Science Society - Scientific Publishing and the Academic Incentive Structure

Science Society
Mr Ben Farrar PhD student at the University of Cambridge
Date 12/02/2021 at 18.00 - 12/02/2021 at 19.00 Where Zoom meeting
Book

The Science Society organises regular talks during term time. Throughout this term, all talks take place as zoom meetings, make sure to register.

Science Society

For better or for worse, publications are academic currency. Researchers are judged on what they publish, where they publish, and how often they publish. Unfortunately, there is a growing recognition that the incentive structure around publications can foster bad science. When scientists and journals promote sensationalist claims, and undervalue negative results, scientific literatures become populated with findings that are difficult to reproduce. This talk outlines how this incentive structure has gripped science, the role large for-profit publishers have played in this, and introduces a wave publication options that aim to place scientific quality and fairness ahead of profit and glamour.


Ben Farrar is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on scientific bias, replicability and meta-research in comparative psychology. He founded the Cambridge ReproducibiliTea Journal Club, and has spoken at a range of Open Science conferences. He is interested in helping researchers make informed decisions about publication, and is an advocate for low APC and non-profit publishing.

Register for this talks series here