Jeffrey Brainard

As journals and conferences report a surge in papers containing AI writing, AI-text detectors struggle to flag human-written, AI-edited text. A new approach instead flags this writing based on the human-generated ideas it contains. #AIWriting #peerreview @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Lotteries have controversially been tried for managing grant applications; now an AI conference plans to use one, to help keep pace with a surge in submitted papers. And conferences are capping submissions. Will these measures be enough? #peerreview @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Survey participants are often promised anonymity, but researchers studying crime posted a public data set that identified people who confessed to crimes. Without more care, #openscience can conflict with privacy #researchintegrity #academicpublishing @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Conference poster sessions – do you attend? Find them useful? Overwhelming, too much information? What if you could find them all in one place and peruse them later? #scicomm #academicchatter @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

As research papers proliferate, can AI reviewers help humans check quality while keeping pace with the flood? Tests are revealing their strengths and weaknesses. #PeerReviewWeek @science.org www.science.org/content/article/can-ai-help-solve-peer-review-crisis-here-are-its-promises-and-pitfalls

Hundreds of ads by #papermills, offering authorship on scientific articles for a fee, wound up published in conference proceedings. Are these venues a back-door route that’s too easy? #scicomm #retractions #peerreview @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

A leading researcher moved from the authors list to the acknowledgements section of a commentary amid growing U.S. restrictions on coauthorships with non-U.S. scholars. #scicomm @flynnmurphy.bsky.social @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

As submissions to scientific journals continue to climb, it’s becoming more time-consuming to find ones that may offer truly novel ideas. This U.K. competition is paying the winner £300,000 for suggesting how AI could help. #peerreview #scicomm @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

U.S. science agencies are forecast to pay more for #openaccess publication of journal articles. Are they ready? And is the author-pays business model sustainable? A GAO report draws criticism. #scholcomm @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

U.S. researchers who coauthor research papers with scientists affiliated with foreign institutions are drawing fresh scrutiny from NIH, NASA. #scientificpublishing @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

#papermill ads: Not very shy. (The preprint on this new study was posted this week.) #sciencepublishing #researchintegrity www.science.org/content/arti...

The credibility of scientific journal articles might be bolstered if they carried a score capturing their rigor, such as whether the findings could be replicated. But constructing a telltale indicator of replicability remains a challenge. #openscience @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

#AIagents promise to speed up ordinary online tasks, but they can also share private files publicly, delete others, and libel people. A new study examines these #AIsafety vulnerabilities. #OpenClaw #AIgovernance @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

#arXiv, the granddaddy of #preprints servers, has announced it’s splitting from Cornell U., its long-time host institution. Leaders there explain why. #OpenAccess #ScholComm @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

#preprints are seen as accelerating science – but do they accelerate #researchcareers? @science.org @sciencecareers.bsky.social #scientificpublishing #scicomm www.science.org/content/arti...

Are #openaccess fees that some journals charge authors too high? The Chinese Academy of Sciences, the world’s largest research institution, reportedly thinks so and plans to stop funding some, a move that could shake up #scientificpublishing. @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Can researchers effectively use artificial intelligence to develop better understanding and insights into the rising number of scientific research papers if the content searched is siloed by publisher? #scicomm #scientificpublishing @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Many want to use AI to accelerate science, and utilizing it to explore the growing tsunami of research articles is getting lots of attention. Measuring the quality of AI answers to questions about science is a challenge. @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

#SpecialIssues have fueled the growth of some of the largest #OpenAccess publishers. Does a journal that allows a #GuestEditor to both plan a special issue and write many articles in it have a conflict of interest? #scicomm #peerreview @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

#OpenScience costs money - think author fees/ APCs - but is assumed to provide benefits for academe, the public, and the economy. The PathOS study explored new ways to measure that. But proving a direct effect is tricky. #scientificpublishing #scicomm @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

@science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

🧪 ✏️ Apply for the 2026 Diverse Voices in Science Journalism Internship with @science.org! 🧪 ✏️ This could be for you if you're a student from a community historically underrepresented in #journalism who's interested in in covering science for general audiences: recruiting.ultipro.com/AME1123ASEM/...

A sequel to #Plan_S -- the carrot, not the stick. Will that approach improve what ails #scientificpublishing? #ScholarlyComm #openaccess @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

A rapidly growing share of letters to journals may be drafted by machines, undetected by editors. Study quantifies recently ‘prolific debutante authors’ who had published no letters before 2022, when ChatGPT debuted. #academicjournals #peerreview @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

A human reviewer's take on an AI-written paper: 'Technically correct but neither interesting nor important.' Yesterday's first-of-its-kind #Agents4Science conference, where all papers were written and reviewed by #AI, considered their promise, limitations @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

The journal Science’s editorial reviews came under the microscope in a rare study using internal data it supplied. #peerreview #scientificjournals #scientificpublishing @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Trust but verify? #mlsky #scientificpublishing #sciencejournals @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Can AI help identify high-volume, low-quality, “questionable” scientific journals (which some, controversially, call #predatoryjournals )? Authors of this new study emphasize aiding not replacing human evaluators of these journals. @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

The idea that AI-as-scientist will replace human researchers, or augment their creativity and productivity, is drawing attention. But how soon? @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Can authors afford APCs for #openaccess publishing if NIH caps its payments for them? Institutional read-and-publish deals offer an APC-free alternative, but NIH also wants to lower the indirect cost rate to 15%, which could squeeze money for such deals. @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Are scientists citing papers without reading them? #scientificpublishing #AcademicChatter #peerreview @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

#researchfraud #papermills #academicpublishing @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

If getting a research grant required scoring applications from your competitors, would you apply? New evidence on this novel method, “distributed #peerreview,” at #Metascience2025. @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Under a new NIH rule, the number of journal articles with #CreativeCommons licenses may soon grow. Many authors say they don't understand how CC licenses do - and don't - protect #intellectualproperty. A copyright lawyer explains. #openscience @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

As AI presents new costs for scientific-society publishers, their revenues are strained. #openscience #publishingmodels #scholcomm @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Is science becoming less innovative? A 2023 paper suggested many fields are. But a new study finds evidence that a growing subset of papers catalyze enduring new paths in research. #ScientificInnovation #bibliometrics @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

DOGE-driven journal cancellations at USDA's National Agricultural Library: '[like] burning down the Library of Alexandria.' #scientificpublishing #libraryscience #academiclibraries @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

EXCLUSIVE: Fear spreads that NIH will terminate grants involving South Africa | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

#bioRxiv and #medRxiv strike out on their own, as #medRxiv's preprint volume approaches its COVID-era peak. #peerreview #openscience #scientificpublishing @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Any conservative/Trump-voting federal scientists who have been fired and are willing to discuss their views on that whatever they may be?--or can others suggest people in that situation we should reach out to? Contact the News from Science team www.science.org/content/page...

Depending on your perspective it's a good/bad week for @science.org's news team to launch our Trump Tracker. Were recent NIH resignations voluntary? Will RFK Jr start firing scientists today? Why did a judge unfreeze U.S. foreign aid needed for clinical trials? www.science.org/content/arti...

Many #researchintegrity sleuths are volunteers with little financial support for their often-daunting work to uncover #scientificfraud. One of the most prominent, Elisabeth Bik, has now provided money to change that. @elisabethbik.bsky.social @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

I’m glad to join the community here discussing science and #ScientificPublishing, which I write about for Science magazine. I welcome suggestions. #peerreview #ResearchPublication #ResearchPublishing #PublicationEthics #Authorship #ScientificCommunication #SciComm #scholcomm #AcademicSky