaction to the Imperial College History Report, and in particular the recommendation to rename the Huxley … Continue reading →
Finch Report: the question of costs
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Last week, having quickly digested the executive summary of the Finch Report on open access (OA), I told you it was complicated. I’ve now read the report in its entirety, along with a large swathes of blogospheric commentary. I’m still decidedly of the view that it’s complicated but I wanted to think through some of the initial responses. In particular, I’d like to try to address the vexed issue of costs.
Pride and Prejudice and journal citation distributions: final, peer reviewed version
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Today sees the publication on bioRxiv of a revised version of our preprint outlining “A simple proposal for the publication of journal citation distributions.” Our proposal, explained in more detail in this earlier post, encourages publishers to mitigate the distorting effects on research assessment of journal impact factors (JIFs) by providing a simple method for publishing the citation distributions that are so incompletely
“You can’t read this book” but you should
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games spread a warm glow through liberal hearts. His imaginative sweep over British history and culture, which managed to be both reverent and irreverent, was filled with a human chaos that constituted a nicely judged response to the shock and awe of the massed ranks who launched the Beijing games.
Rally to the Cause of Science
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

The Science is Vital Campaign has caught the grim mood of the scientific community and focused the energy of opposition to light a fire of protest.
Homeopathy: That’s Numberwang!
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

This morning I attended a my first ever publicity stunt. The 10

23

overdose event, initiated by the Merseyside Skeptics, was held in cities around the UK and the rest of the world. Our particular group assembled in the lightly frosted but thoroughly freezing Red Lion Square in Holborn, London. I was more than happy to hand over £5 for the 10

23

t-shirt—glad of the extra layer of clothing!
Traditional Medicine: Inhibition of the Clinician Ambition
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I was only able to attend the second day of Science Online London 2010 but was glad to be able to hear Dr Evan Harris’s keynote talk on “Turning online science into real world policy change” and the follow-up break-out session on “The Sci Vote Movement”. Any gathering of the

blognoscenti

runs the risk of descending into navel-gazing, so it was good to be reminded that the point of much of our online activity as bloggers or scientists
The separation of life and death
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Who is that stranger in my father’s bed? Those sunken eyes The concave cheeks Salted with stubble The thinned grey hair Plastered to a narrow skull. I have lost the man I loved. In truth it had been a long journey To this resting place. A slow stepping backwards As memory stuttered and stalled And confusion dampened The flares of anger That made strangers of us both.
Opening peer review for inspection and improvement
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

For me the most memorable event at last week’s ASAPbio-HHMI-Wellcome meeting on Peer Review, which took place at HHMI’s beautifully appointed headquarters on the outskirts of Washington DC, was losing a $100 bet to Mike Eisen. Who would have guessed he’d know more than I did about the intergalactic space lord and UK parliamentary candidate, Lord Buckethead? Not me, it turned out.
A molecule of life and death
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Walter Clement Noel was famous in the wrong circles for the wrong reasons. He died in Grenada in 1916 aged just 32.

Over fifty years later, in the first decade of my life,

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

was far and away my favourite film. I must have seen it six or seven times, a huge tally in the days before VCRs and DVDs. The magical tale of endangered children rescued with the help of a flying car captivated my boyish mind.
I get my kicks from thermodynamicks!
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

In the past couple of weeks I have been trying to convey to my students something of the

glory

of thermodynamics. It’s not an easy or popular subject, especially given the mathematical content. But I do love it so! I know it seems dry: heat, work, entropy, state functions, the second law. The

zeroth

law for God’s sake.
Ready-made citation distributions are a boost for responsible research assessment
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Though a long-time critic of journal impact factors (JIFs), I was delighted when the latest batch was released by Clarivate last week. It’s not the JIFs themselves that I was glad to see (still alas quoted to a ridiculous level of precision). Rather it was the fact that Clarivate is now also making available the journal citation distributions on which they are based.
Letters from Europe
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

This weekend’s Guardian has a quite wonderful feature comprised of letters to Britain from European writers about the decision to be made in the upcoming referendum. It offers a fresh and little-heard perspective on a debate that has become worn out and embittered over the past few weeks.
Libel Reform Campaign Reform
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

The prospects for much-needed changes to the outdated libel laws of England and Wales received a fresh impulse in the past couple of days as Sense about Science, the Index on Censorship and English PEN joined together to lobby as the Coalition for Libel Reform.
From the pedestal – take 3
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Earlier this week I had an interesting email from Jesse Shore, President of Australian Science Communicators, about a blog post I wrote back in 2010. Jesse has kindly agreed to let me post our brief correspondence so I’ll let him take up the story. To which I replied: To which Jesse came back: I very much agree with him: something to build on for sure.
Booked
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Everyone of a certain pretension likes to think they have a book inside them. I know I do. But I’ve looked and I can’t find it. Maybe it’s in there somewhere but at too early a stage of germination to be visible. All I know is that I have searched and come up wanting. The situation is made all the more galling by the fact that everyone I meet these days seems either to have written a book or to be in the midst of producing one.
The REF: what is the measure of success?
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Science has been extraordinarily successful at taking the measure of the world, but paradoxically the world finds it extraordinarily difficult to take the measure of science — or any type of scholarship for that matter. That is not for want of trying, as any researcher who has submitted a PhD thesis for examination or a manuscript for publication or an application for funding will know.
Open Access — yes you can
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

For researchers who have never dipped a toe into the debates on open access that surge across the blogosphere it is all too easy to imagine that they need not get involved. For sure, people are increasingly aware that a decision of some sort needs to be made about OA once their paper is accepted for publication but that’s about as far as it goes. The complexity of the issue is off-putting — who has the time?
Blog power in the service of science?
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Taking my cue from Ben Goldacre’s comments at SciBlog08, I’d like to unleash the power of the blogosphere.
The shove that dare not speak its name
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

The following is a commentary that has been published today (in a slightly edited form) in

Chemistry and Industry

.

Only the excellent need apply. Such is the message on research funding from nobelist Sir Paul Nurse, incoming president of the Royal Society.
Beachbooks 2: Dagnificent Messolation
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

For my second holiday read I gave in to the excitement surrounding the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and splashed out on Buzz Aldrin’s

Magnificent Desolation

. The book (co-written with Ken Abraham) tells of the aftermath of his visit to our dusty satellite. I have long been a fan of the moon landings, having been just about old enough to realise what was happening in the later lunar missions in the early seventies.
The Carnival Cometh
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Grrlscientist and Bob caught me napping the other day and before I knew it, I had agreed to host the next Scientia Pro Publica, which will be published here on

Monday 1st March

.
Why I chose to decline an invitation to review by Elsevier
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

All relationships suffer tensions from time to time, especially those based on love-hate. Scientists have a complex relationship with their publishers — they love to get published in high-impact journals (most of which are run by major publishing companies) but hate the abuses of impact factors made by their own community in promotion and funding committees.
Blogging Challenge Inverted (1)
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I know, I know—the challenge is supposed to be about getting more senior people into blogging but I turned it on its end and set a mini-challenge of my own to my new batch of Biochemistry undergraduate tutees. I asked them to write no more that 400 words on any topic from the course that had particularly grabbed them.
I don’t know what to say
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

My most recent post, “Respect my Authority!”, which was an attempt to explore the origin of scientific authority, has been removed by Nature Network because their legal advice deemed it to contain some dubious assertions. The matter was handled with great care in phone conversations with Corie and an email from Timo. I am grateful to them for the consideration they have shown. I have no doubt this was a tortuous decision.
Reach for the Styles
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I read an article by Matthew Reisz in

Times Higher Education

last week about the strained writing style of academic publications and it really got my goat. Don’t get me wrong — it’s a good piece and makes some valid points, several of which resonated strongly with me. Reisz wonders at the lack of pleasure in academic writing among writers and readers, which leads to the inanimate style of much academic prose.
Open letter to the Publishers Association: please amend your open access decision tree
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Dear Publishers Association I ask that you amend the open access decision tree you created for incorporation into the guidance notes accompanying the Open Access (OA) policy announced by Research Councils UK (RCUK) in 2013. It may seem odd to ask for a correction so late in the day but my reasons for doing so are two-fold.
Bono a hypocrite? Good.
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Last Friday night as I watched U2 play Glastonbury on TV, the stream of hatred on Twitter was relentless. A torrent of unforgettable ire. I’ve long known that Bono and his band excite very mixed reactions, but this seemed to take things higher. Their music is not to everyone’s taste but on this occasion the bilious flood stemmed from the band’s attitude to taxation, or rather to tax avoidance.