Simon Baker
simontbaker.bsky.social
Simon Baker
@simontbaker.bsky.social
Chief editor, Nature Index. Formerly Times Higher Ed and (a long time ago) PA News. Interested in data and what it can (and very often can't) tell you.
Fascinating blog on the growing imbalance in global science publishing between China's huge paper output and an editing/review system that is rooted in the West, and the pressures this is causing.

scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/07/08/g...
Guest Post - How the Growth of Chinese Research Is Bringing Western Publishing to Breaking Point - The Scholarly Kitchen
Christos Petrou examines the rapid growth in publication volume coming from China, and how that is impacting the publishing industry.
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org
July 9, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Reposted by Simon Baker
Imaging research in the popular field of computer vision almost always involves analysing humans and their environments, and most of the subsequent patents can be used in surveillance technologies

https://go.nature.com/3Gec9iY
Wake up call for AI: computer-vision research increasingly used for surveillance
One analysis suggests that 90% of studies in the field involve imaging humans.
go.nature.com
June 25, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Hot off the press, our latest Nature Index supplement on private-sector science. Lots of interesting questions/data to explore, especially in the context of public research funding being cut in the US. www.nature.com/collections/...
Science Inc.
Corporate research is a major part of the global science ecosystem, and all eyes are on the sector amid federal funding cuts in the United States.
www.nature.com
June 25, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Simon Baker
We've just released the Nature Index 2025 Research Leaders, which shows that China’s lead over the United States in high-quality research output has multiplied by more than four times in a single year.

go.nature.com/444uxD4 by @benjplackett.bsky.social
Nature Index 2025 Research Leaders: United States losing ground as China’s lead expands rapidly - 2025 Research Leaders
www.nature.com
June 11, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Incredible images and a beautiful immersive article from the Careers team at @nature.com showcasing the winner of this year's #ScientistAtWork photo competition. Can you spot the killer whale in the background of the winner's pic?

www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
Six striking images showcase scientific fieldwork
The winners of Nature’s 2025 photo competition braved crashing waves and misty mountains to capture their science.
www.nature.com
May 14, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Will be one to watch closely in the coming years. @harvard.edu has built up quite the lead in health and life sciences in the Nature Index (see www.nature.com/nature-index... for the latest health-sciences data for instance). Hard to see its battle with the Trump White House not affecting this.
May 7, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Reposted by Simon Baker
The US is responsible for more than half of the global public and philanthropic funding for cancer research. Funding cuts, like we've seen recently under Trump, pose a serious risk to new tests and treatments:

go.nature.com/3EoPuQi
May 6, 2025 at 3:48 AM
Reposted by Simon Baker
Chinese companies have overtaken the US in cancer clinical trial starts. Its rise to the top is unlike anything we've seen from other leading science nations: go.nature.com/3EoPuQi
May 6, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Very interesting in-depth piece about protecting research data from the risk that repositories could suddenly (or slowly) become inaccessible.

Pretty relevant when you consider how the stewardship of public data has changed in the US since January.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
How to protect research data
Contingency plans are needed to shore up important information.
www.nature.com
May 2, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Reposted by Simon Baker
A forthcoming policy from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) will target — and at least temporarily stop — funding to laboratories and hospitals outside the United States.

https://go.nature.com/4cXQpnA
Exclusive: NIH to suspend funds for research abroad as it overhauls policy
Move by US biomedical agency threatens thousands of projects on infectious diseases, cancer and more.
go.nature.com
April 30, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Reposted by Simon Baker
Amid fears of research data disappearing at alarming rates, archivists are calling out weaknesses in how the scholarly record is being preserved.

go.nature.com/4cSCQpc
How to protect research data
Contingency plans are needed to shore up important information.
www.nature.com
May 1, 2025 at 2:10 AM
Reposted by Simon Baker
We've just published our new Cancer supplement for @nature.com, which features four impressive young researchers - @oriolpich.bsky.social @frogsandstars.bsky.social

go.nature.com/4iwN7c8
Four rising stars at the forefront of cancer research
These scientists are coming at cancer from all angles.
www.nature.com
April 24, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Reposted by Simon Baker
We've just released new data on female authorship in journals tracked by the Nature Index - Nature and Science barely make the top 100.

go.nature.com/4cJjYZM
Health journals sprint ahead in the race to attract female authors
Some general journals, including Nature and Science, barely make the top 100, finds a Nature Index analysis of author gender. 
www.nature.com
April 24, 2025 at 4:25 AM
Reposted by Simon Baker
Start-ups are dominating the cancer clinical trials space, and China has overtaken the US for most trial starts.

go.nature.com/3EoPuQi by @benjplackett.bsky.social
Clinical trials by the numbers
Emerging companies and an evolving market are changing the dynamics of cancer trials.
go.nature.com
April 24, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Some more reasons for the US to worry about its position in global science: China overtook the US for cancer-research output in the Nature Index in 2024.

Big news as the biological & health sciences are the only areas where the US still dominates, but for how long?

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
China overtakes the United States in cancer research output
China takes pole position in cancer-related research in the Nature Index, with a massive jump in output.
www.nature.com
April 23, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Another day, another worrying story about DOGE's impact on US science... a reminder that China is already way ahead of the US for output in Nature Index journals (See www.nature.com/nature-index...)

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Exclusive: Trump team freezes new NSF awards — and could soon axe hundreds of grants
The National Science Foundation is the latest US agency to be disrupted by Elon Musk’s DOGE.
www.nature.com
April 23, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Reposted by Simon Baker
Good ideas — and impactful tools — don’t just come from rich, Western nations, says Aleksandra Lazić, a social scientist in Serbia

https://go.nature.com/4jkTNeG
How a ‘boring administrative task’ transformed my PhD career
Nature - Good ideas — and impactful tools — don’t just come from rich, Western nations, says Aleksandra Lazić, a social scientist in Serbia.
go.nature.com
April 21, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Reposted by Simon Baker
Evidence of US brain drain?

US scientists submitted 32% more applications for jobs abroad Jan-Mar 2025 than during same period in 2024.

US-based users browsing jobs abroad increased by 35%.

Data from Nature Careers global science jobs platform.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
April 22, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Finally got round to joining BSky (its shortened name slightly reminds me of the 90s incarnation of Sky TV in the UK)...

Anyway, here's the latest article from the Nature Index team, a look at how some researchers are experimenting with podcasts as a way to publish peer-reviewed research.
Can peer-reviewed podcasts fast-track science?
Researchers are experimenting with audio formats, and debating how to handle reviewer feedback.
www.nature.com
April 11, 2025 at 3:31 PM