Public engagement with science-Origins, motives and impact in academic literature and science policy.

'Public engagement with science' has become a 'buzzword' reflecting a concern about the widening gap between science and society and efforts to bridge this gap. This study is a comprehensive analysis of the development of the 'engagement' rhetoric in the pertinent academic literature on science communication and in science policy documents. By way of a content analysis of articles published in three leading science communication journals and a selection of science policy documents from the United Kingdom (UK), the United States of America (USA), the European Union (EU), and South Africa (SA), the variety of motives underlying this rhetoric, as well as the impact it has on science policies, are analyzed. The analysis of the science communication journals reveals an increasingly vague and inclusive definition of 'engagement' as well as of the 'public' being addressed, and a diverse range of motives driving the rhetoric. Similar observations can be made about the science policy documents. This study corroborates an earlier diagnosis that rhetoric is running ahead of practice and suggests that communication and engagement with clearly defined stakeholder groups about specific problems and the pertinent scientific knowledge will be a more successful manner of 'engagement'.

Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues (ELSI) in Clinical Genetics Research.

ELSI (Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues) is a widely used acronym in the bioethics literature that encompasses a broad range of research examining the various impacts of science and technology on society. In Canada, GE3LS (Genetics, Ethical, Economic, Environmental, Legal, Social issues) is the term used to describe ELSI studies in the context of genetics and genomics research. It is intentionally more expansive in that GE3LS explicitly brings economic and environmental issues under its purview. ELSI/GE3LS research is increasingly relevant in recent years as there has been a greater emphasis on "translational research" that moves genomic discoveries from the bench to the clinic. The purpose of this chapter is to outline a range of ELSI-related work that might be conducted as part of a large scale genetics or genomics research project, and to provide some practical insights on how a scientific research team might incorporate a strong and effective ELSI program within its broader research mandate. We begin by describing the historical context of ELSI research and the development of GE3LS research in the Canadian context. We then illustrate how some ELSI research might unfold by outlining a variety of GE3LS research questions or content domains and the methodologies that might be employed in studying them. We conclude with some practical suggestions about how to build an effective ELSI/GE3LS team and focus within a broader scientific research program.

Scientists' political behaviors are not driven by individual-level government benefits.

Is it appropriate for scientists to engage in political advocacy? Some political critics of scientists argue that scientists have become partisan political actors with self-serving financial agendas. However, most scientists strongly reject this view. While social scientists have explored the effects of science politicization on public trust in science, little empirical work directly examines the drivers of scientists' interest in and willingness to engage in political advocacy. Using a natural experiment involving the U.S. National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF-GRF), we causally estimate for the first time whether scientists who have received federal science funding are more likely to engage in both science-related and non-science-related political behaviors. Comparing otherwise similar individuals who received or did not receive NSF support, we find that scientists' preferences for political advocacy are not shaped by receiving government benefits. Government funding did not impact scientists' support of the 2017 March for Science nor did it shape the likelihood that scientists donated to either Republican or Democratic political groups. Our results offer empirical evidence that scientists' political behaviors are not motivated by self-serving financial agendas. They also highlight the limited capacity of even generous government support programs to increase civic participation by their beneficiaries.

[Scientific misconduct: A major threat for medical research]. / Fraude scientifique : une menace majeure pour la recherche médicale.

Scientific misconduct (fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism) and detrimental research practices (selective reporting of data, inappropriate citation practice, ghostwriting) are admitted respectively by 2 % and 33 % of researchers. The consequences of scientific misconduct and detrimental research practices are disastrous, both for the doctors, who are the most affected researchers in view of the number of retracted articles, and for the patients, victims of false information that may have health consequences. In order to fight against the causes (promotion of doctors and allocation of resources to clinical wards and laboratories on purely quantitative research criteria, lack of training in scientific integrity in medical studies, heterogenous quality of reviewing, legal impunity), there are legislative, academic, technological and editorial solutions, but radical and urgent cultural change is needed first.

The sexual life of our time: Medical censorship in early-20th-century England.

This article challenges the widely held belief that early-20th-century England was one of the most sexually repressed countries in the Western world. Late Victorian physicians discussing sexual diseases and dysfunctions were granted immunity from prosecution if their publications were sold through a recognized medical publisher only to Members of the Medical, Legal and Clerical Professions. It was assumed that those same constraints applied to publications concerning the psychology of the sexual life (sexology). In 1908, Rebman Limited, a well-known medical publisher, advertised Eden Paul's (1908) translation of Iwan Bloch's The Sexual Life of Our Time (hereafter, "Sexual Life") without any restrictions. Although a magistrate ruled the book obscene, the U.K. Home Office allowed republication on condition that its sale was strictly limited. The Rebman case reveals how the U.K. Home Office tried to police the new science of sexology by limiting its circulation, not censoring its content. Despite these restrictions, Sexual Life circulated among lay readers, thereby inviting further research into how even "censored" material shaped debates on sexual, social, and political reform. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Beyond financial conflicts of interest: Institutional oversight of faculty consulting agreements at schools of medicine and public health.

IMPORTANCE: Approximately one-third of U.S. life sciences faculty engage in industry consulting. Despite reports that consulting contracts often impinge on faculty and university interests, institutional approaches to regulating consulting agreements are largely unknown. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the nature of institutional oversight of faculty consulting contracts at U.S. schools of medicine and public health. DESIGN: Structured telephone interviews with institutional administrators. Questions included the nature of oversight for faculty consulting agreements, if any, and views about consulting as a private versus institutional matter. Interviews were analyzed using a structured coding scheme. SETTING: All accredited schools of medicine and public health in the U.S. PARTICIPANTS: Administrators responsible for faculty affairs were identified via internet searches and telephone and email follow-up. The 118 administrators interviewed represented 73% of U.S. schools of medicine and public health, and 75% of those invited to participate. INTERVENTION: Structured, 15-30 minute telephone interviews. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Prevalence and type of institutional oversight; responses to concerning provisions in consulting agreements; perceptions of institutional oversight. RESULTS: One third of institutions (36%) required faculty to submit at least some agreements for institutional review and 36% reviewed contracts upon request, while 35% refused to review contracts. Among institutions with review, there was wide variation the issues covered. The most common topic was intellectual property rights (64%), while only 23% looked at publication rights and 19% for inappropriately broad confidentiality provisions. Six in ten administrators reported they had no power to prevent faculty from signing consulting agreements. Although most respondents identified institutional risks from consulting relationships, many maintained that consulting agreements are "private." CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Oversight of faculty consulting agreements at U.S. schools of medicine and public health is inconsistent across institutions and usually not robust. The interests at stake suggest the need for stronger oversight.

A Scopus-Based Analysis of Publication Activity in Kazakhstan from 2010 to 2015: Positive Trends, Concerns, and Possible Solutions.

The article analyzes the publication activity of scientific authors from Kazakhstan based on Scopus and SCImago Journal & Country Rank data from 2010 to 2015. The number of indexed multidisciplinary and medical articles from the country has been steadily growing from 2011 onward and this can be due to the adoption of the new Law on Science in that year. Several regulatory legal acts have been issued in recent years aimed at improving the quality of local journals and the international recognition of academic degrees and titles. Publication activity of scientific authors from Kazakhstan was found to be higher than that from other countries in the Central Asian region. However, there are still many unresolved issues related to the English language barrier, lack of indexing status of local journals, and poor topical education on science writing and editing. As such, the number of articles published in 'predatory' journals remains sizable, and there are concerns over authors' negligence and plagiarism. The global solution to the discussed problems may be achieved by educating researchers, authors, reviewers, and editors.

Salami publication: definitions and examples.

Salami publication or segmented publication is a distinct form of redundant publication which is usually characterized by similarity of hypothesis, methodology or results but not text similarity. These aspects of publications are not objectively detected by software applications and therefore present a serious threat to publication ethics. This article presents a practical approach for dealing with manuscripts suspected of salami publication during the submission process and after article publication in Biochemia Medica.