There have always been attempts to restrict the freedom of science. Science and the results of individual researchers have always met with opposition, for example from politicians. Concern about the state of researchers’ freedom of expression is common and internationally recognised. Harassment is the most common and recognised phenomenon restricting the freedom of expression of...
Most of us in the world of scientific publishing agree that the integrity and reliability of the literature is under threat from many directions. One of the most perfidious is generative AI. As it improves, it will soon be capable not just of writing a paper based around ‘real’ experimental data. It will become able...
Ever since the exodus of European scientists in the 1930s, people the world over have looked up to the US as the bastion of free enquiry and intellectual ingenuity, backed up by stalwart public support for science and academia. This is the world in which I grew up, forging part of my own scientific career...
It’s very hard to write about the current state of global science without getting sucked into the whirlpool of events in the United States that is perceived by most of our colleagues as nothing short of disastrous. However, so much has been written about it already. And by the time this blogpiece goes out some...
Setting aside the growing threat to the scientific literature from outright fraud, wilful misinterpretation, undeclared conflicts of interest, low-quality peer review and malign pseudo- science, it is an inevitable fact that much of what is put into print today will turn out to be erroneous when revisited in the future. At the very least, it...
In March 2024, the European Commission presented its new higher education package. The package includes initiatives on a European degree, a European quality assurance and recognition system, and careers in higher education. The package builds on earlier initiatives ranging from a European strategy for universities to micro-credentials. The Commission has plans for the European Education...
When I first joined the faculty in Tampere, a high-point of every working week was the institute seminar. Except when they were away at some other meeting, all PIs attended every time, and so did their PhD students, postdocs and other associates. Nobody was formally compelled to attend. They did so because that was what...
The EU directive on copyright in the digital single market and online transmission directive were decreed as part of the Finnish Copyright Act in the manner hoped by the Finnish Union of University Professors, that is, according to the directives. The partial update of the Copyright Act was completed early last year, with the updated...
In 2018 I wrote a short column for Tieteessä tapahtuu (Science now) describing my time as a visiting scholar at Humboldt University in Berlin. I finished that column by pondering on what I learned during the visit about the multifaceted experiences and aftermaths of the Cold War, particularly about the fragility of science and how...
The landscape of scientific publishing is rapidly changing. We academics need not only to keep pace with the changes, but preferably take back control of the entire process. Having been involved with the ‘industry‘ for almost 3 decades, both as author/reviewer and editor, it feels to me as if we are close to a tipping...