Dan Brockington | Lightnews

Dan Brockington @danbrockington.bsky.social · 2h

This is potentially significant. The CNRS are one of the best in the world. Reliance on metrics controlled by private companies is a problem for science. We need the powerful organisatios to take the lead.

Understand the strain: tinyurl.com/2b6wxx5r
Stop the drain: tinyurl.com/3jfscscy

Dan Brockington @danbrockington.bsky.social · 2h

I was so glad to hear about this project and workshop. This would be my dream ERC project.

ERC Ocean Crime Narratives @ocn-uib.bsky.social · 3h

🌊 Exciting news!
We’re thrilled to announce that several of our international keynote speakers have now been confirmed for the upcoming conference "Seas of consequences: Social and Natural Science Narratives on Environmental Harm and Crime at sea". Meet the speakers at: ocn.uib.eu/conference-p...

Alexander Tsai, MD @drdrtsai.bsky.social · 2h

Great thread by one of the folks who brought you “The strain on scientific publishing”

direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...

ERC Ocean Crime Narratives @ocn-uib.bsky.social · 3h

🌊 Exciting news!
We’re thrilled to announce that several of our international keynote speakers have now been confirmed for the upcoming conference "Seas of consequences: Social and Natural Science Narratives on Environmental Harm and Crime at sea". Meet the speakers at: ocn.uib.eu/conference-p...

Dan Brockington @danbrockington.bsky.social · 22h

I know of few people who get the economics of scientific publishing better than @paolocrosetto.bsky.social This thread on the incentives that are driving bad publishing practice is golden.

For the darkly funny side of this see:
the-strain-on-scientific-publishing.github.io/website/post...

Paolo Crosetto @paolocrosetto.bsky.social · 1d

Since AI slop is again all over Scientific Reports, a thread on the economics of grey-zone publishing.

Why does slop keep getting published? What does it mean for science? How can we stop this?

Background readings:
Understand the strain: tinyurl.com/2b6wxx5r
Stop the drain: tinyurl.com/3jfscscy

An obviously AI-generated figure with AI slop and fake text all over it, recently published in Scientific Reports.

Dan Brockington @danbrockington.bsky.social · 3d

This morning was particularly beautiful. Be warned, its a 5 minute video and too big a file to add to a skeet. Sunup 2 mins in.

youtu.be/fuZFqNAbhdc

dawn 28 nov

YouTube video by Dan Brockington

youtu.be

Dan Brockington @danbrockington.bsky.social · 3d

Here's a typically thoughtful piece from
@anotherbobsmith.bsky.social: the push to generate prioritisations stems from not understanding how they become effective. Are journal editors also culpable, as they have lapped up lots of this science. Why did they think it might help? shorturl.at/Of5h3

Twenty-five years of misinterpreting the biodiversity hotspot approach - Nature Ecology & Evolution

A quarter of a century after its publication, the biodiversity hotspot concept remains one of the most cited and influential frameworks in conservation science. But its real-world impact is poorly doc...

shorturl.at

Dan Brockington @danbrockington.bsky.social · 4d

Many thanks for this fascinating discussion

Stefanie Haustein @stefhaustein.scholcommlab.ca · 4d

Yay, our first podcast citation @danbrockington.bsky.social @paolocrosetto.bsky.social et al.
They discuss The Drain starting at minute 33:20 in the context of a protein science journal published by Wiley and also mention @elife.bsky.social. It's introduced as "almost an economics paper" :D

Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 7d

Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Stefanie Haustein @stefhaustein.scholcommlab.ca · 4d

Yay, our first podcast citation @danbrockington.bsky.social @paolocrosetto.bsky.social et al.
They discuss The Drain starting at minute 33:20 in the context of a protein science journal published by Wiley and also mention @elife.bsky.social. It's introduced as "almost an economics paper" :D

Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 7d

Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Episode 9: I Can Do It With a Broken Grant Cycle

Podcast Episode · The Tortured Proteins Department · 11/23/2025 · 1h 1m

podcasts.apple.com

Dan Brockington @danbrockington.bsky.social · 5d

@geofrancismasse.bsky.social I gather you are cold. Come here for a swim. You will feel warm and invigorated.

Dan Brockington @danbrockington.bsky.social · 5d

Another beautiful dawn. Air a but cold, but the water is warm. I think you can see water vapour in the air low over the sea when the air is that much colder than the sea is.

Dan Brockington @danbrockington.bsky.social · 7d

One of the great things about Barcelona - working with the @pollenetwork.bsky.social secretariat: Laila, Ele, Rebecca and Blanket (the cat). Here planning POLLEN comms up the coast in Masnou. We will be recruiting one more person to this team.

LSE Blogs @lseblogs.bsky.social · 10d

Money, Time, Trust, Control – How commercial publishers drain science

@danbrockington.bsky.social @aileenfyfe.bsky.social @stefhaustein.scholcommlab.ca for @lseimpactblog.bsky.social

Money, Time, Trust, Control – How commercial publishers drain science - Impact of Social Sciences

Have the interests of commercial publishers now become antithetical to the pursuit of knowledge?

blogs.lse.ac.uk

Ted Meissner @tedmeissner.bsky.social · 11d

"The domination of scientific publishing in the Global North by major commercial publishers is harmful to science..."

arxiv.org/pdf/2511.04820

#science #peerreview #scientificmethod #scientificpublishing

arxiv.org

Dan Brockington @danbrockington.bsky.social · 11d

Am in Leeds for a viva and am so lucky to catch the Peninnes in a cold snap. Glorious orange and pink clouds and views from the train this morning.

walkhighlands @walkhighlands.co.uk · 11d

First proper snowy woodland walk of the winter. Magic.

Dan Brockington @danbrockington.bsky.social · 11d

Where do they all go? Surely the building has to fill up with spoons at some point.

Eiko Fried @eikofried.bsky.social · 11d

70 teaspoons placed in tearooms around the institute & observed weekly over 5 months. 80% of spoons disappeared; spoon halflife~81 days. Communal room halflife lower than in specific labs. 250 spoons annually required to maintain 70 spoon population.

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute

Objectives To determine the overall rate of loss of workplace teaspoons and whether attrition and displacement are correlated with the relative value of the teaspoons or type of tearoom. Design Longitudinal cohort study. Setting Research institute ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Dan Brockington @danbrockington.bsky.social · 11d

This blog summarises the crippling intellectual and scholarly consequences of the financial drain of commercial scientific publishing.

Builds on earlier work on strain and oligopoly of publishing:

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: bit.ly/StrainQSS
Oligopoly: bit.ly/OligSciPub

Eiko Fried @eikofried.bsky.social · 11d

70 teaspoons placed in tearooms around the institute & observed weekly over 5 months. 80% of spoons disappeared; spoon halflife~81 days. Communal room halflife lower than in specific labs. 250 spoons annually required to maintain 70 spoon population.

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute

Objectives To determine the overall rate of loss of workplace teaspoons and whether attrition and displacement are correlated with the relative value of the teaspoons or type of tearoom. Design Longitudinal cohort study. Setting Research institute ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Dan Brockington @danbrockington.bsky.social · 11d

We were very fortunate to have Dorothea Kleine from IGSD and @sheffielduni.bsky.social at @icta-uab.bsky.social yesterday talking about codesign and her work on digital reset (shorturl.at/WiYGL). Dorothea (and @rosaleenduffy.bsky.social) gave me my first Dolly Parton figurine, pictured between us.

walkhighlands @walkhighlands.co.uk · 11d

First proper snowy woodland walk of the winter. Magic.

ICTA-UAB @icta-uab.bsky.social · 12d

✍️💸Money, Time, Trust, Control – How commercial publishers drain science

This article by our researcher @danbrockington.bsky.social, together with Aileen Fyfe and Stefanie Haustein, tackles this question in the blog of @lseusablog.bsky.social

blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...

Money, Time, Trust, Control – How commercial publishers drain science - Impact of Social Sciences

Have the interests of commercial publishers now become antithetical to the pursuit of knowledge?

blogs.lse.ac.uk

Dan Brockington @danbrockington.bsky.social · 12d

Working with real metascientists on this project has been an incredible learning experience. This is quite important for scientific publishing.

LSE Impact Blog @lseimpactblog.bsky.social · 12d

💥New: Money, Time, Trust, Control – How commercial publishers drain science

✍️ @danbrockington.bsky.social @aileenfyfe.bsky.social @stefhaustein.scholcommlab.ca

#AcademicSky #ScholComm #AcademicPublishing

Money, Time, Trust, Control – How commercial publishers drain science - Impact of Social Sciences

Have the interests of commercial publishers now become antithetical to the pursuit of knowledge?

blogs.lse.ac.uk

LSE Impact Blog @lseimpactblog.bsky.social · 12d

💥New: Money, Time, Trust, Control – How commercial publishers drain science

✍️ @danbrockington.bsky.social @aileenfyfe.bsky.social @stefhaustein.scholcommlab.ca

#AcademicSky #ScholComm #AcademicPublishing

Money, Time, Trust, Control – How commercial publishers drain science - Impact of Social Sciences

Have the interests of commercial publishers now become antithetical to the pursuit of knowledge?

blogs.lse.ac.uk

ICTA-UAB @icta-uab.bsky.social · 12d

Science under the control of major publishers: profit over knowledge

A new analysis led by ICTA-UAB researcher @danbrockington.bsky.social, shows that in scientific publishing, commercial interests put profit ahead of advancing knowledge and academic integrity.

www.uab.cat/web/sala-de-...

Science under the control of major publishers: profit over knowledge

The current publishing system is harmful to science. A new analysis involving ICTA-UAB, Spain, shows that in scientific publishing, commercial...

www.uab.cat

ICTA-UAB @icta-uab.bsky.social · 12d

Las publicaciones científicas priorizan las ganancias “a la integridad académica”, según un estudio del ICTA-UAB liderado por el investigador @danbrockington.bsky.social @icreacommunity.bsky.social

www.lavanguardia.com/sociedad/202...

Las publicaciones científicas priorizan las ganancias “a la integridad académica”, según un estudio

Advierte de un “drenaje de fondos” del sistema científico BARCELONA, 19 (EUROPA PRESS) Un estudio con participación del Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología Ambiental de la...

www.lavanguardia.com

Dan Brockington @danbrockington.bsky.social · 13d

I'm a little late to this but this is a thoughtful thread about a new side of conservation which I had not considered before. Congrats on the article and thanks for sharing.

Keller Kopf @kellerfish.bsky.social · Nov 24

First post here.
I’ll unpack our new paper @science.org highlighting the loss of old animals and calling for ‘longevity conservation’

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Loss of Earth’s old, wise, and large animals

Earth’s old animals are in decline. Despite this, emerging research is revealing the vital contributions of older individuals to cultural transmission, population dynamics, and ecosystem processes and...

www.science.org

Dan Brockington @danbrockington.bsky.social · 14d

Here was dawn over the Med this morning. Enjoy!

ICREA Community @icreacommunity.bsky.social · 14d

🎉Aquesta setmana comença la #BiennalCiutatiCiència de l' @ajuntamentbcn.bsky.social.

Enguany, dedicada a la revolució quàntica, amb la participació dels ICREA Antonio Acín, @gemmadlc.bsky.social, Anna Sanpera, @ricardsole.bsky.social i Oriol Romero-Isart.

📘 Consulta el programa: short.do/E9xYVN

Bienal Ciudad y Ciencia 2025

La cuarta edición de la Bienal Ciudad y Ciencia tendrá lugar simultáneamente en Barcelona y en Madrid entre el 18 y el 23 de noviembre de 2025.

www.biennalciutaticiencia.barcelona

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