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Jeffrey Brainard

@jeffreybrainard.bsky.social

503 followers 107 following 42 posts

Reporter, Science magazine. I write about scientific publishing, peer review, open science. jbrainard[[at]]aaas[[dot]]org. ... Signal: JBrainard.19 ... NewsScience[[at]]proton.me

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Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Lotteries have controversially been tried for managing grant applications; now an AI conference plans to use one, to help keep pace with a surge in submitted papers. And conferences are capping submissions. Will these measures be enough? #peerreview @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

As AI triggers a tsunami of submissions, computer science conferences impose caps

New controls could limit papers by early-career researchers

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Survey participants are often promised anonymity, but researchers studying crime posted a public data set that identified people who confessed to crimes. Without more care, #openscience can conflict with privacy #researchintegrity #academicpublishing @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Social science studies may promise anonymity, but participant identities often lurk in public data

One-fifth of data sets intended to support replication breached privacy standards, study finds

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Conference poster sessions – do you attend? Find them useful? Overwhelming, too much information? What if you could find them all in one place and peruse them later? #scicomm #academicchatter @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Conference posters could garner a wider audience, thanks to a new online platform

The staple format also warrants a deeper rethink, some researchers say

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

As research papers proliferate, can AI reviewers help humans check quality while keeping pace with the flood? Tests are revealing their strengths and weaknesses. #PeerReviewWeek @science.org www.science.org/content/article/can-ai-help-solve-peer-review-crisis-here-are-its-promises-and-pitfalls

Can AI help solve the peer-review crisis? Here are its promises and pitfalls

Amid a shortage of human reviewers, tests indicate AI can assist—but is not a savior

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Hundreds of ads by #papermills, offering authorship on scientific articles for a fee, wound up published in conference proceedings. Are these venues a back-door route that’s too easy? #scicomm #retractions #peerreview @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Hundreds of paper-mill papers peddled in ads were later published

More than one-fifth of some IEEE conferences’ papers appear linked to authorship for sale

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

A leading researcher moved from the authors list to the acknowledgements section of a commentary amid growing U.S. restrictions on coauthorships with non-U.S. scholars. #scicomm @flynnmurphy.bsky.social @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Did U.S. scrutiny of foreign research drive prominent geneticist to decline authorship?

George Church moved to paper’s acknowledgements section, triggering exodus

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

As submissions to scientific journals continue to climb, it’s becoming more time-consuming to find ones that may offer truly novel ideas. This U.K. competition is paying the winner £300,000 for suggesting how AI could help. #peerreview #scicomm @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

How novel is that research paper? Competition to quantify concept crowns winner

The automated tool could be used to help journals vet submissions

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

U.S. science agencies are forecast to pay more for #openaccess publication of journal articles. Are they ready? And is the author-pays business model sustainable? A GAO report draws criticism. #scholcomm @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

U.S. agencies aren’t ready for the rising cost of making research papers free, report warns

Science agencies could soon face nearly $1 billion publishing bill, Congressional analysts find

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

U.S. researchers who coauthor research papers with scientists affiliated with foreign institutions are drawing fresh scrutiny from NIH, NASA. #scientificpublishing @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

U.S. researchers face new restrictions on publishing with foreign collaborators

NIH, NASA grantees are confused and concerned amid agencies’ piecemeal communication

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

#papermill ads: Not very shy. (The preprint on this new study was posted this week.) #sciencepublishing #researchintegrity www.science.org/content/arti...

Thousands of shady ads sell paper authorship for cash, large-scale investigation finds

Results are “only the tip of the iceberg” of shadowy paper-mill marketplace

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

The credibility of scientific journal articles might be bolstered if they carried a score capturing their rigor, such as whether the findings could be replicated. But constructing a telltale indicator of replicability remains a challenge. #openscience @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Across the social sciences, half of research doesn’t replicate

Ambitious effort tested whether more than 100 papers held up on multiple types of “repeatability” tests

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

#AIagents promise to speed up ordinary online tasks, but they can also share private files publicly, delete others, and libel people. A new study examines these #AIsafety vulnerabilities. #OpenClaw #AIgovernance @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

AI algorithms can become ‘agents of chaos’

Given autonomous control of other software, programs shared private medical details and deleted files without permission

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

#arXiv, the granddaddy of #preprints servers, has announced it’s splitting from Cornell U., its long-time host institution. Leaders there explain why. #OpenAccess #ScholComm @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

ArXiv, the pioneering preprint server, declares independence from Cornell

As an independent nonprofit, it hopes to raise funds to cope with exploding submissions and “AI slop”

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

#preprints are seen as accelerating science – but do they accelerate #researchcareers? @science.org @sciencecareers.bsky.social #scientificpublishing #scicomm www.science.org/content/arti...

Career effects of preprints get mixed reviews from biomedical researchers

Junior researchers are more likely to embrace preprints; grant reviewers and hiring committees express doubts

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Are #openaccess fees that some journals charge authors too high? The Chinese Academy of Sciences, the world’s largest research institution, reportedly thinks so and plans to stop funding some, a move that could shake up #scientificpublishing. @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Major Chinese funder to stop paying fees for 30 pricey open-access journals

Move comes amid effort to grow the country’s own journals

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Can researchers effectively use artificial intelligence to develop better understanding and insights into the rising number of scientific research papers if the content searched is siloed by publisher? #scicomm #scientificpublishing @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Journal giant Elsevier unveiled an AI tool that scans millions of paywalled papers. Is it worth it?

First-of-its-kind product raises questions about costs, access, and equity

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Many want to use AI to accelerate science, and utilizing it to explore the growing tsunami of research articles is getting lots of attention. Measuring the quality of AI answers to questions about science is a challenge. @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Open-source AI program can answer science questions better than humans

Developed by and for academics, OpenScholar aims to improve searches of the ballooning scientific literature

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

#SpecialIssues have fueled the growth of some of the largest #OpenAccess publishers. Does a journal that allows a #GuestEditor to both plan a special issue and write many articles in it have a conflict of interest? #scicomm #peerreview @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Some guest editors pack special issues with their own articles

Thousands have penned more than one-third of a journal issue, raising conflict-of-interest concerns

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

#OpenScience costs money - think author fees/ APCs - but is assumed to provide benefits for academe, the public, and the economy. The PathOS study explored new ways to measure that. But proving a direct effect is tricky. #scientificpublishing #scicomm @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Is ‘open science’ delivering benefits? Major study finds proof is sparse

It’s hard to measure social and economic impacts of making papers and data free, researchers say

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

@science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

U.S. senator asks Science to provide its coronavirus manuscripts, emails

Rand Paul has blasted government science officials and scientists over COVID-19’s origin

Reposted by Jeffrey Brainard

Michael Greshko @michaelgreshko.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

🧪 ✏️ Apply for the 2026 Diverse Voices in Science Journalism Internship with @science.org! 🧪 ✏️ This could be for you if you're a student from a community historically underrepresented in #journalism who's interested in in covering science for general audiences: recruiting.ultipro.com/AME1123ASEM/...

recruiting.ultipro.com

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

A sequel to #Plan_S -- the carrot, not the stick. Will that approach improve what ails #scientificpublishing? #ScholarlyComm #openaccess @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

After Coalition S disrupted scientific publishing, new plan retreats from strict requirements

The group’s latest strategy emphasizes consultation, lacks spending pledges

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

A rapidly growing share of letters to journals may be drafted by machines, undetected by editors. Study quantifies recently ‘prolific debutante authors’ who had published no letters before 2022, when ChatGPT debuted. #academicjournals #peerreview @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Letters to scientific journals surge as ‘prolific debutante’ authors likely use AI

New study reinforces worries about “mass production of junk” by unscrupulous scholars aiming to pad their CVs

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

A human reviewer's take on an AI-written paper: 'Technically correct but neither interesting nor important.' Yesterday's first-of-its-kind #Agents4Science conference, where all papers were written and reviewed by #AI, considered their promise, limitations @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

At futuristic meeting, AIs took the lead in producing and reviewing all the studies

Organizers aim to tune AI to help accelerate science

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

The journal Science’s editorial reviews came under the microscope in a rare study using internal data it supplied. #peerreview #scientificjournals #scientificpublishing @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Whose papers have an edge at Science? In unusual study, journal looks in the mirror

Confidential data show being in the U.S., at a prestigious institution, and in a large team all may help

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Trust but verify? #mlsky #scientificpublishing #sciencejournals @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Far more authors use AI to write science papers than admit it, publisher reports

Finding highlights promise, questions about detectors of AI-generated text

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Can AI help identify high-volume, low-quality, “questionable” scientific journals (which some, controversially, call #predatoryjournals )? Authors of this new study emphasize aiding not replacing human evaluators of these journals. @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

AI tool labels more than 1000 journals for ‘questionable,’ possibly shady practices

New algorithm could help scientists avoid publishing in shady titles

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

The idea that AI-as-scientist will replace human researchers, or augment their creativity and productivity, is drawing attention. But how soon? @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

AI-generated scientific hypotheses lag human ones when put to the test

Machines still face hurdles in identifying fresh research paths, study suggests

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Can authors afford APCs for #openaccess publishing if NIH caps its payments for them? Institutional read-and-publish deals offer an APC-free alternative, but NIH also wants to lower the indirect cost rate to 15%, which could squeeze money for such deals. @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

NIH details options for limiting its payments for open-access publishing fees

Other publishing proposals would scrap reimbursements or pay peer reviewers, unprecedented steps for a major government funder

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Are scientists citing papers without reading them? #scientificpublishing #AcademicChatter #peerreview @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

‘Lazy’ authors? One in six scientific papers mischaracterize work they cite

New study of long-standing problem takes novel approach, asking cited authors to evaluate accuracy

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

#researchfraud #papermills #academicpublishing @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Journal plagued with problematic papers, likely from paper mills, pauses submissions

The halt will let Taylor & Francis focus on checking Bioengineered’s papers for fraudulent works and paid authorships

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

If getting a research grant required scoring applications from your competitors, would you apply? New evidence on this novel method, “distributed #peerreview,” at #Metascience2025. @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Should grant applicants judge competitors’ proposals? Unorthodox approach gets two real-world tests

Distributed peer review enlists more researchers in the process, but some may lack expertise

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

Under a new NIH rule, the number of journal articles with #CreativeCommons licenses may soon grow. Many authors say they don't understand how CC licenses do - and don't - protect #intellectualproperty. A copyright lawyer explains. #openscience @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

What scientists need to know about sharing—and protecting—their published work

With research papers becoming increasingly free to read and use, understanding open-access licenses is key

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

As AI presents new costs for scientific-society publishers, their revenues are strained. #openscience #publishingmodels #scholcomm @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Open-access revolution is squeezing scientific societies’ budgets, survey shows

Decline in journal revenues puts scholarships, advocacy, and other activities at risk

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Is science becoming less innovative? A 2023 paper suggested many fields are. But a new study finds evidence that a growing subset of papers catalyze enduring new paths in research. #ScientificInnovation #bibliometrics @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Research may be increasingly incremental—but studies making lasting paradigm shifts are on the rise

New metric identifying “persistently disruptive” papers offers a “bright spot” amid signs of declining innovation

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

DOGE-driven journal cancellations at USDA's National Agricultural Library: '[like] burning down the Library of Alexandria.' #scientificpublishing #libraryscience #academiclibraries @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

DOGE order leads to journal cancellations by U.S. agricultural library

“We can’t do science without these,” one researcher says of the hundreds of journals no longer accessible

Reposted by Jeffrey Brainard

David Malakoff @davidmalakoff.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

EXCLUSIVE: Fear spreads that NIH will terminate grants involving South Africa | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

Fear spreads that NIH will terminate grants involving South Africa

Trump has promised to cut off funding, claiming nation discriminates against white citizens

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

#bioRxiv and #medRxiv strike out on their own, as #medRxiv's preprint volume approaches its COVID-era peak. #peerreview #openscience #scientificpublishing @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

In bid to expand, bioRxiv and medRxiv preprint servers move to newly formed nonprofit

Backers seek to increase contributions from authors at institutions beyond the global elite

Reposted by Jeffrey Brainard

John Travis @john-travis.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Any conservative/Trump-voting federal scientists who have been fired and are willing to discuss their views on that whatever they may be?--or can others suggest people in that situation we should reach out to? Contact the News from Science team www.science.org/content/page...

Got a tip for Science’s news department? Our reporters would like to hear from you. Here are ways to contact us.

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

‘... posting Federal Register notices, and “we do not have any information” on when it will be lifted, an NIH spokesperson said on background. Study sections ... are also being canceled if a notice was not published before 20 January. That means many new grants are on hold at NIH’s 27 institutes.’

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

‘… HHS wants to hold only the closed sessions that review grants. Making that change, however, apparently requires the government to publish a new notice of each meeting at least 15 days ahead in the Federal Register. … But the administration has imposed a communications pause that bars NIH from …

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

@science.org reported about this in a news article on 11 Feb: ‘The meetings of institute councils that provide a second stage of grant peer review have been on hold since 22 January because ... @labonnelab.bsky.social @docbecca.bsky.social @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social www.science.org/content/arti...

Judges suspend NIH plan to slash payments and order health agencies to restore web pages

Lawsuits argued that cutting “indirect cost” rate would have “devastating” impact on research

Reposted by Jeffrey Brainard

John Travis @john-travis.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Depending on your perspective it's a good/bad week for @science.org's news team to launch our Trump Tracker. Were recent NIH resignations voluntary? Will RFK Jr start firing scientists today? Why did a judge unfreeze U.S. foreign aid needed for clinical trials? www.science.org/content/arti...

Welcome to Trump Tracker

Follow President Donald Trump’s impact on U.S. research and science globally

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Many #researchintegrity sleuths are volunteers with little financial support for their often-daunting work to uncover #scientificfraud. One of the most prominent, Elisabeth Bik, has now provided money to change that. @elisabethbik.bsky.social @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Renowned scientific integrity investigator endows fund to support fellow sleuths

Microbiologist Elisabeth Bik donates $200,000 to support training, travel

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

I’m glad to join the community here discussing science and #ScientificPublishing, which I write about for Science magazine. I welcome suggestions. #peerreview #ResearchPublication #ResearchPublishing #PublicationEthics #Authorship #ScientificCommunication #SciComm #scholcomm #AcademicSky

Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

Hi Dani. Please add me to the Science feed. I'm an editor in Science magazine's news section, where I also write about scientific publishing, peer review, and open access. Thanks! www.science.org/content/auth...

Jeffrey Brainard

Jeffrey Brainard joined Science as an associate news editor in 2017. He covers an array of topics and edits the In Brief section in the print magazine.

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