Author archive: Brooke Struck
Bibliometrics Open access
1findr: discovery for the world of research
1findr, 1science, Dimensions, Open access
As of last week, 1science is offering public access to its 1findr service. 1findr is a discovery and analytics platform for scholarly research, indexing an incredibly wide breadth of peer-reviewed journals. But just how broad is its coverage, and how does 1findr compare to alternative systems? In this post, we'll measure up 1findr against the (also quite new) Dimensions platform from Digital Science. These two platforms represent new approaches to bibliographic data: 1findr is fed using harvesters that automatically collect, parse, complete and validate metadata from information online, whereas Dimensions aggregates and cross-links data from a variety of sources, accessed through institutional partnerships.
Budget 2018: The Evidence Budget
evidence-based policymaking, expert advice, science funding, science policy, science–policy interface
In our post last week on the 2018–19 Canadian federal budget, we looked at how the new spending on fundamental research addresses the calls for support from the Naylor report. But there were many more science stories in the budget as well. Beyond the dollar figures, there are important—if tacit—signals in the budget document about another key item from the science file in Canada: using evidence to build policy. Today's post attempts to decipher those tacit signals.
Budget 2018: the fundamental question of research funding
Science has been quite prominent on the Canadian political radar in recent years, and even became a regular talking point during the last federal election in 2015. During that campaign, the current Liberal government made four headline promises, and with the release yesterday of the 2018–19 federal budget, one of the key puzzle pieces fell into place: increased funding for fundamental research. In today's post, we'll assess the budget's meaning for science in Canada.
Science advice in Canada: reborn again?
evidence-based policymaking, expert advice, science policy, science–policy interface
Science advice is apparently having a "moment" right now in Canada. Quebec has had a chief scientist since 2011, but both the federal government and the Ontario provincial government named chief science advisors in the second half of 2017. For the first time, at the end of January 2018, the three chief scientists appeared publicly together, on a panel organized by the Institute for Science, Society and Policy (ISSP) at the University of Ottawa. This attracted no small number of science policy nerds. While the event was billed as a new renaissance for science advice, that does raise the question of when exactly its prior incarnations occurred. In today's post, we'll present a summary of the discussions, along with some critical reflections.
Bibliometrics Data mining Open access Science policy
2017: the best of ScienceMetrics.org
case studies, conference presentations, Data mining, evidence-based policymaking, methodology, science policy, science–policy interface, year in review
Over the past year, the ScienceMetrics.org blog has grown considerably. We really appreciate our growing group of readers and all the interesting discussions that the blog has sparked. In today's post, we'll take a quick look back at 2017, and give you a year-in-review from our side of the "Publish" button.
Team diversity widget: how do you measure up?
big data, cross-sectoral collaboration, indicator development, interdisciplinarity, multidisciplinarity
Collaboration and disciplinary diversity are hot topics in the science policy and research communities. At Science-Metrix, we've been working on multi-/inter-/trans-disciplinarity issues for a while now, and we figured that some of you might find it useful to have a tool you can use to take a quick measurement of the multidisciplinarity of your team. As part of our 15th anniversary celebrations, we've created a free widget that we're sharing for just such a purpose. Any team can be measured—your research team in academia, a product team in your company, or even your Wednesday-night hockey team. In this post, we'll explain what the disciplinarity widget does, how to interpret the measurements, and how you can use it yourself. We hope you enjoy the widget—a little birthday gift from us to you!
Canadian Science: mandate update from Minister Duncan
conference presentations, evidence-based policymaking, science policy, science–policy interface
Kirsty Duncan (Canadian federal Minister of Science) gave a keynote address at the 9th annual Canadian Science Policy Conference in early November, during which she outlined the main priorities of her role and what she's accomplished since being named two years ago. In our ongoing coverage of the keynote speeches from CSPC, this post will summarize her talk and highlight some critical questions.