Brandon Stell
brandonstell.bsky.social
Brandon Stell
@brandonstell.bsky.social
Reposted by Brandon Stell
Europe's MSCA postdoctoral fellowships are now attracting many researchers who would have gone to the US. So the payline has dropped below 10% (~1,600 fellowships to 17k applicants). Super tough situation. One more reason to double the next Horizon budget, as proposed by the EU Commission.
November 3, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Reposted by Brandon Stell
okay maybe *one* king
October 18, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Reposted by Brandon Stell
Yes, yes, Europe has its benefits. Walkable cities. Cultural heritage. Amazing food. Little gun violence. Healthcare. Governments that are not shut down. But the number of website pop-ups asking one to accept cookies renders the continent pretty much unlivable.
October 2, 2025 at 11:45 AM
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/s...

“If these trends are not stopped, science is going to be destroyed…”

Uh, really?

I can’t imagine one of these papers ever influencing my lab’s research. Curious if folks studying noncoding RNA see it differently.
Fraudulent Scientific Papers Are Rapidly Increasing, Study Finds
www.nytimes.com
August 5, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Grateful for the invitation from the Royal Society — and heartening to see the growing momentum, evident throughout the meeting, behind separating evaluation from publication.
Brandon Stell of PubPeer makes good points about taking focus off publication and onto content of publication. Until we do that, we are treating symptoms.
July 16, 2025 at 6:52 AM
Reposted by Brandon Stell
Academia may be a prestige economy but it wasn’t some choice of scientific leadership- we do it to ourselves, every day. Leadership rarely makes tenure criteria too down - it’s a committee of peers that sets it up for institutions. Leadership doesn’t sit on study sections - it’s peers doing it!
July 11, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Grateful for the chance to join this webinar series—great questions and engaging discussion.
June 20, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Reposted by Brandon Stell
Brandon Stell puts it powerfully - and accurately: 'We value publications more than what's inside them.'
It's not something we wanted to hear, but it's something we needed to.
June 18, 2025 at 2:21 PM
White House Health Report Included Fake Citations www.nytimes.com/2025/05/29/w...
White House Health Report Included Fake Citations
www.nytimes.com
May 30, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by Brandon Stell
The Trump administration just dropped an executive order, "Restoring Gold Standard Science" and there's lots to unpack. This EO reveals more about how the Administration will approach scientific integrity and science in regulatory contexts. Some initial thoughts. 🧵
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Restoring Gold Standard Science
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 7301 of title 5, United
www.whitehouse.gov
May 23, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Reposted by Brandon Stell
📣 Save the date for the 11th PCI webinar on June 18, 2025, at 4 PM CET!! Brandon Stell (CNRS, Paris) will present "Elevating Scientific Standards: Community-Driven Assessment on PubPeer ". For more details and registration, visit: buff.ly/XuownT0
May 20, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Reposted by Brandon Stell
Learn more about the PubPeer Monthly Prize—made possible by the Einstein Foundation (@einsteinberlin.bsky.social‬)—and explore past winning comments to see what makes a strong entry so that you can win the next one!

pubpeer.com/static/award
May 18, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Hoping to see Horton's heat at Citi field tonight.
open.spotify.com/track/1QlzrF...
@cubsbot.bsky.social
Bullet
The Reverend Horton Heat · Smoke 'em if You Got 'em · Song · 1991
open.spotify.com
May 10, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Reposted by Brandon Stell
OK we all get that this is literally impossible though, right? Europe and Canada do not have the resources to absorb 75% of US scientists and btw getting jobs in these places was already competitive for the people who live there.
We polled Nature readers to ask if they were thinking of leaving the US for jobs abroad. Three-quarters of them (who said they were US-based scientists) said yes. 🧪

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
75% of US scientists who answered Nature poll consider leaving
More than 1,600 readers answered our poll; many said they were looking for jobs in Europe and Canada.
www.nature.com
March 27, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Brandon Stell
Pet peeve: I hate how often ppl claim “all the researchers will just move to Europe/Canada!” You vastly under-estimate how little money there is there vs the USA- and unless that changes ASAP this loss is just going to decimate global science, full stop. 🧪🔭
March 16, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Reposted by Brandon Stell
Is everyone huffing paint?

Crypto guy claims to have built an LLM-based tool to detect errors in research papers; funded using its own cryptocurrency; will let coin holders choose what papers to go after; it's unvetted and a total black box—and Nature reports it as if it's a new protein structure.
AI tools are spotting errors in research papers: inside a growing movement
Study that hyped the toxicity of black plastic utensils inspires projects that use large language models to check papers.
www.nature.com
March 7, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Reposted by Brandon Stell
How bad this is depends on how far they are willing to go. Are they willing to fabricate evidence to attack vaccines? My guess would be yes.
Exclusive: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning a large study into potential connections between vaccines and autism, two sources told Reuters, despite extensive scientific research that has disproven or failed to find evidence of such links reut.rs/4ivfaZA
Exclusive: US CDC plans study into vaccines and autism, sources say
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning a large study into potential connections between vaccines and autism, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, despite extensive scientific research that has disproven or failed to find evidence of such links.
reut.rs
March 7, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Reposted by Brandon Stell
⏰ Join an engaging colloquium on scientific integrity, featuring the 2024 Einstein Foundation Award Winners next week! @elisabethbik.bsky.social, @brandonstell.bsky.social @pubpeer.com, @helenajambor.bsky.social & Christopher Schmied
at Charité or online: www.einsteinfoundation.de/en/insights/...
📆 From detection to prevention: improving the scientific publication record - Join the 2024 Einstein Foundation Award Winners’ Colloquium w/ @elisabethbik.bsky.social, @brandonstell.bsky.social @pubpeer.com, @helenajambor.bsky.social & Christopher Schmied
www.einsteinfoundation.de/en/insights/...
March 6, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Reposted by Brandon Stell
Welcome to the Bluesky account for Stand Up for Science 2025!

Keep an eye on this space for updates, event information, and ways to get involved. We can't wait to see everyone #standupforscience2025 on March 7th, both in DC and locations nationwide!

#scienceforall #sciencenotsilence
February 12, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by Brandon Stell
📆 From detection to prevention: improving the scientific publication record - Join the 2024 Einstein Foundation Award Winners’ Colloquium w/ @elisabethbik.bsky.social, @brandonstell.bsky.social @pubpeer.com, @helenajambor.bsky.social & Christopher Schmied
www.einsteinfoundation.de/en/insights/...
February 13, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Reposted by Brandon Stell
Congratulations to Vitaly Podzorov for winning the January PubPeer Monthly Prize for his outstanding analysis of a 2024 Nature article! pubpeer.com/publications...

These $1,000 awards are given each month. Learn more and see examples of winning comments: pubpeer.com/static/award
February 11, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Reposted by Brandon Stell
NIH staff told they can submit papers to journals but not preprints. "a short pause to allow the new team to set up a process for review and prioritization" <- review by whom...? www.science.org/content/arti... ht @philipncohen.com 1/2
NIH memo addresses ‘confusion’ about restrictions imposed by Trump, easing some concerns
Memo from acting director to staff allows some purchasing, and suggests travel and study sections could soon resume
www.science.org
January 28, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Reposted by Brandon Stell
I was led to believe by R.E.M. that I would feel a lot better about this.
February 1, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Reposted by Brandon Stell
Important read on the devastating impact of fraud in Alzheimer's research, highlighting the work of 2024 #EinsteinFoundationAward winners @elisabethbik.bsky.social and @pubpeer.com in cleaning up the scientific record. #ResearchIntegrity www.nytimes.com/2025/01/24/o...
Opinion | The Devastating Legacy of Lies in Alzheimer’s Science (Gift Article)
Fraud in research needs to end.
www.nytimes.com
January 30, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Reposted by Brandon Stell
Hope you'll forgive a quick thread as I take over as the new EiC of @elife.bsky.social
January 30, 2025 at 4:05 PM