Alex Holcombe
@alexh.bsky.social
Science-ing, trying to improve science. Cognitive and perceptual psychologist.
Biases include @simine (💍), cats (🚫)
Mastodon: @alexh@fediscience.org
Biases include @simine (💍), cats (🚫)
Mastodon: @alexh@fediscience.org
Lisa Bero with shocking admission of how the sponsor was involved in their studies. #AIMOS2025
But almost all article sponsor involvement says they werent involved, should ask her if these authors also wrote that in their articles. #metascience
But almost all article sponsor involvement says they werent involved, should ask her if these authors also wrote that in their articles. #metascience
November 18, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Lisa Bero with shocking admission of how the sponsor was involved in their studies. #AIMOS2025
But almost all article sponsor involvement says they werent involved, should ask her if these authors also wrote that in their articles. #metascience
But almost all article sponsor involvement says they werent involved, should ask her if these authors also wrote that in their articles. #metascience
Lisa Bero's first slide at #AIMOS2025 on the evidence base weakening because of commercial influence on research, e.g. false claims of efficacy #metascience
November 18, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Lisa Bero's first slide at #AIMOS2025 on the evidence base weakening because of commercial influence on research, e.g. false claims of efficacy #metascience
We chart three paths to remedy this.
Path 1 (Relax authorship restrictions) and Path 2 (Unbundle articles into multiple outputs) are ongoing and discussed by others, although we don't know that they've been framed in terms of the Acknowledgments problem.
Path 1 (Relax authorship restrictions) and Path 2 (Unbundle articles into multiple outputs) are ongoing and discussed by others, although we don't know that they've been framed in terms of the Acknowledgments problem.
November 17, 2025 at 10:19 PM
We chart three paths to remedy this.
Path 1 (Relax authorship restrictions) and Path 2 (Unbundle articles into multiple outputs) are ongoing and discussed by others, although we don't know that they've been framed in terms of the Acknowledgments problem.
Path 1 (Relax authorship restrictions) and Path 2 (Unbundle articles into multiple outputs) are ongoing and discussed by others, although we don't know that they've been framed in terms of the Acknowledgments problem.
Our new preprint! The Acknowledgments problem, and what to do about it.
With @martonkovacs.bsky.social, @pietropollo.bsky.social, @philobolobstime.bsky.social, Losia Lagisz, & Mohammad Hosseini.
With @martonkovacs.bsky.social, @pietropollo.bsky.social, @philobolobstime.bsky.social, Losia Lagisz, & Mohammad Hosseini.
November 17, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Our new preprint! The Acknowledgments problem, and what to do about it.
With @martonkovacs.bsky.social, @pietropollo.bsky.social, @philobolobstime.bsky.social, Losia Lagisz, & Mohammad Hosseini.
With @martonkovacs.bsky.social, @pietropollo.bsky.social, @philobolobstime.bsky.social, Losia Lagisz, & Mohammad Hosseini.
Indeed, I don't think this will turn out well (Australia's social media ban for under 16s going into effect). We will create a generation of criminals as kids scramble to work around the ban.
November 15, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Indeed, I don't think this will turn out well (Australia's social media ban for under 16s going into effect). We will create a generation of criminals as kids scramble to work around the ban.
Someday we'll have acknowledgment citation counts and we can better recognize those who are particularly collegial. The image shows the most frequently-acknowledged people in the journal Psychological Review up to 1999.
(Cronin, Shaw, and La Barre, 2003)
(Cronin, Shaw, and La Barre, 2003)
November 2, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Someday we'll have acknowledgment citation counts and we can better recognize those who are particularly collegial. The image shows the most frequently-acknowledged people in the journal Psychological Review up to 1999.
(Cronin, Shaw, and La Barre, 2003)
(Cronin, Shaw, and La Barre, 2003)
I thought this paper was satire at first, but I think it's not? www.crimrxiv.com/pub/bxsjoeth...
October 29, 2025 at 4:47 AM
I thought this paper was satire at first, but I think it's not? www.crimrxiv.com/pub/bxsjoeth...
#OAweek Support diamond #openaccess scholar-controlled journals, such as those listed at freejournals.org.
October 23, 2025 at 4:19 AM
#OAweek Support diamond #openaccess scholar-controlled journals, such as those listed at freejournals.org.
Today's email to an associate editor, declining to review for a big corporate publisher. This one focuses on Nature Publishing Group's practice of funneling rejected manuscripts to their newer journals with hefty APCs.
![Dear Dr. [redacted],
It was nice to meet you at the [redacted]!
Thanks for thinking of me as a possible reviewer, as I am interested in the topic. However, I decline to review this manuscript - I often do this in the case of journals published by profiteering corporate publishers. For Nature Communications, Nature Publishing Group charges an outrageous US$6990 to authors that has little to do with higher-quality service or journal processes and lots to do with a legacy first-mover advantage that it uses to exploit academia. This is rentier capitalism.
NPG funnels papers they reject from their most prestigious outlets to their newer subsidiary journals such as Nature Communications and Nature Communications Psychology, which academics go along with because they don’t (directly) foot the bill, and because, given the pressure academics are under to publish rapidly, they wish to take advantage of the reviews they may have already received from the higher-tier Nature journal. Because we are now live in a world where most studies can eventually be published somewhere, NPG has been able to exploit this by creating their own lower-tier journals and charging high-aspiration authors for the convenience.
This practice conflicts with my interest in universities and funders not wasting their money, which is why I do not wish to support it by contributing to the hundreds of millions of dollars of labor that academics donate to corporate publishers. Instead, I preferentially review, and volunteer as an editor for, diamond open access journals that are free to read and publish in.
For various reasons, including combating this strategy by which corporate publishers are extending the era in which they profiteer from university funds, many academics and funders now advocate for the Publish->Review->Curate model, in which academics publish their work immediately (on preprint servers, which prevents gatekeeping by editors), and then get it peer reviewed, preferably through low-cost…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:kynaetyuzsp46xejc6mzpjle/bafkreiaoe55bbl7zqu7nkhem6uy74kmqxc5pkassyn5ofayrfwxy7my3ia@jpeg)
October 19, 2025 at 5:55 AM
Today's email to an associate editor, declining to review for a big corporate publisher. This one focuses on Nature Publishing Group's practice of funneling rejected manuscripts to their newer journals with hefty APCs.
The Crimson appears to claim that this letter in the infamous Epstein 50th birthday book was signed by Kosslyn. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
October 19, 2025 at 1:39 AM
The Crimson appears to claim that this letter in the infamous Epstein 50th birthday book was signed by Kosslyn. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Wow, this excerpt from Giuffre's book (www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...), and Bloomberg got Epstein's emails, including one from Steve Kosslyn (the Harvard psychologist possibly referenced here) asking how he could help when Epstein was about to enter jail. www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
October 19, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Wow, this excerpt from Giuffre's book (www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...), and Bloomberg got Epstein's emails, including one from Steve Kosslyn (the Harvard psychologist possibly referenced here) asking how he could help when Epstein was about to enter jail. www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
"If there is a God, he has an inordinate fondness for beetles" - attributed to Haldane.
I don't know what kind of weevil beetle this is. There are over 97,000 species of weevils.
I don't know what kind of weevil beetle this is. There are over 97,000 species of weevils.
October 18, 2025 at 6:15 AM
"If there is a God, he has an inordinate fondness for beetles" - attributed to Haldane.
I don't know what kind of weevil beetle this is. There are over 97,000 species of weevils.
I don't know what kind of weevil beetle this is. There are over 97,000 species of weevils.
On the World Conference on Research Integrity conference submission website (abstract deadline today!). Seems a reasonable approach. #metascience
October 15, 2025 at 9:39 PM
On the World Conference on Research Integrity conference submission website (abstract deadline today!). Seems a reasonable approach. #metascience
About intellectual contribution being a criterion, It's almost elitist by definition, but focusing on that probably confuses the debate.
So, to start afresh, I'd be interested to know why you think (if you do) that only people who make intellectual contributions should be on the by-line.
So, to start afresh, I'd be interested to know why you think (if you do) that only people who make intellectual contributions should be on the by-line.
October 6, 2025 at 5:59 AM
About intellectual contribution being a criterion, It's almost elitist by definition, but focusing on that probably confuses the debate.
So, to start afresh, I'd be interested to know why you think (if you do) that only people who make intellectual contributions should be on the by-line.
So, to start afresh, I'd be interested to know why you think (if you do) that only people who make intellectual contributions should be on the by-line.
Was great to get some answers to this, from ChatGPT (not kidding).
Australians are different; they never say "we're not here to fuck spiders, as it were" nor "he couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery, as it were"
Australians are different; they never say "we're not here to fuck spiders, as it were" nor "he couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery, as it were"
September 29, 2025 at 5:08 AM
Was great to get some answers to this, from ChatGPT (not kidding).
Australians are different; they never say "we're not here to fuck spiders, as it were" nor "he couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery, as it were"
Australians are different; they never say "we're not here to fuck spiders, as it were" nor "he couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery, as it were"
For the first time, the COPE Retraction guidelines now (version 3) address the possibility of mentioning those who found the issue (e.g. data sleuths). But it only mentions it *can* happen; stops short of recommending it!
#metascience
#metascience
September 10, 2025 at 4:29 PM
For the first time, the COPE Retraction guidelines now (version 3) address the possibility of mentioning those who found the issue (e.g. data sleuths). But it only mentions it *can* happen; stops short of recommending it!
#metascience
#metascience
In "hell-hole" Chicago (Trump, yesterday) I am having a heavenly-almost-holy time! Beautiful city, not only up at the Loop (where I am attending the Peer Review Congress), but also on the South side; admittedly, didn't get far out of Hyde Park (photo of buildings at the University of Chicago)
September 4, 2025 at 4:44 PM
In "hell-hole" Chicago (Trump, yesterday) I am having a heavenly-almost-holy time! Beautiful city, not only up at the Loop (where I am attending the Peer Review Congress), but also on the South side; admittedly, didn't get far out of Hyde Park (photo of buildings at the University of Chicago)
“The greatest value of a picture is when it forces us to notice what we never expected to see.”
- John Tukey (1977) _Exploratory Data Analysis_
#statistics
- John Tukey (1977) _Exploratory Data Analysis_
#statistics
August 27, 2025 at 7:02 AM
“The greatest value of a picture is when it forces us to notice what we never expected to see.”
- John Tukey (1977) _Exploratory Data Analysis_
#statistics
- John Tukey (1977) _Exploratory Data Analysis_
#statistics
Support scholar-controlled diamond open access journals. See freejournals.org, DOAJ, the new European Diamond Capacity Hub, & the Open Journals Collective. A lot is happening in this space!
open.lnu.se/index.php/me...
@metaror.bsky.social
en.wikiversity.org/wiki/WikiJou... nbdt.scholasticahq.com
open.lnu.se/index.php/me...
@metaror.bsky.social
en.wikiversity.org/wiki/WikiJou... nbdt.scholasticahq.com
August 11, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Support scholar-controlled diamond open access journals. See freejournals.org, DOAJ, the new European Diamond Capacity Hub, & the Open Journals Collective. A lot is happening in this space!
open.lnu.se/index.php/me...
@metaror.bsky.social
en.wikiversity.org/wiki/WikiJou... nbdt.scholasticahq.com
open.lnu.se/index.php/me...
@metaror.bsky.social
en.wikiversity.org/wiki/WikiJou... nbdt.scholasticahq.com
Was very proud to represent MetaROR.org, the new preprint reviewing service for metaresearch (check out the website, we already have several articles with open reviews posted!), with @denolmo.bsky.social (pictured), @ludowaltman.bsky.social, Kathy Zeiler, and André Brasil, all at #metascience2025
July 3, 2025 at 6:03 AM
Was very proud to represent MetaROR.org, the new preprint reviewing service for metaresearch (check out the website, we already have several articles with open reviews posted!), with @denolmo.bsky.social (pictured), @ludowaltman.bsky.social, Kathy Zeiler, and André Brasil, all at #metascience2025
The Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information already has over 100 signatory institutions, but needs more. barcelona-declaration.org Bianca Kramer tells us they've formed working parties to advance open research infrastructure.
July 2, 2025 at 5:11 PM
The Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information already has over 100 signatory institutions, but needs more. barcelona-declaration.org Bianca Kramer tells us they've formed working parties to advance open research infrastructure.
@ludowaltman.bsky.social explains why infrastructure for metascience must be open. #Metascience2025 He describes two recent initiatives to advance this (1/n)
July 2, 2025 at 5:11 PM
@ludowaltman.bsky.social explains why infrastructure for metascience must be open. #Metascience2025 He describes two recent initiatives to advance this (1/n)
Ana Persic of UNESCO reminds us that access to science is a right. Another reason to support open infrastructure! #metascience2025
July 2, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Ana Persic of UNESCO reminds us that access to science is a right. Another reason to support open infrastructure! #metascience2025
@metaror.bsky.social is a scholar-controlled peer review service for metascience research. Check us out! Metaror.org
#metascience2025 (I am an associate editor at MetaRoR) @ludowaltman.bsky.social @aidybarnett.bsky.social
#metascience2025 (I am an associate editor at MetaRoR) @ludowaltman.bsky.social @aidybarnett.bsky.social
June 30, 2025 at 3:27 PM
@metaror.bsky.social is a scholar-controlled peer review service for metascience research. Check us out! Metaror.org
#metascience2025 (I am an associate editor at MetaRoR) @ludowaltman.bsky.social @aidybarnett.bsky.social
#metascience2025 (I am an associate editor at MetaRoR) @ludowaltman.bsky.social @aidybarnett.bsky.social