LSE Impact

Can We Encourage Public Self-Correction in the  Scientific Record?
Research Ethics
April 13, 2021

Can We Encourage Public Self-Correction in the Scientific Record?

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We Know More Than What is Measured About Gender Inequality in Academia
Higher Education Reform
February 2, 2021

We Know More Than What is Measured About Gender Inequality in Academia

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On the Persistence of Motivated Ignorance
International Debate
January 18, 2021

On the Persistence of Motivated Ignorance

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Can We Have Open Science Where No Scholar Is Left Behind?
Open Access
December 29, 2020

Can We Have Open Science Where No Scholar Is Left Behind?

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Think of Impact Statements As Maps, Not Short Stories

Think of Impact Statements As Maps, Not Short Stories

Lai Ma 2125 Impact

As a precondition to receiving research funds, many research funders require applicants to state how their project will ultimately achieve impacts prior to any work being undertaken. Reflecting on a study of these impact statements made to the Science Foundation Ireland Investigators Programme, Lai Ma, argues that such statements often introduce a narrow short-term bias to considerations of impact and presents four ways impact statements could be used more productively.

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Reward and Recognize Open Science?

Reward and Recognize Open Science?

Calls to align incentives in academia to promote open research practices are not new. However, in recent years research funders are increasingly implementing policies and schemes designed to promote open science practices amongst researchers. In this post, Maria Cruz and Hans de Jonge outline details of the Dutch Research Council’s (NWO) new Open Science Fund, which they suggest is the natural next step towards a culture of open science in Dutch research.

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How Can We Ensure Our Research is Inclusive?

How Can We Ensure Our Research is Inclusive?

COVID-19 has led to new ways of working which have transformed research practices. This has created opportunities for research cultures to be more inclusive and accessible- especially to those for whom the university is a barrier. However, post-pandemic, research cultures also need to change. In this post, Stuart Read, Anne Parfitt and Tanvir Bush outline three provocations that researchers can ask as part of an inclusive research practice.

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How to Run an Academic Writing Retreat

How to Run an Academic Writing Retreat

Since it started in 2011, Academic Writing Month has seen a growth of workshops and initiatives aimed at helping researchers to prioritise […]

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Do We Value Unfunded Research Properly?

Do We Value Unfunded Research Properly?

Unfunded research takes time and money for already stretched academics. Yet it makes up over a quarter of all research carried out in British universities. Rosalind Edwards spoken to academics about why they do unfunded research.

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Social Science ‘Spinouts,’ An Underappreciated Pathway to Impact?

Social Science ‘Spinouts,’ An Underappreciated Pathway to Impact?

One means of fixing and making ideas tangible, often scorned and neglected in the social sciences, but widely used in STEM, are spinouts. For universities, a spinout is a company formed on the basis of intellectual property from a university or research institute.

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Might Commercializing Social Science Be a Road to Impact?

Might Commercializing Social Science Be a Road to Impact?

As the world emerges from the COVID-19 lockdown many opportunities have arisen to rethink how and for whom our societies operate. In this post, Julia Black argues that social sciences can play a unique role in the post-COVID-19 recovery by forging new relationships with business and commerce and outlines how initiatives, such as the Aspect network, are seeking to bridge the divide between the social sciences and business.

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Size Still Matters: Discoverability, Impact and ‘Big’ Journals

Size Still Matters: Discoverability, Impact and ‘Big’ Journals

One of the proposed advantages of open access publication is that it increases the impact of academic research by making it more broadly and easily accessible. Reporting on a natural experiment on the citation impact of health research that is published in both open access and subscription journals, Chris Carroll and Andy Tattersall, suggests that subscription journals still play an important role in making research discoverable and useful and thus still have a role to play even in open publication strategies.

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