Este trabalho apresenta a experiência de uma abordagem interdisciplinar, desenvolvida na modalidade de pesquisa-ação, no atendimento ambulatorial a um grupo de 20 pacientes em tratamento da hepatite C. As especialidades envolvidas no projeto foram: assistência social, enfermagem, gastroenterologia, ..

Animals, like humans, suffer and die from natural causes. This is particularly true of animals living in the wild, given their high exposure to, and low capacity to cope with, harmful natural processes. Most wild animals likely have short lives, full of suffering, usually ending in terrible deaths. This book argues that on the assumption that we have reasons to assist others in need, we should intervene in nature to prevent or reduce the harms wild animals suffer, provided that it (...) is feasible and that the expected result is positive overall. It is of the utmost importance that academics from different disciplines as well as animal advocates begin to confront this issue. The more people are concerned with wild animal suffering, the more probable it is that safe and effective solutions to the plight of wild animals will be implemented in the future. (shrink)

In this paper, following the taxonomy developed by Mackenzie, Rogers and Dodds of different sources and states of vulnerability, I claim that wild animals are inherently and situationally vulnerable. This is because they can experience suffering as a response to certain internal and external states and have a high exposure to, and a low capacity to cope with, harmful natural processes. From this it follows that we have a moral obligation to support and assist individuals who are occurrently vulnerable and (...) to reduce the risk of dispositional vulnerabilities becoming occurrent in the future, by endorsing some form of what I call ‘environmental enhancement’. Finally, I pay critical attention to how to prevent interventions aimed at ameliorating vulnerability from paradoxically generating pathogenic vulnerabilities. (shrink)

The Weatherall Report claims that research on non-human primates is permitted and morally required. The argument rests on the following thought experiment: > The hospital fire : A hospital is on fire. Some of the residents are humans and others are non-human animals. You can only save one group. What do you do? Some people have the intuition that we should rescue the humans. According to the report, if we accept that human lives have priority over non-human lives in this (...) case, consistency requires us to support the use of non-human animals in research. This is because both cases are about saving human lives at the expense of the lives of non-human animals. Two critical replies appeared in the literature, by E J Moore1 and Muireann Quigley.2 In a recent paper3 Gardar Arnason claims that such objections fail. I will argue, however, that his assessment is unconvincing. The first objection pressed by Moore is that there are fundamental disanalogies between The hospital fire and biomedical research. In that scenario we face a life-or-death emergency situation whereas in biomedical research we do not. In such situations it may be justified to prioritise those closest to us (eg, species …. (shrink)

The ability to extract patterns from sensory input across time and space is thought to underlie the development and acquisition of language and literacy skills, particularly the subdomains marked by the learning of probabilistic knowledge. Thus, impairments in procedural learning are hypothesized to underlie neurodevelopmental disorders, such as dyslexia and developmental language disorder. In the present meta‐analysis, comprising 2396 participants from 39 independent studies, the continuous relationship between language, literacy, and procedural learning on the Serial Reaction Time task (SRTT) was (...) assessed across children and adults with typical development (TD), dyslexia, and Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Despite a significant, but very small, relationship between procedural learning and overall language and literacy measures, this pattern was not observed at the group‐level when examining TD, dyslexic, and DLD groups separately. Based on the procedural/declarative model, a positive relationship was expected between procedural learning and language and literacy measures for the typically developing group; however, no such relationship was observed. This was also the case for the disordered groups (ps >.05). Also counter to expectations, the magnitude of the relationship between procedural learning and grammar and phonology did not differ between TD and DLD (ps >.05), nor between the TD and dyslexic group on reading, spelling, and phonology (ps >.05). While lending little support to the procedural/declarative model, we consider that these results may be the consequence of poor psychometric properties of the SRTT as a measure of procedural learning. (shrink)

O trabalho aborda questões bastante discutidas na contemporaneidade, buscando uma maior compreensão do pensamento filosófico na educação. Na tentativa de propor um entendimento da problemática em que se voltou a Filosofia da Educação, o estudo analisa as discussões controversas entre analíticos e continentais, reconhecendo em Habermas e Rorty a possibilidade de abandonar o pensamento idealista e subjetivo da tradição filosófica. O objetivo é refletir sobre as abordagens teóricas e metodológicas utilizadas nessas discussões, identificando as contribuições que a hermenêutica, o pragmatismo (...) e a filosofia da linguagem podem viabilizar à educação, assinalando a necessidade de desenvolver mudanças nos modos de se pensar e gerir a formação. Em defesa de uma produção semântica para o estudo filosófico no processo de formação de professores, o texto demarca algumas críticas à filosofia da educação por estar voltada apenas para a filosofia continental (antes da virada lingüística), relatando a pretensão de redescobrir o sujeito educativo na linguagem. O estudo, voltado às discussões filosóficas mais atuais do mundo ocidental, pretende incitar a concretização das propostas de grandes aportes teóricos do pensamento, possibilitando repensar o modelo da pedagogia tradicional à luz de novos critérios de avaliação, desenvolvendo através da linguagem, um novo espírito para o estudo da filosofia da educação. Essa reabertura, permite repensar a imagem da filosofia contemporânea e suas implicações educacionais, facilitando a ultrapassagem dos limites conceituais das teorias filosóficas dogmáticas, presas ao historicismo, reconstruindo o cenário teórico baseado no entendimento pragmático e hermenêutico da situação atual. (shrink)

From its initial conceptualization as emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced personal efficacy for the help professions, burnout has received increasing attention in modern times, especially after the 2019 WHO’s inclusion of this syndrome in the ICD-11 list. Burnout can be measured using several psychometric instruments that range in dimensionality, number of items, copyrighted, and free use formats. Here, we report the psychometric properties of data gathered with the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory in a sample of Portuguese Aircraft maintenance technicians. As far (...) as we know, this is the first study addressing the burnout syndrome in this occupational group. Data gathered with the OLBI displayed good evidence of validity related to internal structure, to other variables, with good evidence of reliability. We showed that burnout significantly correlated with mental and physical fatigue emphasizing the vital critical role that these variables play with safety in the aviation industry. (shrink)

This study aimed to analyze the explanatory contribution of social responsibility and organizational justice on commitment through the setting up of a theoretical model in order to better understand the relationships that are established between these constructs. The empirical study was developed in a public higher education institution with a sample of 233 employees, professors and staff. The proposed model was estimated using a structural equation model. It was possible to observe a relationship between interactional justice perceptions and social responsibility (...) and there contribute to the explanation of organizational affective commitment. At the same time, it was possible to observe a relationship between distributive justice and social responsibility of employees. (shrink)

This work aims to present the meaning of the distributions of the sensible in Jacques Rancière's theory. In order to understand the genesis of the distributions of the sensible – especially at this particular moment –, we will start from Rancier's definition of political subjectivization, which is inherent to the contribution of the distribution of places promoted by instances of domination. After all, for the author, politics is not the distribution of power. The distribution of the sensible would be a (...) political and policy process that is sometimes mediated by instances of conflict, and sometimes interceded by instances of power, and this tends to affect the way in which subjects occupy the sensible community by verifying the ways in which reality is taken and ordered following the order of domination. (shrink)

This paper argues that: a) the indiscriminate application of the German model to all European countries has fostered economic growth in the EU at different speeds; b) Italy, the cradle of Catholic capitalism, is currently attempting to react against austerity measures - imposed by the economic constrictions of the German model – by focusing on the third sector and non-profit companies.

In der philosophischen Debatte uber den Status und die Funktion von Erkenntnis und Wissen spielt Ernst Cassirers Kulturphilosophie der symbolischen Formen eine wichtige Rolle. Sprache, Mythos, Wissenschaft und Kunst zahlen zu den symbolischen Formen, die Cassirer untersucht, um die geistige Gestaltung des Wirklichen zu verstehen. Nahe an den Wissenschaften zeigt er, wie das Symbolische entsteht, indem dem Sinneseindruck ein Index, eine Ordnung und ein Ort zugewiesen und ein Name verliehen wird. Das Symbolische druckt eine bestimmte Orientierung, eine Grundtendenz und besondere (...) Form des Denkens aus, auch im Feld der Begriffe der Wissenschaften. Cassirers Theorie des Symbols hat die erkenntnistheoretische Konzeption der blossen nachahmenden Abbildung des Wirklichen uberwunden. Das Erkennen hat die Funktion, der gegenstandlichen Welt in ihrer komplexen Mehrdimensionalitat in freier Tatigkeit des Geistes Gestalt und menschliche Bedeutung zu verleihen. Aus seiner Kritik an der aristotelischen Substanz-Ontologie und am dogmatischen Realismus entwickelt Cassirer seine funktionstheoretische Perspektive des Symbolischen, auf deren anti-deterministischer und zugleich nicht-relativistischer Basis von der epistemischen Freiheit des Menschen als <I>animal symbolicum gesprochen werden kann.". (shrink)

Multiple authorship is the universal solution to multi-tasking in the sciences. Without a team, each with their own set of expertise, and each involved mostly in complementary ways, a research project will likely not advance quickly, or effectively. Consequently, there is a risk that research goals will not be met within a desired timeframe. Research teams that strictly scrutinize their modus operandi select and include a set of authors that have participated substantially in the physical undertaking of the research, in (...) its planning, or who have contributed intellectually to the ideas or the development of the manuscript. Authorship is not an issue that is taken lightly, and save for dishonest authors, it is an issue that is decided collectively by the authors, usually in sync with codes of conduct established by their research institutes or national ministries of education. Science, technology and medicine publishers have, through independent, or sometimes coordinated efforts, also established their own sets of guidelines regarding what constitutes valid authorship. However, these are, for the greater part, merely guidelines. A previous and recent analysis of authorship definitions indicates that the definitions in place regarding authorship and its validity by many leading STM publishers is neither uniform, nor standard, despite several of them claiming to follow the guidelines as set forward by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors or ICMJE. This disparity extends itself to ghost and guest authorship, two key authorship-related issues that are examined in this paper to assess the extent of discrepancies among the same set of STM publishers and what possible influence they might have on publishing ethics. (shrink)

La question de l’autorité illégitime et a fortiori de la résistance à cette autorité est toujours délicate à manier, à la fois en termes de définition de l’autorité, d’appréciation du critère d’illégitimité et de mise en œuvre d’un éventuel droit de résistance. Les difficultés d’approche sont encore plus grandes s’agissant d’une période comme le Moyen-Âge, au cours de laquelle la conception, la structuration et les effets de l’autorité ont considérablement évolué. En se centrant sur les xiii e - xv e (...) siècles, l’article se propose d’examiner d’une part les critères de qualification de l’autorité publique comme illégitime et d’autre part les voies ouvertes pour lui résister, en fait comme en droit. (shrink)

The natural instinct for members of the Committee on Publication Ethics, which now number almost 12,200, as well as academia, is to assume that this organization works under strict and clearly defined ethical parameters, with a solid vision, and an independent mandate that is not influenced by power, think tanks, or partisan interests. Naturally, whistle-blowing and science shaming are not practices that one would usually associate with an ethics organization like COPE, because they involve ethically and morally questionable practices. Despite (...) this, ethical borders have become blurred between the objectives of Retraction Watch and PubPeer, two self-moderated science watchdogs that rely heavily on these questionable practices, in their efforts to grow and survive, and the values espoused by COPE. A Retraction Watch post, in which the former COPE Chair, Virginia Barbour, made a claim of apparent harassment, is the most striking example of the dangers when collaboration may take place between science-shaming websites, and an ethics organization, COPE. These bonds appear to have been in development for a number of years already, with the inclusion of Elizabeth Wager, the former COPE Chair, as a director of The Center for Science Integrity Inc., Retraction Watch’s parent organization. Retraction Watch was financed by, among other groups, the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, whose leader, John Arnold, an ex-Enron trader, declared a “war on bad science”, which may naturally include the destruction of aspects of science as well. Retraction Watch embraces several infamous pseudonymous personas under the broad umbrella of freedom of speech, liaising thereby with PubPeer. There is no doubt that errors in the literature need correcting, but this apparent connection with COPE raises questions about the basic ethical foundation of this relationship. Are scientists to embrace this bond between COPE and science watchdogs and pseudonymous whistle-blowers as the new normal in the correction of the scientific literature? This opinion piece puts forward arguments why the author believes that the ethical compass of COPE has become skewed. (shrink)

En este trabajo, el autor describe el Programa de sistemas de ayuda centrado en la persona que fue desarrollado para responder las demandas de las personas de la ciudad de Oporto, socialmente excluidas. Se describe el principio fundamental y los componentes del programa, junto con su proceso de realización. Finalmente, se ofrece una reflexión crítica de todo el programa y las expectativas de los futuros desarrollos.

O tema sobre a cultura da mesa de refeição quer refletir o aspecto teológico-religioso da cultura do antigo Israel e apontar a relação entre cultura e teologia, costumes e valores espirituais, como experiências que apontam para o Transcendente e para a unidade de um grupo. Com isso, o texto quer resgatar tal reflexão para o mundo pós-moderno, no qual a cultura sustenta-se por uma dimensão que transcende a vida prática dos homens, assinala valores impregnados de religiosidade e espiritualidade e, consequentemente, (...) de crenças instaladas no mais íntimo de um corpo social. O fim último é o respeito e o reconhecimento da vida que vem de Deus. (shrink)

This work highlights the faith of Jesus as a response to the affiliate relationship between the Father and the Son. This intimate union, characterized by the word Abba, reveals that the very existence of Jesus took place in the bosom of the Father and it was developed in the intimacy with Him. It is in thi.s loving bosom of the Father that, from the beginning, Jesus constitutes the consciousness of a God who is close, loving and able to hear the (...) cries of his people. The Lordship of God is crystallized in the actions of Jesus through the proclamation of the Kingdom. The force that makes Jesus embrace the plan of God is the Spirit, making Jesus desirous and able to carry out the will of the Father. (shrink)

A pesquisa acadêmica exige uma gama de procedimentos. Cada área desenvolve seus métodos, que são avaliados pelos resultados da qualidade das pesquisas. Para quem se inicia nesse processo, conhecer esses passos e procedimentos é muito significativo e definidor da formação do pesquisador. O presente texto, nascido na área de Ciências da Religião e Teologia, tem por objetivo a apresentação do método que foi desenvolvido pelo autor, professor convidado do Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciência da Religião da UFJF – PPCIR-UFJF, em (...) mais de três décadas de orientação, pesquisa e aprendizado. O artigo foi produzido a partir da experiência adquirida das orientações e mostra as condições fundamentais para o trabalho acadêmico, especialmente indicadas por João Batista Libanio, mas também por outros pesquisadores. A parte central do texto é a sistematização do método de orientação acadêmica denominado “método eletrônico”, termo criado por Libanio, e assumido pelo autor em suas mais de cinquenta orientações. Além de indicar os passos desse método, com observações importantes e práticas, há um exemplo de aplicação sobre como elaborar um artigo. (shrink)

This article provides a conceptual and empirical assessment of UN brokered partnerships that seek to deepen or create inclusive and sustainable agricultural supply chains in sub-Saharan Africa. More specifically it appraises the decision-making mechanisms, processes of partnership brokerage and project implementation within the UNDP Growing Sustainable Business Initiative (GSB) in Kenya. The paper argues that the lack of bottom-up participation in decision-making mechanisms and the predominantly economic imperatives driving the GSB partnership projects have failed to reach out to the partnerships’ (...) intended beneficiaries—Kenyan small producers of nuts and mangoes. In conclusion it is suggested that opening up the GSB platform might hold the promise of reconciling sustainable business models with (some) poverty reduction. (shrink)

Around the world, many schools were closed as one of the measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. School closure brought about important challenges to the students' learning process. This context requires strong self-regulatory competences and agency for autonomous learning. Moreover, online remote learning was the main alternative response to classroom learning, which increased the inequalities between students with and without access to technological resources or for those with low digital literacy. All considered, to level the playing field (...) for students without digital resources, there is an urgent need to promote self-regulatory competences through offline intervention solutions. The current paper describes a project with this purpose, using radio broadcasting and letters to reach elementary students without digital resources. Moreover, potential reach and participants' perspectives of the project implementation are presented and discussed. The project draws on a prior evidence-based story-tool intervention grounded on a self-regulated learning framework. The original intervention was set previous to the COVID-19 pandemic and was implemented in the classroom context (N= 1,103 students). Once the schools had been closed down, the mode of intervention was adapted with the collaboration of the community. Alternative solutions were developed as follows: (i) story chapters were read on the radio and students received to their homes a printed script, prompting reflection, and suggesting related activities; (ii) students were provided with the story-tool to read autonomously and received letters from the main characters of the story which included, for example, suggestions for activities and reflection. These two alternative modes of intervention delivery potentially reached 394 elementary students, including students with digital resources. Interviews conducted with a group of students were provided information about the positive aspects of these two modes of intervention delivery, perceived learning (e.g., planning), constraints, and suggestions to improve the project. The current work is likely to merit attention from researchers and educational practitioners, given the need to use offline alternatives to provide support for students without digital resources to engage in autonomous learning during the pandemic period. This project may also be used as an alternative or a complementary solution to online modality. (shrink)

In a recent opinion paper, it was argued that individuals with multiple retractions or a record of academic misconduct should not serve as editors, including as editors-in-chief, on the editorial boards of scholarly or academic journals. As a first step towards appreciating how such a policy could be applied in practice, the presence of 30 individuals listed on the Retraction Watch Leaderboard on editorial boards was screened. Six cases are highlighted to gain an appreciation of the potential reputational risks that (...) journals and publishers might incur by including individuals with a tainted academic record on editorial boards. Given the reputational, legal and other risks associated with this type of assessment and decision, more formal positioning and guidance are needed by global ethics policy-related bodies such as COPE, the ICMJE, and the CSE, even more so in journals that claim to follow these organizations’ ethical guidelines. (shrink)

Dividido em cinco partes, o presente artigo procura esboçar uma interpretação sistemática do pensamento filosófico criacionista do portuense Álvaro Ribeiro (1905-1981), um dos discípulos de Leonardo Coimbra que maior influência vem exercendo na filosofia portuguesa da segunda metade do século. Após apresentar os traços essenciais da vida e da obra do pensador, o artigo detém-se na exposição do modo como Álvaro Ribeiro concebia a Filosofia, como arte da palavra ou arte de filosofar, e como entendia as diversas disciplinas filosóficas. Passando, (...) depois, a considerar a doutrina do homem como Razão animada, aborda, sucessivamente, os problemas relativos à origem do homem, aos elementos do composto humano -corpo, alma e espírito - à 1 iberdade, que, no seu pensamento, depende da verdade e não da vontade, ao amor, à morte e à imortalidade. No domínio cosmológico, a que o filósofo dedicou menor atenção do que às questões antropológicas, o seu pensamento apresenta-se radicalmente pluralista, admitindo diversas regiões da realidade, e dinamista, pois entendia que, à excepção de Deus, tudo no mundo se encontra em movimento, para atingir o seu fim próprio. Quanto à teologia filosófica, considera o artigo a posição do filósofo sobre a essência, a existência e os atributos de Deus e os problemas do mal e do milagre, concluindo por analisar a posição de Álvaro Ribeiro perante o cristianismo e a divindade de Jesus. /// Divisé en cinq parties, le présent article cherche à tracer une interprétation systématique de la pensée philosophique créationniste de Âlvaro Ribeiro (1905-1981), originaire de la ville de Porto et un des disciples de Leonardo Coimbra qui ait le plus marqué la philosophie portugaise de la seconde moitié du siècle. Après avoir présenté les principaux traits de la vie et de l'oeuvre du penseur, l'article s'arrête sur la façon dont Alvaro Ribeiro concevait aussi bien la philosophie, comme art de la parole ou art de philosopher, que les diverses disciplines philosophiques. On en vient par après à considérer la doctrine de l'homme comme Raison animée, et l'on aborde successivement les problèmes concernant l'origine de l'homme, les éléments du composé humain (corps, âme, esprit), la liberté, laquelle, en sa pensée, dépend de la vérité et non de la volonté, l'amour, la mort, l'immortalité. Au plan cosmologique, auquel le philosophe prêta moins d'attention qu'aux questions anthropoplogiques, sa pensée se présente comme radicalement pluraliste, admettant diverses régions de la réalité et dynamique, car il entendait qu'à l'exception de Dieu, tout dans le monde se trouve en mouvement, en vue d'atteindre sa fin propre. Quant à la théologie philosophique, l'article considère la position du philosophe sur l'essence, l'existence et les attributs de Dieu, et les problèmes du mal et du miracle, et termine par l'analyse de la position de Âlvaro Ribeiro sur le christianisme et la divinité de Jésus. /// This paper is divided into five parts, and is an attempt to sketch a systematic interpretation on the creationist philosophical thought of Alvaro Ribeiro (1905-1981), from Oporto, one of the disciples of Leonardo Coimbra that has had a greater influence upon the Portuguese philosophy during the second half of the XXth century. After the presentation of the main elements of his life and work, the paper explains Alvaro Ribeiro's concept of philosophy - as a word art or an art of philosophizing -, and how he conceived the main philosophical disciplines. Next, after the consideration of his doctrine of man as animated Reason, the main problems are analyzed as to the origin of man, the elements of the human compound - body, soul and spirit - freedom, which according to him depends on truth and not on will, love, death and immortality. Within the cosmological domain, to which the author dedicated less attention than to the anthropological questions, his views are radically both pluralistic, as he admited several areas of reality, and dynamist, as he believed that everything in the world but God has been set in motion in order to reach its own end. As to his philosophical theology, this paper considers the author's position as to the essence, the existence and the attributes of God, and also to the questions of evil and miracle, concluding with an analysis of Álvaro Ribeiro's views on both Christianity and the divinity of Jesus. (shrink)

Os Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável (ODS) abrangem diversas questões socioambientais e são aplicáveis a todos os países. O ODS 15, Vida Terrestre, visa proteger os ecossistemas terrestres, conservar a biodiversidade e reduzir a perda de biodiversidade, e o estado do Paraná é um dos estados com uma das maiores proporções de área de remanescentes florestais do Brasil e conta com uma política de preservação ambiental. Em vista disso, o estudo tem como objetivo analisar a eficiência dos municípios paranaenses no atendimento (...) ao Objetivo do Desenvolvimento Sustentável 15 - Proteger a vida terrestre. Para isso, foi utilizada a abordagem da Análise Envoltória de Dados (DEA – Data Envelopment Analysis), tendo como input o Imposto sobre Circulação de Mercadorias e Serviços Ecológico (ICMS Ecológico) e como output o percentual de áreas florestais dos municípios. Os resultados apontaram que os municípios Campo do Tenente, Céu Azul, Guaratuba, Imbituva, Ipiranga, Mirador, Morretes e Teixeira Soares foram eficientes, tendo como característica principal, a presença de parques ecológicos. Por outro lado, foi observado que as regiões mais industrializadas e urbanas concentraram mais municípios com ineficiência forte. Além disso, os municípios Piraquara, Pinhais, Campo Magro e Quatro Barras apresentaram os maiores excessos no recebimento de recursos do ICMS Ecológico. Enquanto os municípios de Pinhais, Curitiba, São Jorge do Patrocínio, Altônia, São Pedro do Paraná e Quatiguá apresentaram as maiores necessidades relativas de aumentar as áreas remanescentes florestais. (shrink)

Nursing Sciences are at a moment of paradigmatic transition. The aim of this paper is to reflect on the new epistemological paradigms of nursing science from a critical approach. In this paper, we identified and analysed some new research lines and trends which anticipate the reorganization of nursing sciences and the paradigms emerging from nursing care: biotechnology‐centred knowledge; the interface between nursing knowledge and new information technologies; body care centred knowledge; the human body as a cyborg body; and the rediscovery (...) of an aesthetic knowledge in nursing care. (shrink)

The text deals with the concept of representation in its relation to the concept and sovereignty, in Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679). The work studied is Leviathan, of 1651. The research presents that sovereignty is founded through the original legal act, which establishes an artificial person to represent everyone. This artificial thing is the State. The political society, however, is different from its government, although they are functionally the same.

Retractions of COVID-19 literature in both preprints and the peer-reviewed literature serve as a reminder that there are still challenging issues underlying the integrity of the biomedical literature. The risks to academia become larger when such retractions take place in high-ranking biomedical journals. In some cases, retractions result from unreliable or nonexistent data, an issue that could easily be avoided by having open data policies, but there have also been retractions due to oversight in peer review and editorial verification. As (...) COVID-19 continues to affect academics and societies around the world, failures in peer review might also constitute a public health risk. The effectiveness by which COVID-19 literature is corrected, including through retractions, depends on the stringency of measures in place to detect errors and to correct erroneous literature. It also relies on the stringent implementation of open data policies. (shrink)

There are very few (published) accounts of editorial misconduct, and those that do exist are almost exclusively focused on medicine-related areas. In the present article we detail a case of editorial misconduct in a rather underexplored domain, the social sciences. This case demonstrates that although legal systems provide different instruments of protection to avoid, compensate for, and punish misconduct on the part of journal editors, the social and economic power unbalance between authors and publishers suggests the importance of alternative solutions (...) before or instead of bringing a lawsuit to court. It puts forward strong arguments in favour of the need for effective regulatory bodies so as to achieve and maintain a culture of research integrity by all involved in the process. (shrink)

This opinion paper takes aim at an error made recently by Clarivate Analytics in which it sent out an email that congratulated academics for becoming exclusive members of academia’s most cited elite, the Highly Cited Researchers. However, that email was sent out to an undisclosed number of non-HCRs, who were offered an apology shortly after, through a bulk mail, which tried to down-play the importance of the error, all the while praising the true HCRs. When Clarivate Analytics senior management was (...) contacted, the company declined to offer an indication of the number of academics who had been contacted and erroneously awarded the HCR status. We believe that this regrettable blunder, together with the opacity offered by the company, fortify the corporate attitude about the value of the journal impact factor, and what it represents, namely a marketing tool that is falsely used to equate citations with quality, worth, or influence. The continued commercialization of metrics such as the JIF is at the heart of their use to assess the “quality” of a researcher, their work, or a journal, and contributes to a great extent to driving scientific activities towards a futile endeavor. (shrink)

As part of a continuous process to explore the factors that might weaken or corrupt traditional peer review, in this paper, we query the ethics, fairness and validity of the request, by editors, of authors to suggest peer reviewers during the submission process. One of the reasons for the current crisis in science pertains to a loss in trust as a result of a flawed peer review which is by nature biased unless it is open peer review. As we indicate, (...) the fact that some editors and journals rely on authors’ suggestions in terms of who should peer review their paper already instills a potential way to abuse the trust of the submission and publishing system. An author-suggested peer reviewer choice might also tempt authors to seek reviewers who might be more receptive or sympathetic to the authors’ message or results, and thus favor the outcome of that paper. Authors should thus not be placed in such a potentially ethically compromising situation, especially as a mandatory condition for submission. However, the fact that they do not have an opt-out choice during the submission process—especially when using an online submission system that makes such a suggestion compulsory—may constitute a violation of authors’ rights. (shrink)