Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
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frodsan.bsky.social
Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
@frodsan.bsky.social
3.4K followers 160 following 230 posts
Computational Ecologist. Associate Professor @unisevilla.bsky.social. ecology, biogeography, statistics, rstats, GIS, science.

https://frodriguezsanchez.net
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frodsan.bsky.social
Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez @frodsan.bsky.social · Jan 15
[Blog] Should PhD programmes require candidates to have at least one paper published in order to graduate?

frodriguezsanchez.net/post/should-...

#AcademicChatter #AcademicSky
Should PhD programmes require candidates to have at least one paper published in order to graduate? Many PhD programmes require PhD candidates to have one (or more) papers accepted or published in a scientific journal in order to be able to graduate and complete their doctorate. This is of course a well-intentioned idea and may sound good at first, as PhD candidates would gain experience and start learning how to navigate the publication process in scientific journals. Having a publication out the PhD may also help them secure their next position. The publication requirement would also encourage that research results are published and not lost forever, particularly if the new PhD moves on after completing their doctorate. Finally, having a paper accepted at a scientific journal usually means that at least three people (editors and reviewers) have evaluated the research and the editor(s) have considered it good enough for publication, so it could be interpreted as an external validation and signal of quality. Undesired consequences of requiring publication in PhD programmes So far so good. But on second thoughts one can foresee how this publication requirement can create perverse incentives, bring many problems for early career researchers and science in general, and basically do more harm than good. Particularly considering that many PhD programmes last 3-4 years (at least in Europe) and the publication process can take well more than a year from submission to acceptance (more on this below). Thus, a few counter-arguments that come to mind: [continues in the linked website]
frodsan.bsky.social
This is quite interesting, with implications for #teaching.

AI can make you work faster or slower, learn nothing or a lot, depending on how you use it

www.anthropic.com/research/AI-...

1/
How AI assistance impacts coding speed and skill formation
February 13, 2026 at 10:37 AM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
kakape.bsky.social
Five years after the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines started, it seems the mystery of why the Astra-Zeneca and J&J vaccines led to a rare but deadly side effect of unusual blood clots and bleeding has finally been solved. 

It's a fascinating case of molecular mimicry that may help make vaccine safer.🧪
Rare, dangerous side effects of some COVID-19 vaccines explained
“Groundbreaking” study uncovers why adenovirus-based shots caused life-threatening blood clots and bleeding in some people
www.science.org
February 11, 2026 at 10:10 PM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
andrew.heiss.phd
I just whipped up this little #QuartoPub site last week that demonstrates how I teach p-values/hyp-testing through simulation both with live OJS and with #rstats, and I think it's super neat! It has examples for diff-in-means, diff-in-props, and regression slopes nullworlds.andrewheiss.com #statsky
Simulated null distribution for data with a sample size of 100, difference in group means of 5, and a p-value of 0.142 Simulated null distribution of a slope of 0.8 and p-value of 0.002 Finally, we have to decide if the p-value meets an evidentiary standard or threshold that would provide us with enough evidence that we aren’t in the null world (or, in more statsy terms, enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis). There are lots of possible thresholds. By convention, most people use a threshold (often shortened to α) of 0.05, or 5%. But that’s not required! You could have a lower standard with an α of 0.1 (10%), or a higher standard with an α of 0.01 (1%). Statistically significant The p-value is < 0.001 and our threshold for α is 0.05 In a world where there is no relationship between x and y, the probability of seeing a slope of at least 0.901 is < 0.1% Since < 0.001 is less than 0.05, we have enough evidence to say that the slope is statistically significant. Evidentiary standards When thinking about p-values and thresholds, I like to imagine myself as a judge or a member of a jury. Many legal systems around the world have formal evidentiary thresholds or standards of proof. If prosecutors provide evidence that meets a threshold (i.e. goes beyond a reasonable doubt, or shows evidence on a balance of probabilities), the judge or jury can rule guilty. If there’s not enough evidence to clear the standard or threshold, the judge or jury has to rule not guilty. With p-values: If the probability of seeing an effect or difference (or δ) in a null world is less than 5% (or whatever the threshold is), we rule it statistically significant and say that the difference does not fit in that world. We’re pretty confident that it’s not zero. If the p-value is larger than the threshold, we do not have enough evidence to claim that δ doesn’t come from a world of where there’s no difference. We don’t know if it’s not zero. Importantly, if the difference is not significant, that does not mean that there is no difference. It just means that we can’t detect one if there is. If a prosecutor doesn’t provide sufficient evidence to clear a standard or threshold, it does not mean that the defendant didn’t do whatever they’re charged with†—it means that the judge or jury can’t detect guilt.
February 11, 2026 at 9:14 PM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
fsd2028.bsky.social
Although the next conference is still a way off, we’ve created this account to share updates on venue and dates, as well as news and publications on FRUGIVORES & SEED DISPERSAL

Artwork: María León Ilustración
February 5, 2026 at 4:43 PM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
sevillar.bsky.social
🎉 ¡Vuelven los encuentros!
Jueves, 12 de marzo (18:30-20:00), para compartir conocimientos sobre R, estadística, ciencia de datos y programación.

📍 Lugar: Instituto de Matemáticas de la Universidad de Sevilla (IMUS) Av. de la Reina Mercedes, s/n · Sevilla
Meetup: www.meetup.com/sevilla-r-us...
1/2
February 6, 2026 at 4:38 PM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
tiffanytimbers.bsky.social
"Ten simple rules for teaching data science": arxiv.org/abs/2602.02874

A new preprint by @minecr.bsky.social and myself. We'd love any feedback!
Ten simple rules for teaching data science
Teaching data science presents unique challenges and opportunities that cannot be fully addressed by simply borrowing pedagogical strategies from its parent disciplines of statistics and computer scie...
arxiv.org
February 4, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
davisvaughan.bsky.social
dplyr 1.2.0 is out now and we are SO excited!

- `filter_out()` for dropping rows

- `recode_values()`, `replace_values()`, and `replace_when()` that join `case_when()` as a complete family of recoding/replacing tools

These are huge quality of life wins for #rstats!

tidyverse.org/blog/2026/02...
dplyr 1.2.0
dplyr 1.2.0 fills in some important gaps in dplyr's API: we've added a new complement to `filter()` focused on dropping rows, and we've expanded the `case_when()` family with three new recoding and re...
tidyverse.org
February 4, 2026 at 11:39 AM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
gsimpson.bsky.social
🚨 GAMs have moved on—so it’s time for an update.

On March 3, 2026 (17:00–19:00 CET) I’ll be livestreaming an updated introduction to Generalized Additive Models in R

📺 YouTube livestream link: youtube.com/live/A9U8e1K...

#RStats #mgcv #GAMs #gratia #statistics 🧪
What's new in the world of Generalized Additive Models
YouTube video by Bottom of the Heap
youtube.com
February 3, 2026 at 12:57 PM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
raphaelwimmer.bsky.social
OpenAI just released Prism, a LaTeX editor with embedded ChatGPT for free.
Writing a paper has never been easier.
Clogging the scientific publishing pipeline has never been easier.
It took me 54 seconds to write up an experiment I did not actually conduct.

prism.openai.com
Screenshot of Prism - I asked it to create a methods, participants, results, and discussion seconds. It did so within 54 seconds...
January 27, 2026 at 11:01 PM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
blasbenito.com
"How AI Impacts Skill Formation", by Judy Hanwen Shen and Alex Tamkin, both working at Anthropic: arxiv.org/abs/2601.20245
igure 1: Overview of results: (Left) We find a significant decrease in library-specific skills (conceptual understanding, code reading, and debugging) among workers using AI assistance for completing tasks with a new python library. (Right) We categorize AI usage patterns and found three high skill development patterns where participants stay cognitively engaged when using AI assistance.
January 30, 2026 at 8:25 AM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
nadineruehr.bsky.social
We are hiring a postdoctoral researcher!🌲 🌳 🌍

📍Interested in boreal and temperate forest productivity and respiration?
💻 Like to work with large datasets, remote sensing and models?
🏔️ Love an alpine setting in a small town?

Come and join us at KIT!

Application details: t1p.de/qctj7
January 22, 2026 at 11:45 AM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
add-hawk.bsky.social
Last term I tried an experiment: I walked into my Tech and Design Ethics class, admitted that I had *no idea* what to do about ChatGPT - so I would let them figure it out.

As in: their first project was to decide and write the ChatGPT policy for the class.

Here's what happened:
January 22, 2026 at 11:36 PM
frodsan.bsky.social
Oooh love this. Easiest way to parallelise anything in #rstats. Just add futurize() to your favourite function call

www.jottr.org/2026/01/22/f...

Thanks @henrikbengtsson.bsky.social HT @rstats.blaze.email
Examples of how to use the new futurize package
January 23, 2026 at 9:04 AM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
adam42smith.bsky.social
Zotero 8 is out in stable: www.zotero.org/blog/zotero-8/
A bunch of new stuff -- the new citation dialog especially is a huge (and long overdue) improvement; massively speeds up anything I do in Word/GDocs with Zotero
Zotero Blog » Blog Archive » Zotero 8
Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share research.
www.zotero.org
January 22, 2026 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
danlwarren.bsky.social
Back from holiday and it's finally time to post about this. I am taking on a section editor role for the new diamond open access journal Biogeography, put together by @biogeographyjfab.bsky.social. That means that it's free to publish and free to read. (thread)

biog.journals.sup.org/index.php/bi...
Biogeography
Biogeography is an academic-owned, diamond Open Access journal, published by the academic, non-profit, Stanford University Press (SUP), using the Public Knowledge Project’s Open Journal Systems platfo...
biog.journals.sup.org
January 20, 2026 at 2:48 AM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
ecoinf-aeet.bsky.social
Si tienes ganas de aprender a programar y desarrollar paquetes de R en el campo de la Ecología y aún no te has apuntado al curso, estás a tiempo, que aún quedan plazas!!
💻🌿🌺🐝💻
Recuerda que la inscripción incluye alojamiento y manutención!
⬇️⬇️⬇️
bsky.app/profile/ecoi...
ecoinf-aeet.bsky.social Ecoinformática AEET @ecoinf-aeet.bsky.social · Dec 22
¿No te ha tocado la lotería?

¡Pues no te preocupes porque desde el grupo de Ecoinformática hemos estado preparando algo especial!🎄

🎁 Sabemos que os habéis portado genial este año, así que qué mejor que comenzar el 2026 apuntándote al taller de elaboración de paquetes de R 🚀
shorturl.at/N6J3V
https://shorturl.at/N6J3V
January 19, 2026 at 2:10 PM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
mzloteanu.bsky.social
#statstab #466 {grateful} Facilitate citation of R packages

Thoughts: Great little package to easily cite all the packages you use in a script. (doesn't cite itself unless you ask it)

#rstats #r #packages #acknowledgement #credit #quarto

pakillo.github.io/grateful/ind...
Facilitate Citation of R Packages
Facilitates the citation of R packages used in analysis projects. Scans project for packages used, gets their citations, and produces a document with citations in the preferred bibliography format, re...
pakillo.github.io
January 19, 2026 at 1:51 PM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
nature.com
If we don’t slow down, the research enterprise is going to crash, argues Adrian Barnett

go.nature.com/4pRniHp
I’m going to halve my publication output. You should consider slow science, too
If we don’t slow down, the research enterprise is going to crash, argues Adrian Barnett.
go.nature.com
January 19, 2026 at 12:34 PM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
cosce.bsky.social
"¿Qué es la excelencia? Si el 80% de todos los artículos científicos se publican en revistas de supuesto prestigio, ¿el 80% de los artículos “sobresale”? ¿Puede “sobresalir” el 80% de algo?

@isidroaguillo.bsky.social en @eldiario.es

www.eldiario.es/sociedad/fal...
El 'fallido' sistema de revistas científicas: la mayoría de los estudios más citados salen en publicaciones 'menores'
Durante décadas, los países han dado más importancia a publicar en determinadas revistas, consideradas de prestigio, que al contenido de los artículos; esta política ha pervertido el sistema y perjudi...
www.eldiario.es
December 26, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
tomstafford.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
New post!

Where does new knowledge come from when everyone relies on AI models and those models collapse because they only have their own output to train on?

https://tomstafford.substack.com/p/model-collapse
Model collapse
when AI alters our behaviour and our institutions, the risk isn't just theoretical
tomstafford.substack.com
January 17, 2026 at 8:00 AM
frodsan.bsky.social
While the world melts down, the first almond trees, oblivious to everything, have started flowering

And a little animal was already looking forward to it
Almond flower
January 17, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
adamjkucharski.bsky.social
New post, on how AI is coming for open source software: kucharski.substack.com/p/will-your-...
Will your favourite open source software tools soon be closed off?
Freely available software relies on credit. AI is destroying that.
kucharski.substack.com
January 14, 2026 at 7:34 PM
frodsan.bsky.social
[Blog] Should PhD programmes require candidates to have at least one paper published in order to graduate?

frodriguezsanchez.net/post/should-...

#AcademicChatter #AcademicSky
Should PhD programmes require candidates to have at least one paper published in order to graduate? Many PhD programmes require PhD candidates to have one (or more) papers accepted or published in a scientific journal in order to be able to graduate and complete their doctorate. This is of course a well-intentioned idea and may sound good at first, as PhD candidates would gain experience and start learning how to navigate the publication process in scientific journals. Having a publication out the PhD may also help them secure their next position. The publication requirement would also encourage that research results are published and not lost forever, particularly if the new PhD moves on after completing their doctorate. Finally, having a paper accepted at a scientific journal usually means that at least three people (editors and reviewers) have evaluated the research and the editor(s) have considered it good enough for publication, so it could be interpreted as an external validation and signal of quality. Undesired consequences of requiring publication in PhD programmes So far so good. But on second thoughts one can foresee how this publication requirement can create perverse incentives, bring many problems for early career researchers and science in general, and basically do more harm than good. Particularly considering that many PhD programmes last 3-4 years (at least in Europe) and the publication process can take well more than a year from submission to acceptance (more on this below). Thus, a few counter-arguments that come to mind: [continues in the linked website]
January 15, 2026 at 2:50 PM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
adamjkucharski.bsky.social
Want to get the data out of a PDF figure? As in, the actual data – not a rough trace-along-the-lines version?

I made an app you might like: adamkucharski.github.io/pdf2plot/

It all started a few years ago... 🧵
January 13, 2026 at 9:12 PM
Reposted by Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez
ourworldindata.org
The world dedicates a Poland-sized area of land to producing liquid biofuels such as bioethanol & biodiesel. Is there a more efficient way to generate energy?

Putting solar panels on the land used for biofuels, e.g., would produce enough electricity for all cars and trucks worldwide to go electric.
How much energy can be produced on global land currently used for liquid biofuels? Bar comparison showing energy per year from land currently used for liquid biofuels: Biofuels for transport — 1,400 TWh per year; Solar panels on the same land — 32,000 TWh per year. Side annotations: 31,000 TWh shown for context as the amount of electricity the world generated in 2024; 7,000 TWh per year shown as the amount of electricity the world would need to power all of its cars and trucks if they were electric. Note: This assumes the world uses 32 million hectares of land to grow crops for liquid biofuels, based on net land use which subtracts land allocated to co-products such as animal feed, and assumes solar PV uses 1 hectare of land per GWh. Data source: Energy Institute; Cerulogy; Ember; and author calculations. Chart is licensed CC BY to Our World in Data.
January 13, 2026 at 12:38 PM