Open Access

Open access logo (source: https://www.openaccess.nl/en/what-is-open-access)

In this blog post, I am discussing the open science policy for journals. The journal I have selected for this is the nature portfolio journals, with open access (OA) research journal for geosciences, such as nature communications and scientific reports.

The Nature portfolio research journal originated in the United Kingdom (UK) and its headquarters is located in London, but it has offices located all over the world including New York (USA), San Francisco (USA), Madrid (Spain), Mexico City (Spain), Delhi (India), etc. According to the nature portfolio website, the journal aims “to serve the research community by publishing its most significant discoveries – findings that advance knowledge and address some of the greatest challenges.” Through its many sub journals and articles, the journal does fulfill in most parts its aims through weekly publications of research, reviews, and news. Personally, I find the weekly news articles, particularly articles that relate to climate change really insightful.

The journal claims to be fully committed to the goals of OA research, with policies that help authors achieve a high level of openness with their research and support them in meeting the OA requirements. However, just until recently most of the journals at nature portfolio were not OA. An announcement on the website states: “From January 2021, we will offer open access options for all primary research…, launch a guided OA pilot on three Nature research journals…” This commitment to OA albeit recent has positioned the journal as one of the leading publications for OA research. Following the announcement, the journal introduced what it termed; “transformative journals”, which will offer researchers the ability to choose to publish their primary research using the traditional publishing route or immediate gold OA. This gold OA in a transformative journal has the following advantages:

1. Helping the researcher meet the requirements of any research funder/institution.

2. Publishing research in OA.

3. The copyright remains with the researcher.

4. Regular updates on the volume, usage, citations, and online attention of the OA article.

These are excellent reasons that highlight the commitment of nature portfolio to OA publications, with the interest of the researcher at heart (~). The article processing charge for these excellent services is available at a token of €9500 (US$10370), but that is a story for another blogpost.

A Case of Ethics and Scholarly Integrity in Research

The case study for this blog post is the research misconduct of Alec Mirchandani (https://ori.hhs.gov/case-summary-mirchandani-alec)

Summary: Alec Mirchandani is a former post-baccalaureate research volunteer in the Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences, Florida Atlantic University (FAU). The FAU and the office of research integrity (ORI) found that Mirchandani engaged in research misconduct by knowingly and intentionally (sic) fabricated results of an experiment for control mice, falsified the laboratory entry logs, and reporting the falsified data to his supervisors. For his actions, Mirchandani agreed that he would have his research supervised for a one-year period if he applies or receives U.S Public Health Service (PHS) support and some oversight of his research.

One thing stood out to me when scanning through the list of case summaries. The majority of the reported cases are for research in biological sciences or related fields. This is not a case for why research misconduct is carried out, but some thought should be given to the workload of the scientists in these fields. Is it possible that they are given an inordinate workload and expected to deliver it within a short time? This case is made because I fail to admit (maybe in my naivety) that all of these persons with the prior experiences still decide to engage in scientific misconduct if the system is perfect.

Prior to reading the case experience of Alec Mirchandani, I had a preconceived mindset to present a nuanced view of the case. However, there is no way to defend Mirchandani’s viewpoint. There is no pathway to make a case for his actions. Rather, for the willful and flagrant disregard for the scientific process, the punishment is soft-palmed. I do not have all of the information, but for such gross plagiarism being allowed to continue research and possibly apply for support from the PHS in the future was surprising to me.

As scientists (and humans), we have a duty to maintain integrity. In some instances, such misconduct only affects the researcher (or human), however, when you are a scientist serving in the field of health, research misconduct has far-reaching consequences.

UNIVERSITY MISSION STATEMENTS!

Some of the common questions one could have about people and organizations/institutions are, “what are their values? Are these persons or organizations defined by their values?” For people the answers to these questions may be elusive, but for institutions, the values of the organization can be defined by the mission (or what is claimed to be the mission) of the institution. Institutions of higher education (IHE) are one of the major institutions the world over and are the lead body in shaping the minds and attitudes of people. It is only obvious then that understanding the values of IHEs gives a preview into the minds of its citizens (students and alumni). The values of IHEs are embodied in its mission statement, which is defined according to fond.co as an action-based statement that declares the purpose of an organization and how they serve its customers.

For this post, I am comparing the mission statements of two Universities in the united states against the backdrop of racial diversity. The two universities selected are, Colorado school of mines and Columbia University.

The mission statement of Colorado school of mines is “…united by our commitment to our timeless mission of educating and inspiring students from all backgrounds and advancing knowledge and innovations, with the aspiration that our graduates, ideas, actions, and innovations will have a transformative impact on individuals and society, leading to shared prosperity and sustainable use of the Earth’s resources.” From the highlighted portion, the timeless mission of the Colorado school of mines in the education of students from all backgrounds. However, what does the data show, according to datausa.io, “Colorado School of Mines is 67.4% White, 9.28% Hispanic or Latino, 4.84% Two or More Races, 4.39% Asian, 0.951% Black or African American, 0.317% American Indian or Alaska Native, and 0.0604% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.” Colorado school of mines ranks 90th position among the rank of 100 universities ranked by diversity (https://priceonomics.com/ranking-the-most-and-least-diverse-colleges-in/).

The mission statement of Columbia University is “…seeks to attract a diverse and international faculty and student body, to support research and teaching on global issues, and to create academic relationships with many countries and regions. It expects all areas of the university to advance knowledge and learning at the highest level and to convey the products of its efforts to the world.” The enrolled student population at Columbia University in the City of New York is 30.1% White, 12.3% Asian, 7.84% Hispanic or Latino, 4.75% Black or African American, 2.66% Two or More Races, 0.181% American Indian or Alaska Native, and 0.0922% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders.

The contrast in the mission statement between the two universities reveals the racial disparity in the demography of the two universities. If this was a blind study and only the mission statements were provided for both universities, it would be evident what university attracts a more diverse student body. While Colorado school of mines is interested in the diversity of the student body only (as reflected in the mission statement), Columbia University is interested in the diversity of both the student and the faculty. As many studies have shown, minority students’ enrollment at IHE is affected by the number of minority faculty represented at the institution.