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Alberto Baccini

@albertobaccini.bsky.social
325 followers 524 following 36 posts

Professor of Quantitative studies of science, University of Siena, Italy. One of the founders of roars.it

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Reposted by Alberto Baccini
LSE Impact @lseimpactblog.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
👀ICYMI | "For economics, in the contemporary period, the pattern suggests the emergence of increasingly closed communities. Low entry of journals and low turnover of members raise questions about governance: Who is being excluded?" @albertobaccini.bsky.social #EconSky #SocialScience #ScholComms
blogs.lse.ac.uk
Economics journals are governed by a shrinking elite - LSE Impact
Journal growth in economics has stalled, member turnover has collapsed, and boards have become stable and insular. Does a lack of diversity hold the field back?
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Reposted by Alberto Baccini
LSE Blogs @lseblogs.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Journal editorial boards are the gatekeepers of knowledge. Yet our understanding of how these boards operate is quite limited. On @lseimpactblog.bsky.social, @albertobaccini.bsky.social presents new research into editorial board dynamics in economics journals, finding them increasingly insular.
blogs.lse.ac.uk
Economics journals are governed by a shrinking elite - LSE Impact
Journal growth in economics has stalled, member turnover has collapsed, and boards have become stable and insular. Does a lack of diversity hold the field back?
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Reposted by Alberto Baccini
LSE Impact @lseimpactblog.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
💥New | Economics journals are governed by a shrinking elite ✍️ @albertobaccini.bsky.social #EconSky #AcademicPublishing #AcademicSky
blogs.lse.ac.uk
Economics journals are governed by a shrinking elite - LSE Impact
Journal growth in economics has stalled, member turnover has collapsed, and boards have become stable and insular. Does a lack of diversity hold the field back?
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Reposted by Alberto Baccini
Count Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
VICTORY! England over Mexico. Me (morally) over the other Makerfield candidates. Celebrate with me LIVE IN LONDON! My one and only July gig is @museumofcomedy this Thursday 9 July at 8.30pm. Tickets are disappearing faster than Nigel's poll lead. JOIN ME! www.museumofcomedy.com/count-binfac...
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Amnesty International UK @amnestyuk.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
A United Nations’ independent commission has found that Israel is deliberately targeting Palestinian children. Commission chair Srinivasan Muralidhar described the “systematic killing and harming of children” including since the so-called ceasefire was declared in October 2025.
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Reposted by Alberto Baccini
Retraction Watch @retractionwatch.com · 26/02/2026
“Maybe, I would have been treated better if I had cited some of the editor in chief’s papers,” Bimonte, of the University of Siena, wrote in boldface in the email, which we have seen. Two days later, an unhappy editor at the journal quit, Retraction Watch has learned.
retractionwatch.com
Exclusive: Unrest at Wiley journal whose EIC is cited in more than half of its papers
Timothy Lee (center) of Macau University of Science and Technology was named editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Tourism Research in 2023. On Feb. 18, a researcher in Italy sent a disgr…
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Reposted by Alberto Baccini
Nick Brown @steamtraen.eu · 23/02/2026
TIL that there is a thing called the Enhanced Games, where athletes are explicitly encouraged to take performance-boosting drugs. Perhaps we need the Journal of Enhanced Papers. People could pay to put their AI slop and paper mill stuff in there, and leave us out of it. cc @jsmoliga.bsky.social
en.wikipedia.org
Enhanced Games - Wikipedia
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Exclusive: Unrest at Wiley journal whose EIC is cited in more than half of its papers retractionwatch.com/2026/02/26/e...
retractionwatch.com
Exclusive: Unrest at Wiley journal whose EIC is cited in more than half of its papers
Timothy Lee (center) of Macau University of Science and Technology was named editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Tourism Research in 2023. On Feb. 18, a researcher in Italy sent a disgr…
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Reposted by Alberto Baccini
Stephen Curry @scurry.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
If you would like to help put pressure on the @royalsociety.org to finally take meaningful action on this issue, you can politely decline their requests for your labour (eg invitations to review or to sit on their editorial boards or grant panels), and refer to the arguments in this blogpost.
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
La cattiva scienza e la sua diffusione. www.youtube.com/live/mKitu7N...
youtube.com
La cattiva scienza e la sua diffusione
YouTube video by ReteGARR
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Prossima settimana a Firenze a parlare di riforma dell'università.
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
eci.ec.europa.eu/055/public/#...
eci.ec.europa.eu
European Citizens' Initiative
Give your support !
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Reposted by Alberto Baccini
Health Nerd @gidmk.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Fascinating piece about how the fear of microplastics is almost certainly overblown. One takeaway for me is that even the scientists behind the microplastics=bad papers are VERY reserved about whether these findings are really problematic. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
‘A bombshell’: doubt cast on discovery of microplastics throughout human body
Exclusive: Some scientists say many detections are most likely error, with one high-profile study called a ‘joke’
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Reposted by Alberto Baccini
Caitlin Johnstone @caitoz.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Every western country on earth is currently both (A) hollering about the need to free people from authoritarian governments and (B) gradually making it illegal to criticize the state of Israel.
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Editorial power in economics journals has a long history. We analyze 150+ years of board turnover, stability, and governance with new data & methods. Big patterns, big change. 🔗 arxiv.org/abs/2601.05727 #Economics #ScienceOfScience
arxiv.org
A Stock-Flow Framework for Editorial Board Dynamics: The Case of Economics Journals, 1866-2019
Research on the editorial boards of scholarly journals has predominantly relied on static, cross-sectional data, focusing on their composition or interlocking editorships at single points in time. To ...
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Reposted by Alberto Baccini
Dorothy Bishop @deevybee.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
How long should it take to retract a paper with incontrovertible signs of data fabrication? Sleuths think 2 months is too long, particularly when clinical risks are involved. deevybee.blogspot.com/2026/01/an-o... #retraction #stemcells #cardiology @erictopol.bsky.social
deevybee.blogspot.com
An Open Letter to the BMJ Editorial Board
to: Editor in chief, Kamran Abbasi , kabbasi@bmj.com      Executive editor, Theodora Bloom , tbloom@bmj.com      Head of research, Elizab...
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Reposted by Alberto Baccini
Dorothy Bishop @deevybee.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
A recent blogpost translated into Italian, which makes it sound much more erudite - iniquitous data! www.roars.it/i-pericoli-d...
roars.it
I pericoli dell'uso della bibliometria con dati inquinati
La valutazione della ricerca basata sulle metriche viene spesso presentata come una soluzione ai problemi di equità e oggettività. «La bibliometria è per la valutazione della ricerca ciò che la diagno...
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Bug in Springer Nature metadata may be causing ‘significant, systemic’ citation inflation retractionwatch.com/2025/11/11/b...
retractionwatch.com
Bug in Springer Nature metadata may be causing ‘significant, systemic’ citation inflation
Millions of researchers could be affected by a “dramatic distortion of citation counts” likely caused by flaws in how the academic publishing giant Springer Nature handles article metadata, accordi…
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
Tutto ciò avviene in chiara contraddizione con i principi di libertà di ricerca e insegnamento ancora sanciti dalla Costituzione.
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
La proposta è già stata duramente bocciata dal Consiglio di Stato, che segnala contraddizioni con la legge istitutiva e mette in dubbio la legittimità di molte novità.
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
Con la riforma, nomine e attività di valutazione passano sotto l’iniziativa esclusiva del Ministro, riducendo drasticamente l’indipendenza tecnica di ANVUR.
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
La proposta di riforma dell’ANVUR rende finalmente evidente ciò che da anni era solo implicito: l’Agenzia è lo strumento con cui il governo attua il controllo centralizzato e indirizza le attività di università e ricerca. www.roars.it/valutare-e-o...
roars.it
Valutare e obbedire. Il Governo vuole il controllo totale di ANVUR
La proposta di riforma dell'ANVUR rende finalmente evidente ciò che da anni era solo implicito: l’Agenzia è lo strumento con cui il governo attua il controllo centralizzato e indirizza le attività di ...
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Nel deserto lasciato dalla guerra, l'università deve parlare www.roars.it/nel-deserto-... @filippobelloc.bsky.social
roars.it
Nel deserto lasciato dalla guerra, l’università deve parlare
Fatta — o forse solo dichiarata — la pace, resta il deserto che la guerra ha lasciato. Ora tocca a noi. Alle università spetta la responsabilità più difficile: la ricostruzione culturale, la progettaz...
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Reposted by Alberto Baccini
Retraction Watch @retractionwatch.com · 25/08/2025
Grateful that @lonnibesancon.bsky.social‬, @gcabanac.cpesr.fr, Cyril Labbe and Alexander Magazinov chose to donate the proceeds of their ASIS&T Best Paper Award for 2025 to the @elisabethbik.bsky.social Fund to support the work of sleuths. More here: centerforscientificintegrity.org/our-projects...
asist.org
“Sneaked references: Fabricated reference metadata distort citation counts” Chosen for 2025 Best JASIST Paper Award
The Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) is delighted to announce that “Sneaked references: Fabricated reference metadata distort citation counts,” written by Lonni Besançon, Guil...
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Reposted by Alberto Baccini
Springer Nature @springernature.com · 24/07/2025
Data-visualization researcher @lonnibesancon.bsky.social has faced online abuse, threats and legal challenges. But he remains proud of his service to science and society. He hopes young scientists will get involved in scientific sleuthing: spklr.io/63328BEc6p
spklr.io
The COVID-19 pandemic transformed this scientist into a research-integrity sleuth
Lonni Besançon has faced online abuse, threats and legal challenges. But he remains proud of his service to science and society.
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
www.roars.it/la-finta-imp...
roars.it
La finta imparzialità della valutazione: le reti che governano la ricerca italiana
Dietro la facciata neutrale delle regole formali, i panel VQR in area economica mostrano legami fitti e opachi, dominati da gruppi accademici vicini all'università Bocconi. L'analisi di rete svela che...
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
Con la VQR in corso si è tornati indietro: ANVUR ha ripreso il controllo diretto dei panel, nominando un quarto dei membri, e riaprendo la porta a bias e conformismo. La valutazione della ricerca soffoca il pluralismo e rafforza le gerarchie accademiche consolidate.
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
L’analisi di rete svela che le nomine operate direttamente dai consigli direttivi di ANVUR nelle prime due VQR dettero luogo a strutture chiuse e autoreferenziali, a differenza della terza VQR quando il panel venne sorteggiato.
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
Dietro la facciata neutrale delle regole formali, i panel VQR in area economica mostrano legami fitti e opachi, dominati da gruppi accademici vicini all’università Bocconi.
 https://www.roars.it/la-finta-imparzialita-della-valutazione-le-reti-che-governano-la-ricerca-italiana/
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Reposted by Alberto Baccini
Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 05/07/2025
AI summaries kill search traffic. This has been an obvious consequence of Google's AI summary strategy since its inception. Apparently the training data is so valuable that Google is willing to risk the neck of the goose that lays golden eggs. Screenshot: thebullshitmachines.com/lesson-9-blu...
Screenshot from Modern-Day Oracles or Bullshit Machines (Bergstrom and West 2025).

People wandering through a desert mirage, with the text:

"We anticipate powerful, damaging spillover effects. If no one follows web links, there will be few incentives for people to create high-quality content in the first place.

Meanwhile large language models make it easy to produce low-quality content at the touch of a button. Quality human-created information may be swamped by AI-generated bullshit."
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Lonni Besançon @lonnibesancon.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
How about a podcast on research integrity featuring big names in the field (e.g., @elisabethbik.bsky.social) and, incidentally, yours truly? Go listen to open.spotify.com/show/2AuVl4w...
open.spotify.com
Science in the Gray Zone
Podcast · Nanobubbles ERC Project - Chakalaka Medialab · Science and Technology
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
L’accademia dei Lincei ha da poco assegnato i premi Feltrinelli. Quest’anno il premio Feltrinelli per la medicina, consistente in €100.000, è stato assegnato a Carlo M. Croce. Hanno fatto bene? www.roars.it/i-lincei-pre...
roars.it
I Lincei premiano Carlo M. Croce. Hanno fatto bene?
L'accademia dei Lincei ha da poco assegnato i premi Feltrinelli. Quest'anno il premio Feltrinelli per la medicina, consistente in €100.000, è stato assegnato a Carlo M. Croce. Questa la motivazione: ...
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Reposted by Alberto Baccini
LizW @cave-malum.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
Ajan Reginald, formerly of Celixir infamy, should apply to the FDA. It's a coin toss whether the dynamic duo approve or decline to approve products on any given day. Likely there's special speedy path for packs of lies purporting to be biologics.
forbetterscience.com
Questionable activities of UK company Celixir, by Patricia Murray
Patricia Murray uncovers the business secrets of the Nobelist Martin Evans and his partner Ajan Reginald. It seems the magic iMP cells used to treat patients in Greece were drawn from the blood of …
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Paolo Crosetto @paolocrosetto.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
Springer-Nature launched a series of "Discover" journals that closely mimic MDPI titles -- sharing *identical* journal names, and likely similar business model. What is going on, and why researcher will - as always - fall for it? A 🧵 the-strain-on-scientific-publishing.github.io/website/post...
the-strain-on-scientific-publishing.github.io
Springer Nature Discovers MDPI – The Strain on Scientific Publishing
Home page for the paper ‘The Strain on Scientific Publishing’ by Mark A Hanson, Dan Brockington, Paolo Crosetto and Pablo Gomez Barreiro
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
Finally out my critical reflection on #CoARA. doi.org/10.1093/rese... Preprint available here: arxiv.org/abs/2408.05587
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Alcuni provider continuano a bloccare l'accesso.
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
"Science was born in Italy, and that’s where they will kill and bury it". A newsletter full of Italian scientists forbetterscience.com/2025/06/06/s...
forbetterscience.com
Schneider Shorts 6.06.2025 – Researchers with High Citation and Publication Counts
Schneider Shorts 6.06.2025 – one anti-qualified troll to judge all scientists in Italy, another asks Trump for $50 billion, with a celebrated Thai couple, a russian in America, an incredible …
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
I urge you to take this matter seriously and reconsider the use of such evaluative markers in your platform. Best regards,
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
Such a label is fundamentally incompatible with the principles of open science. It promotes a metric-centered approach that undermines the values of transparency, inclusivity, and epistemic humility that open science is meant to uphold.
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
Dear @qeios.bsky.social Editor, I must respectfully but firmly ask that you refrain from sending me further review invitations until the “Highly Cited” badge is removed from your author/reviewer classification system.
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
In fairy-tale land, maybe.
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Reposted by Alberto Baccini
George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
The august facades and impeccable decorum of our great institutions arise from fortunes built on slavery and murder. As WH Auden noted of Oxford: "Knowledge is conceived in the hot womb of Violence". This ritual cannibalism is perfectly symbolic of the whole. www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
theguardian.com
Oxford academics drank from cup made from human skull, book reveals
Decades-long use of chalice at Worcester College highlights violent colonial history of looted human remains, says Prof Dan Hicks
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
CoARA, and, more broadly, any reform agenda focused exclusively on improving evaluative technologies, cannot achieve on its own, unless it is accompanied by a more fundamental rethinking of the role, purpose, and governance of research evaluation itself. arxiv.org/pdf/2408.05587
arxiv.org
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Kathleen 🌲 @mossgatherer.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
The situation in Cardiff of police using live facial recognition cameras "to keep visitors safe" and then giving penalties for wearing a face covering in public should be a national call to action but people really believe "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" www.south-wales.police.uk/news/south-w...
south-wales.police.uk
Extra Live Facial Recognition cameras to be deployed in Cardiff city centre to keep visitors safe
South Wales Police will be deploying additional live facial recognition cameras in Cardiff during this year’s Six Nations rugby internationals.
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Why does fair panel composition matter in research evaluation? How can we measure fairness? This study on Italy’s economics research assessments reveals unfair panel selection, raising concerns about results. #ResearchIntegrity doi.org/10.1007/s111...
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Designer Hasan @designer4hasand.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
🚨Breaking | Casualties among civilians were reported in an Israeli airstrike targeting the second floor of the emergency building at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip. ⭕️ I will do my best to provide you with the latest news. To support my family: gofund.me/d6592e10
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
La prima parte con la santificazione di DRAGHI e del PNRR è imbarazzante. Molto interessanti invece le testimonianze.
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Ian Hussey @ianhussey.mmmdata.io · 18/03/2025
Tens of thousands of psychological measures have been created, but 79% are not reused more than twice. In a new article in NHB lead by @faridanvari.bsky.social and @ruben.the100.ci we quantify this fragmentation in psychology's measures and propose solutions. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Alberto Baccini @albertobaccini.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Che meraviglia le piattaforme sulle piattaforme scritte da altri.
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