Update. The U of Virginia surveyed its community in October on how it should respond to the #Trump compact. The Chronicle of Higher Education got the results through a public-records request.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/uva-asked-its-community-to-weigh-in-on-trumps-compact-heres-what-they-said
( #paywalled)

" 'Nope. Nothing. Nada.' 'Not at all.' 'No'. 'NO.' 'NO!'… Those curt replies were broadly representative of the responses as a whole…The F-word is used nine times…There were nearly 200 references to #UVa’s founder, #ThomasJefferson, almost all of which were in service of the argument that the compact went against his vision of the university. 'Stand your ground,' one wrote. 'You know it’s what Thomas Jefferson would have wanted.' "

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon
#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #TrumpVResearch #Universities #UVa #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "Women are markedly underrepresented among authors of retracted publications, particularly in cases involving multiple retractions."
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0335059

The article is #OpenAccess. But on the day of publication, this #paywalled comment by Jenna Ahart appeared in Nature.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03796-w

Update. "Women are markedly underrepresented among authors of retracted publications, particularly in cases involving multiple retractions."
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0335059

The article is #OpenAccess. But on the day of publication, this #paywalled comment by Jenna Ahart appeared in Nature.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03796-w

"Scientists had to change more than 700 grant titles to receive NIH funding. Health disparities researchers fear what’s next."
https://www.statnews.com/2025/10/29/nih-banned-words-analysis-grant-title-changes/
( #paywalled)

"McKay’s is one of more than 700 multiyear grants that changed their titles from 2024 to 2025, according to an analysis of NIH Reporter data by Jeremy Berg, who previously led one of the NIH’s institutes and has been a vocal critic of the administration’s moves at the agency…The vast majority [of these changes] were to remove words and phrases that have become anathema to the administration. Nearly 100 grants have removed “equity” from their title, dozens removed references to “disparities,” and many others removed references to specific racial groups and gender minorities."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Medicine #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

"NIH funding cuts have affected over 74,000 people enrolled in experiments, a new report says."
https://apnews.com/article/nih-funding-cuts-32b9b7bad01457a5412af26e394e3735

This AP article doesn't link to the primary source in _JAMA Internal Medicine_ or the accompanying editor's note, perhaps because they're both #paywalled. (If that's the reason, it's weak.) Here they are:

* primary source
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2840939

* editor's note
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2840943

#ClinicalTrials #DefendResearch #Funding #Medicine #NIH #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

Thinking about #AI, Paul Ford (@ftrain) proposes a quirky but plausible test to distinguish bubble technologies from normal technologies.
https://www.wired.com/story/ai-normal-after-ai-plateaus/
(#paywalled)

"The metric I use is the C/B ratio: conferences to blogging. If people are steadily attending conferences about a subject, it is not normal yet. If they’re mostly blogging about it, it is. I made this up, but I assure you it’s predictive."

By this test, he concludes that AI is a bubble technology.

I bring this up because it seems that this test also makes #OpenAccess a bubble something, even if not a technology. But I'd call OA normal -- here to stay, wanted for good reasons, widely accepted, widely implemented, and growing, though previously novel and still overcoming obstacles.

Now I'm wondering: Is Ford's test bogus? Is it valid in some domains but not for something like OA? If it applies to OA, am I applying it too loosely? Or is OA still not normal?

#HalfSerious

"More than 20% of chemistry researchers have deliberately added information they believe to be incorrect into their manuscripts during the peer review process, in order to get their papers published."
https://cen.acs.org/policy/publishing/One-five-chemists-deliberately-added/103/web/2025/10

* Primary source
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08989621.2025.2564106
(#paywalled)

#AddedValue #Chemistry #PeerReview #Reviewer2 #ScholComm

"More than 20% of chemistry researchers have deliberately added information they believe to be incorrect into their manuscripts during the peer review process, in order to get their papers published."
https://cen.acs.org/policy/publishing/One-five-chemists-deliberately-added/103/web/2025/10

* Primary source
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08989621.2025.2564106
(#paywalled)

#AddedValue #Chemistry #PeerReview #Reviewer2 #ScholComm

Update. In response to this problem (previous post, this thread), some publishers are desk-rejecting papers based on open health datasets. The problem is not the quality of the data, but the absence of additional work to validate findings.

Two reports:

1. "Journals and publishers crack down on research from open health data sets," Science, Oct 8, 2025.
https://www.science.org/content/article/journals-and-publishers-crack-down-research-open-health-data-sets

2. "AI: Journals are automatically rejecting public health dataset papers to combat paper mills," BMJ, Oct 15, 2025.
https://www.bmj.com/content/391/bmj.r2170
( #paywalled)

#AI #Data #Frontiers #Medicine #PaperMills #PLOS #OpenData

Update. #Dartmouth has not yet made a public statement rejecting the Trump compact. But two Dartmouth sources "who asked to speak anonymously…said they participated in a meeting with President Sian Leah Beilock in which…she said 'she would not sign the compact as written.'"
https://www.chronicle.com/article/dartmouths-president-balks-at-trump-compact-sources-say-as-feds-expand-offer-to-any-institution
( #paywalled)

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. If you've heard that Trump "offered" his compact to all US colleges and universities, and your institution didn't receive the Trump letter, here's why. Trump didn't use letters. He used this Truth Social post:
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115362973187528235

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that, "A source at the Department of Education confirmed Tuesday that a Truth Social post from President Trump was intended to be an invitation to higher ed. 'We welcome any institution that wants to adopt these principles to sign the compact,' wrote the source, who declined to go on the record."
https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/the-trump-agenda/trump-welcomes-any-institution-to-sign-onto-compact-outlining-his-priorities
( #paywalled)

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "Trump Offers All Colleges Preferential Funding Plan Rejected by MIT."
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-13/trump-invites-all-colleges-to-join-compact-after-mit-s-rejection
( #paywalled)

"The Trump administration is inviting all US colleges to participate in a compact — initially rejected by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — that would grant preferential federal funding in return for commitments to specific policy changes like DEI bans, according to a person familiar with the matter…Trump has said that colleges who reject the deal will face investigations into compliance with federal laws, but the extent to which federal research grants or student aid eligibility will be predicated on acceptance of the accord remains murky."

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. After #MIT said 𝗻𝗼 to the Trump compact (yesterday), the Chronicle of Higher Education asked the other eight targeted universities for their reactions.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/what-could-mits-rejection-of-trumps-proposed-compact-mean-for-the-rest-of-higher-ed
( #paywalled)

"Asked for reactions to MIT’s announcement, spokespeople for Brown University, Dartmouth College, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Virginia, and Vanderbilt University had no new information to share. The other recipients — the Universities of Arizona and Pennsylvania — didn’t respond."

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. After #MIT said 𝗻𝗼 to the Trump compact (yesterday), the Chronicle of Higher Education asked the other eight targeted universities for their reactions.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/what-could-mits-rejection-of-trumps-proposed-compact-mean-for-the-rest-of-higher-ed
( #paywalled)

"Asked for reactions to MIT’s announcement, spokespeople for Brown University, Dartmouth College, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Virginia, and Vanderbilt University had no new information to share. The other recipients — the Universities of Arizona and Pennsylvania — didn’t respond."

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. The Chronicle of Higher Education is tracking comments from the nine universities that received the Trump threat-bribe.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-white-house-sent-its-compact-to-9-universities-heres-what-their-administrators-and-faculty-are-saying
( #paywalled)

Summary: Large faculty groups at each institution urge administrators to reject the deal.

Administrators are saying little beyond the fact that they received the letter and are discussing what to do about it -- with one exception.

The exception is UTexas, where the chair of the Board of Regents, Kevin Eltife (a retired Republican State Senator), said Texas is "honored [to be] named as one of only nine institutions in the US selected by the Trump administration for potential funding advantages under its new 'Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education'. We enthusiastically look forward to engaging with university officials and reviewing the compact immediately."

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

"DOJ Deletes Study Showing Domestic Terrorists Are Most Often Right Wing."
https://www.404media.co/doj-deletes-study-showing-domestic-terrorists-are-most-often-right-wing/
(#paywalled)

"The Department of Justice has removed a study showing that white supremacist and far-right violence 'continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism' in the United States. The study, which was conducted by the National Institute of Justice [#NIJ] and hosted on a #DOJ website was available there at least until September 12, 2025, according to an archive of the page saved by the Wayback Machine. Daniel Malmer, a PhD student studying online extremism at UNC-Chapel Hill, first noticed the paper was deleted."

Here's the archived copy in the Wayback Machine.
https://web.archive.org/web/20250911165140if_/https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/306123.pdf

#Censorship #DefendResearch #DOJ #Takedowns #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics