Higher Education Reform

Are Gender Studies Under Assault Globally?
Higher Education Reform
January 10, 2019

Are Gender Studies Under Assault Globally?

Read Now
Should We Treat the Syllabus as a Scholarly Work?
Higher Education Reform
December 11, 2018

Should We Treat the Syllabus as a Scholarly Work?

Read Now
Metricization, the SSCI Syndrome and Devaluing Books in Academic Sociology
Communication
November 18, 2018

Metricization, the SSCI Syndrome and Devaluing Books in Academic Sociology

Read Now
Open Peer Review Not Always Welcomed With Open Arms
International Debate
September 24, 2018

Open Peer Review Not Always Welcomed With Open Arms

Read Now
Book Review: How to be a Happy Academic

Book Review: How to be a Happy Academic

In ‘How to be a Happy Academic: A Guide to Being Effective in Research, Writing and Teaching,’ Alex Clark and Bailey Sousa aim to support fellow academic workers at all career stages to become more efficient, successful and happier through focusing on fostering good habits over and above talent or skills. Eddy Li welcomes this insider perspective on seeing, doing and – most importantly – taming academic work, even if it leaves open the question of how exactly we measure and define “success”.

Read Now
Collaboration Imbues SSRC’s ‘To Secure Knowledge’ Report

Collaboration Imbues SSRC’s ‘To Secure Knowledge’ Report

In launching its first-ever task force report on Monday, the 95-year-old Social Science Research Council made clear it gets by with a little help from its friends. Collaboration, said sociologist Alondra Nelson Nelson, the president of the SSRC, is the byword of the report, To Secure Knowledge: Social Science Partnerships for the Common Good.

Read Now
Crowd-Sourcing As a Complement to Peer Review

Crowd-Sourcing As a Complement to Peer Review

A new process developed by Princeton’s Matthew Salganik for reviewing academic manuscripts allows the world at large to examine and weigh in on a book at the same time the manuscript is undergoing peer review.

Read Now
How Will Universities Cope With Brexit Britain’s Resurgent Nationalism?

How Will Universities Cope With Brexit Britain’s Resurgent Nationalism?

As Brexit Britain appears headed straight for a chaotic exit from the European Union, its universities are raising questions about their future with growing alarm. The consequences which post-Brexit nationalism will have for universities, students, and scholars are hardly being discussed at all.

Read Now
Arbitrary Choices and the Politics of Sociological Enquiry

Arbitrary Choices and the Politics of Sociological Enquiry

Arbitrary choices –all those political considerations that twist and constrain scholarship without adding to it in intellectually meaningful ways — are rife in contemporary academic sociology, says our Daniel Nehring. Tired of trying to pointlessly argue against them in hopes they disappear, he asks that we make these choices explicit and visible.

Read Now
Who Might Address Research Candidates’ Off-the-Charts Stress?

Who Might Address Research Candidates’ Off-the-Charts Stress?

Graduate research candidates are the powerhouse of research in universities, yet many have reported feelings of isolation, burnout, and career uncertainty. Karen Barry reports on a study of Australian research candidates which found that increasing numbers are suffering from heightened levels of depression, anxiety, and stress, often citing reasons related to academia’s general work processes, such as writing or publishing research or maintaining motivation while working alone on a single topic.

Read Now
Literature Reviews Are Already Broken, So Let’s Kill Them

Literature Reviews Are Already Broken, So Let’s Kill Them

The literature review is a staple of the scholarly article. But when reviews misrepresent previous studies or suggest there’s a paucity of information when there isn’t, doesn’t,this degrade the knowledge base? Richard P. Phelps argues that, given the difficulty of verifying an author’s claims during peer review, it is best that journals drop the requirement for a literature review in scholarly articles.

Read Now
How to Have the Best Possible Student-Supervisor Meeting

How to Have the Best Possible Student-Supervisor Meeting

Drawing on their new SAGE book for students and academics “How to be a Happy Academic,” Alex Clark and Bailey Sousa share strategies for successful student-supervisor meetings.

Read Now

Subscribe to our mailing list

Get the latest news from the social and behavioral science community delivered straight to your inbox.