News archive
China's place among the stars
8 January 2019
Mark Zastrow
The FAST telescope dish, stretching half a kilometre, will thrust China’s radio astronomers into a role of global leadership.
China: Small science grows in large hands
4 January 2019
Sarah O'Meara
China’s nanotech industry is forging ahead, with high funding levels, a maturing talent pool, and international experience.
Data brief: Female first-authors attract more readers
2 January 2019
Gemma Conroy
The work of female researchers has a broader impact than citation analysis suggests, but not in India.
Egypt and Pakistan had highest rise in research output in 2018
27 December 2018
Anita Makri
Global production of scientific papers hit an all-time high this year, estimates show, with emerging economies rising fastest.
Stop, Start, Rewind: A front-seat view of mouse development
20 December 2018
Jeffrey M. Perkel
A new microscope allows researchers to track single cells in developing embryos, forward and backward in time.
China: Engineering a biomedical revolution
17 December 2018
Smriti Mallapaty
A permissive regulatory climate and a pragmatic approach has seen China’s bioscience sector soar.
Science Cities: A venture under pressure
20 November 2018
Katherine Bourzac
Scientific innovation has long powered the San Francisco Bay Area’s economy, but community and political challenges could undermine progress.
First analysis of ‘pre-registered’ studies shows sharp rise in null findings
30 October 2018
Matthew Warren
Logging hypotheses and protocols before performing research seems to work as intended: to reduce publication bias for positive results.
Data Brief: First in, best dressed for EU healthcare research funding
26 October 2018
Smriti Mallapaty
Only 3% of EU grant funds went to new entrants to the union between 2007 and 2016.
Discovery relies on strong support staff
17 October 2018
David Langley & Therina Theron
A lack of trained administrators is holding African scientists back.
From postdoc to prosperity
4 October 2018
Emma Compton-Daw
Universities need to prepare researchers for life beyond academia.
When breaking free is a mark of success
3 October 2018
Gemma Conroy
Two new measures aim to assess researchers' independence from their former lab heads.
11 up-and-coming researchers in the natural sciences
20 September 2018
Catherine Armitage et al.
These newcomers are making their mark in science across the disciplines.
Peer reviewers unmasked: largest global survey reveals trends
11 September 2018
Inga Vesper
Scientists in emerging economies respond fastest to peer review invitations, but are invited least.
Gender inequalities in science won’t self-correct: it’s time for action
5 September 2018
Sarah Hamylton et al.
"For twenty years people had been telling me how lucky I was to be in our field of research because 'things' were changing for young women. Twenty years later 'things' had not changed.
China digs deep on environmental research
16 August 2018
Hepeng Jia
As China’s scientists strive to produce research with global prestige, urgent local environmental problems jostle for attention.
Japan weighs the value of imported academics
2 August 2018
Futao Huang
Foreign faculty in Japan are less productive than their local counterparts on many measures, but better connected to global collaborations.
Early-career researchers herald change
25 July 2018
David Nicholas et al.*
The younger generation sees a collaborative system as key to discovery and advancement, a three-year tracking project reveals.
Steps to a top-scoring impact case study
12 July 2018
Mark Reed et. al.
Describing the benefits of excellent research in simple language gets high marks in the REF.
British universities fail at research integrity self-regulation
11 July 2018
Dalmeet Singh Chawla
One-quarter of surveyed institutions admit to not complying with guidelines.
Microsoft’s purchase of GitHub leaves some scientists uneasy
22 June 2018
Andrew Silver
They fear the online platform will become less open, but other researchers say the buyout could make GitHub more useful.
Australian researchers ‘vulnerable’ under new code of conduct
20 June 2018
Smriti Mallapaty
Lack of independent oversight in examining alleged breaches leaves academics at the whim of institutions.
2018 Annual Tables: Ten institutions that dominated science
12 June 2018
Gemma Conroy
These top 10 institutions in the Nature Index were the largest contributors to papers published in 82 leading journals in the past year.
When it comes to reproducible science, Git is code for success
11 June 2018
Jeffrey Perkel
And the key to its popularity is the online repository and social network, GitHub.
2018 Annual Tables: Tsinghua joins elite group of research universities
7 June 2018
Smriti Mallapaty
Two Beijing-based universities are among the top 10 academic institutions in the Nature Index.
Scientists get more bang for their buck if given more freedom
23 May 2018
Smriti Mallapaty
Multi-national study challenges long-held assumptions about efficiency.
Scientists reveal their sacrifices for the sake of work
21 May 2018
John Pickrell
Palaeontologists, biologists are among researchers whose social media reflections reveal what they have given up in the pursuit of science.
Rockefeller tops Leiden university ranking for eighth consecutive year
20 May 2018
Smriti Mallapaty
The small university stands out for its citation impact relative to its size.
Wikipedia’s top-cited scholarly articles — revealed
16 May 2018
Giorgia Guglielmi
Gene collections and astronomy studies dominate the list of the most-cited publications with DOIs on the popular online encyclopaedia.
Cancer funding in the UK fits global pattern of gender bias
15 May 2018
Smriti Mallapaty
Women receive fewer
and smaller grants across the world.
Science in North Korea: How easing the nuclear stand-off might bolster research
2 May 2018
Richard Van Noorden
The isolated nation publishes fewer than 100 scholarly articles a year — but as political tensions thaw, researchers hope for greater collaboration.
Q&A Trish Greenhalgh: Linear impact narratives encourage easy science
19 April 2018
Smriti Mallapaty
The REF’s approach to impact incentivizes research that can be obviously linked to outcomes.
Pillars of a smart society: From blockchain to surgical robots
18 April 2018
Smriti Mallapaty
Across the scientific fields, Japanese researchers are bringing together the virtual and real worlds.
Japan bets on science diplomacy
16 April 2018
Daniel Hurst
International collaborations are rising, but not enough to put Japan on the global researcher circuit.
How researchers are ensuring that their work has an impact
5 April 2018
Jack Leeming
Finding purpose and meaning in the lab.
Women paid 20% less in top UK research institutions
29 March 2018
Smriti Mallapaty
Gender pay gap reports reveal extent of male favoritism in the UK.
Experts fear irrelevance for assessment of research relevance
28 March 2018
Smriti Mallapaty
Australian academics will need to prove that they have demonstrated the usefulness of their work to communities, industry and government.
Women left out of impact assessments
27 March 2018
Julie Davies and Emily Yarrow
Consideration should be given to the research impact agenda’s effects on female academics, say Julie Davies and Emily Yarrow.
United States and South Korea the world’s biggest science novelty acts
21 February 2018
Dalmeet Singh Chawla
Tool that tallies engagement with new biomedical concepts seeks to reward novelty.
UK researchers want quotas to redress lack of diversity
16 February 2018
Anthea Lacchia
Efforts to increase diversity in research assessment panels don’t cut it.
International collaborations growing fast
19 January 2018
Dalmeet Singh Chawla
More countries are taking part in cross-border partnerships, but inequality remains.
Industry links boost research output
18 December 2017
Neil Savage
Female researchers add their superiors as authors
15 December 2017
Dalmeet Singh Chawla
Survey finds that women are more prone to recognizing honorary co-authors in papers, but less likely to pad citation lists.
Here’s what’s wrong with companies backing out of science
12 December 2017
Ashish Arora, Sharon Belenzon & Andrea Patacconi
A fix for open-access cost barriers
6 December 2017
Elie Dolgin
What if it was funders and libraries instead of authors who paid processing fees?
The problem with chasing publications
16 November 2017
Julia Lane
COMMENT: National initiatives that track people, rather than papers, will lead to better science in the United States.
Young scientists flail in sink or swim system
13 November 2017
Elie Dolgin
Canada’s future as a refuge for researchers could be short-lived
9 November 2017
Ian Munroe
An open society makes Canada an attractive destination for students and scientists, but only as long as government promises for increased funding are met.
Europe opens arms to post-Brexit research migrants
8 November 2017
Anna Petherick
For centuries a hub of ideas and trade, London is embracing ambitious developments to boost research and local connections, despite the uncertainty caused by Brexit.
UK research integrity code ineffective
31 October 2017
Yojana Sharma
A parliamentary hearing on research misconduct finds little evidence of improvement.
The unexpected reason researchers choose open access
25 October 2017
Yojana Sharma
Open-access publishing held to the same standards as paid subscription journals.
Rush to publish weakens scientific integrity, study finds
18 October 2017
Gemma Conroy
A new model suggests bias towards novel results is driving down reproducible research.
UK deliberations leave young researchers in limbo
16 October 2017
Anthea Lacchia
Lack of clarity on changes to the country's research assessment system provokes anxiety among early-career researchers.
High-impact papers score well in REF, study finds
9 October 2017
Anthea Lacchia
Researchers in the UK find that the impact factor of journal articles matches judgements by a panel of experts on research quality.
US institutions hold their own in the index
19 September 2017
Smriti Mallapaty
140 institutions in the United States have spent five consecutive years in the Nature Index top 500.
Young researchers preach open access, yet many don't practice
22 May 2017
Ivy Shih
Early-career researchers in the UK are less likely to choose open access over subscription journals.
Japan loses share of research articles to China
24 March 2017
Nicky Phillips
Despite being among the top science nations, Japan's publication output has stalled over the past decade.
UK-India research collaborations threatened by decline in student enrolments
15 March 2017
Anthea Lacchia
Years of groundwork underpins rise in research collaborations.
Australian funding agency turns a blind eye to evidence
7 March 2017
Adrian Barnett
COMMENT: Ignoring evidence when deciding where research funding goes will not lead to high quality research, says Adrian Barnett.
EU funding formula revealed
27 February 2017
Anthea Lacchia
Several factors can help institutions secure one of these sought-after grants.
China and South Korea flash the cash in R&D race
24 February 2017
Ivy Shih
G20 countries dominate global research spending and production, but the mix is changing.
Brexit uncertainty disrupting EU-UK research
29 November 2016
Mark Peplow
Uncertainty surrounding Britain’s future in EU research may be damaging science.
Measuring the impact of R&D spending
6 October 2016
Myles Gough
Does pouring money into research always translate into better outcomes?
European universities rise to the challenge
11 August 2016
Mark Zastrow, James Mitchell Crow
As a continent, Europe is home to the most rising stars in the index.
How Brexit may impact Britain's top research universities
30 June 2016
Nicky Phillips
Some UK universities may be affected more than others.
Ten institutions that dominated science in 2015
20 April 2016
Sarah O'Meara
The top 10 institutions in the Nature Index are the largest contributors to papers published in 68 leading journals in 2015
