Application for the Science@Leuven Scholarship 2011-2012 is open from the 1st of December 2010. (BELGIUM)

The Faculty of Science of the K.U.Leuven and its Alumni Association Science@Leuven are proud to announce TheScience@Leuven Scholarship!

Motivated and talented international students, interested in participating in an international master programme of the Faculty of Science of the K.U.Leuven are invited to apply for a scholarship.

Which masters give the right to apply for the Scholarship? :

Master of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Master of Biology, Master of Molecular and Cellular Biophysics, Master of Chemistry, Master of Physics, Master of Geology, Master of Geography, Master of Mathematics and the Master of Statistics.

Amount of Scholarship

The amount of the scholarship can be up to 8.000 Euro for 1 year. The Board of the Science@Leuven Fund will decide exactly how much a scholarship will be. The scholarship will always cover the tuition fee for 1 year, the insurance and a basic health insurance coverage. The amount awarded for living expenses can vary.

Most master programmes of the Faculty of Science are 2-year programmes. A scholarship for the second master year will be only be continued for students having had outstanding results the first master year.

Admission requirements

Applicants must meet and prove the following requirements:

• the applicants have not studied or worked at the University of Leuven before,
• the applicants have a bachelor degree from a foreign university that gives them access to the master programme they are applying for,
• the applicants can prove having had excellent study results during their former training,
• the applicants show strong motivation to follow a master programme at the Faculty of Science of the K.U.Leuven
• the applicants are willing to act as an ambassador for the programme.

PLEASE DO NOT APPLY IF YOU DO NOT MEET ALL THE REQUIREMENTS

Applications for the academic year 2011-2012 will open the 1st of December.

Selection Procedure (for 2011-2012)

• The applicants fill out the application form of the International Office to apply for admission to the K.U.Leuven.
• The applicants note in the application form that they want to apply for the Science@Leuven Scholarship.
• Next to the information required by the International Office, the applicants also upload the following information: results of their former studies, a letter of motivation and two references of professors.
• The selection of the students take place in June 2011.

The Singapore International Graduate Award (SINGA) 2011

The Singapore International Graduate Award (SINGA) is a collaboration between the Agency for Science, Technology & Research (A*STAR), the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the National University of Singapore (NUS). The PhD training will be carried out in your chosen laboratory at A*STAR research institutes, NTU or NUS. Upon successful completion, you will be conferred a PhD degree by either NTU or NUS.

This award is for international applicants seeking admission to pursue a full-time PhD programme at NTU.

Successful applicants for the Singapore International Graduate Award (SINGA) will receive their PhD training in their chosen laboratory at A*STAR research institutes or NTU. Upon successful completion of their course, they will be conferred a PhD degree by NTU.

Eligibility Criteria

• Open to all international students
• Excellent academic results to be in the top 20% of your cohort
• Graduate with a passion for research and excellent academic results
• Good skills in written and spoken English
• Good reports from two academic referees

Bond

There is no bond attached to the scholarship.

Terms of Award

As a recipient of the scholarship, you will be given support for up to 4 years of academic pursuit, leading to a PhD degree in NTU. You will receive:

• Full tuition fees
• Monthly stipend of $2000 and will be increased to $2500 upon confirmation
• One-time $1000 settling-in allowance
• One-time airfare grant of $1500

Research Areas

These fall broadly under two categories:

Biomedical Sciences; and
Physical Science and Engineering

NTU supervisors and projects

College of Science

• Biological Sciences (SBS)
• Physical and Mathematical Sciences (SPMS)

College of Engineering

• Chemical and Bio-molecular Engineering (SCBE)
• Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)
• Computer Engineering (SCE)
• Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE)
• Material Sciences and Engineering (MSE)
• Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
• NEWRI Ecosystem



Application procedure

• Submit your application using the online application form.
• Post the printed copy of the completed application form together with supporting documents to the following address:

Attention:
A*STAR Graduate Academy
Agency for Science, Technology and Research
Application for SINGA
20 Biopolis Way, #07-01 Centros
Singapore 138668

Please do not send applications to NTU. Once you are shortlisted, you will then be notified to apply online to NTU. For further enquiries on the scholarship, please email to Admissions (Research) (email: Admission_Research@ntu.edu.sg).

2011/2012 PTDF SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME

http://ptdf.gov.ng/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=42

9 Fully Funded International Research Scholarship, University of Leeds UK

Fully-Funded International Research Scholarships (FIRS)

Session 2011-2012 - Closing Date: 24 January 2011

Fully funded University International Research Scholarships are available for high quality international students who will be commencing PhD research study in Session 2011-12 for study in any Faculty at the University of Leeds.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA – Please read this information carefully, as your application form will be automatically rejected if you do not meet ALL of the eligibility criteria listed below

· Applicants MUST first submit a research degree study application form and be in receipt of a University BANNER ID Number[1] (Student ID Number) to be eligible for a Fully-Funded International Research Scholarship. Applications without a valid University ID Number will be rejected. To apply for a place on a research degree programme, please visit: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/students/apply_research.htm

· These awards are only available to applicants who would be liable to pay academic fees at the full international fee rate;

· Applicants must normally hold a First Degree at undergraduate level equivalent to at least a UK First Class Honours degree and should be considered to be the ‘best of the best’ (eg, applicants should be demonstrably in the top 20% of their cohort). Applicants should either have graduated with the appropriate First Degree or be in their final year of study;

· Applicants whose first language is not English must have already met the University’s English Language requirements[2]. Some Schools require a standard of English higher than the University minimum;

· These awards are not open to individuals who have already been awarded a Doctoral degree or equivalent qualification;

· Applicants must not hold another Scholarship

REGULATIONS

These include the following (full information on the regulations will be sent to all successful applicants):

· Awards must be taken up on 1 October 2011;

· The awards are available for new research students undertaking full-time study leading to the degree of PhD. Students who are already registered for PhD research study are excluded from this competition;

· The award will cover full international fees and a maintenance grant of £13,895[3] per annum. There are no additional allowances for travel or research costs;

· The award will be made for one year in the first instance and renewable for a further period of up to two years, subject to satisfactory academic progress;

· Applicants must live within a reasonable distance of the University of Leeds whilst in receipt of this Scholarship.

METHOD OF APPLICATION

· Applicants must complete all sections of the application form, using the space provided on the form and with strict observation of any word limits. Attachments are not permitted and all will be disregarded.

· The completed form should be returned to the Postgraduate Scholarships Office, Marjorie & Arnold Ziff Building, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT by no later than 24 January 2011 or by email to pg_scholarships@leeds.ac.uk

· To track the progress of your application, please visit http://scholarships.leeds.ac.uk and select the tab ‘Application Tracking’, then follow the instructions on screen. Please note that, due to the large volume of applications, the Postgraduate Scholarships Office will not enter into any correspondence regarding the progress of an application.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE & RESULT

Applications are logged by the Postgraduate Scholarships Office and passed on to the relevant Schools for initial consideration. Each School selects a shortlist of applicants who they wish to recommend for the award. The Group on Scholarships, Studentships and Prizes then meets to consider the shortlists and select the successful applicants. Applicants can expect to be notified of the outcome of their application by the end of March 2011. The University will publish the names of the successful applicants within the University and externally on the University website.

---

[1] On-line applicants automatically receive their University BANNER ID Number by email; paper applicants should request their University BANNER ID Number from rp_applications@leeds.ac.uk

[2] IELTS and TOEFL test results are normally only valid for 2 years from the date of the test

[3] Subject to final confirmation

Postgraduate Training Fellowships for Women Scientists from Sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed Countries.

http://www.twows.org/activities/postgraduate-training-fellowships-for-women-scientists-in-sub-saharan-africa-and-least-developed-countries-ldc-at-centres-of-excellence-in-the-south

POSTGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS, University of Sydney Australia

http://sydney.edu.au/future_students/international_postgraduate_research/costs_scholarships/scholarships/index.shtml

Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Award (DHPA) Manchester University

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/international/funding/awardschemes/dhpa/

Tuition Free Schools Abroad

Tuition free education in some countries like Finland, Sweden and Norway, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, have been on for a long time and still is; though there has been talks of trying to make foreign students pay which is yet to come to fruition.

Amazingly this opportunity is possible, not only for citizens of these countries, but also for non-citizens from developing countries like Nigeria, China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kenya, Ghana, Chile, Ukraine, etc; and also those from the developed countries like the EU, the U.S.A, Canada, etc who happen to gain admission into such schools there.

This has been made possible because these countries, unlike countries like the UK and the U.S.A, have governments that use billions of dollars of public funds (the public's taxes included) in public spending to finance the running and administration of these schools. Though they are tuition free, high levels of academic excellence is maintained and the quality of education is not compromised.

Most if not all courses are in English; and different schools may require additional slightly different requirements like TOEFL. Student issues like schools located in states where good jobs for students are available should also be seriously considered as student accessibility to good jobs may vary from state to state.

The little snag here, though not much of an issue, is that students are still responsible for paying their room and board; but then some students may still find resources to aid them further in the form of government grant opportunities, partial or full scholarships, etc thus making up for the money they may spend or have spent on room and board.

Courses offered have full accreditation and maintain very high international standards. They include programs in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, Medicine/Health sciences, etc.

Particular details of application including but not limited to application procedures, minimum academic requirements, other programs offered and entrance test dates (if applicable) should be gotten from the schools (see the links below for addresses of the various schools).

Issues of immigration like obtaining visas for travel do not involve the schools; and have to be sorted out with the individual country's embassy in the applicant's home country.

With a small but vibrant and growing African (including Nigerian) community in these countries especially Sweden; and more and more African professionals migrating to these countries, these countries are fast becoming, and in some instances have become, a place where African students would not feel lonely in.

Note that a good number of these scholarships are only available for postgraduate students on the master and Ph.D. levels, and are very competitive. There are limited chances for bachelor degree students (please contact the schools directly; see below for links to the addresses of the various schools). List of tuition free schools you may be interested in include:

1. tuition free schools in Sweden,
2. tuition free schools in Norway,
3. tuition free schools in Finland,
4. tuition free schools in Europe,
5. tuition free schools in the U.S.A.

TIP: Use "Study & Scholarships Search" box above and below on this page to get current addresses eg 'admissions office of NAME_OF_SCHOOL_HERE', etc (simply copy and paste or type into the box, then click search)

Note: Sweden, Finland and Norway make up the bulk of the Scandinavian countries, where most of the world's tuition free schools are located.

Spanish Government Scholarships for International Students

MAEC-AECI
MS/PhD Degrees

Deadline: January 2011

Study in: Spain
Next course starts Oct 2011

Brief description:
The scholarships are implemented by MAEC-AECI for Foreigners pursuing Masteral and Doctoral Studies (both under the plan as old as the European Higher Education Area) and Research in Spanish universities and their affiliated centers and other agencies.

Host Institution(s):
Spanish Universities, Research Centers and Academic institutions

Field of study:
Not specified.

Number of Awards:
Not specified.

Target group:
Foreign Nationals/International Students

Scholarship value/inclusions:
Masteral Studies

• For studies in the municipality of Madrid and the whole academic year, 600 per month, plus board and lodging in one of two residence halls Foundation Halls MAEC-AECI (CM CM Africa and Guadeloupe), valued at 945 euros monthly charge of the AECI.
• For studies outside the municipality of Madrid, or in case of exhaustion of the previous mode, 1,200 euros per month.
• Tuition support of up to 2,000 euros.

Doctoral Studies

• For studies in the municipality of Madrid and the whole academic year, 600 euros per month, plus board and lodging in one of two residence halls Foundation Halls MAEC-AECI (CM CM Africa and Guadeloupe), valued at 945 euros per month, by the AECI.
• For studies outside the municipality of Madrid, or in case of exhaustion of the previous mode, 1,200 euros per month. • Tuition support of 2,000 euros or academic supervision up to 150 euros if required by the studies for which the grant is given.

Eligibility:
General Requirements

1. Having the nationality of their country of origin and have no residence in Spain. Except the applicants who have the refugee status granted by the Kingdom of Spain, under Law 5 / 1984 of 26 March, regulating the Right of Asylum and Refugee Status, as amended by Law 9 / 1994 May 19.
2. Applicants with dual citizenship must choose which nationality they wish to complete the scholarship application form and therefore provide identification data for the same. The required conditions and scholarship programs that can be chosen to be on those relating to nationality in formalizing the request.
3. Application of one scholarship per person per call.
4. There have been a beneficiary of any program of the Call for MAEC-AECI, six or more months, or the Carolina Foundation, in the last three years.
5. Possession of national passport valid for at least six months at the time of entering the study center destination.
6. Possess the necessary qualifications legally required to take the course you selected at the time of applying for scholarship.
7. Make suitable arrangements for the timely recognition to the corresponding educational authorities, where this is required for course of studies chosen.
8. Not having passed, preferably 35 years of age at the period end date of the grant application.
9. For citizens of countries whose official language is Spanish, prove sufficient knowledge of the Spanish language.
10. Not be subject to any of the prohibitions contained in Article 13.2 of Law 38/2003 of 17 November, General Grant ( “BOE” 18 “) contained in Annex II to this call, with the exception of paragraph f ) as stated in Article 3. Number of the said Order of bases of 11 April 2005, which governs this call.
11. Indicate a permanent email address, personal and not transferable for notification purposes.
12. While processing the application for the grant, the request for preadmission destination center studies shall be performed in accordance with the requirements prescribed therein, the grant of that allowance being subject to final acceptance for admission by the center under the conditions that determine the same.
13. Fill in good and due form, entirely in Spanish, the matching grant application form.
14. Meet the specific requirements indicated profile of applicants for each scholarship programs, organized into different chapters depending on the source of potential beneficiaries (see Annex I).

Specific Requirements for Masteral Studies

• A university degree, preferably three years before the time of entering the study center destination, with career prospect for further endorsed teaching or research at universities or their country of origin upon return.
• Pre-admitted to a University/Academic Institution/Research Center.

Specific Requirements for Doctoral Studies

• Own Official Masters degree or equivalent qualification.
• Being admitted to a research center, and assigned to a group of himself and a tutor of the trainee.

Application instructions:
The new grant applications must be completed properly and entirely in Spanish by the petitioners in the relevant online form found at the official website.
Visit the official website (link found below) for detailed information on how to apply for this scholarship.

Contact information: centro.informacion @ aecid.es

Official scholarship site:

• http://www.aecid.es/web/es/becas/becas/2009_12_16_convocatoria_Becas_2010_2011.html

TIP: Use the 'Study & Scholarships search' box above and below on this page to search

International and National Scholarship: HSP Huygens Scholarships for International Student...

International and National Scholarship: HSP Huygens Scholarships for International Student...: "http://www.nuffic.nl/international-students/scholarships/scholarships-administered-by-nuffic/huygens-scholarship-programme/huygens-scholarsh..."

HSP Huygens Scholarships for International Students, Netherland

http://www.nuffic.nl/international-students/scholarships/scholarships-administered-by-nuffic/huygens-scholarship-programme/huygens-scholarship-programme

Japanese Government Scholarships for International Students

http://www.studyjapan.go.jp/en/toj/toj0302e.html

University of Groningen Talent Grant: Eric Bleumink Fund

http://www.rug.nl/prospectiveStudents/scholarships/ericBleumink

Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate in Interactive and Cognitive Environments

http://www.icephd.org/

PHD POSITION IN INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEMS REF NR 2010/307

http://www.chalmers.se/s2/EN/news/vacancies-at-signals/positions/phd-position-in8151

Masdar Institute Graduate Scholarship (for all nationalities to study at Masdar Institute in Abu Dhabi)

http://www.masdar.ac.ae/Menu/index.aspx?MenuID=7&LogDisplay=&CatID=5&SubcatID=135&RefID=135&mnu=SubCat&SubCateMenuID=135&final=0&par=28&lft=3

PhD Scholarship: Structural and Chemical Characterization of Semiconductor Nanowires by Hard X-ray Nanoprobe in the Experiments Division, France

http://scholarship-positions.com/phd-scholarship-structural-and-chemical-characterization-of-semiconductor-nanowires-by-hard-x-ray-nanoprobe-in-the-experiments-division-france/2010/12/11/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+ScholarshipPositions+(International+Scholarships+and+Financial+Aid+Positions)&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

Scholarship to Study in Denmark for International Students

http://studyindenmark.dk/tuition-and-scholarships/scholarship-scheme

MBA Development Scholarship for International Students at Cranfield University UK

http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/p12704/Programmes-and-Executive-Development/MBA/entry-requirements/The-Cranfield-MBA-Scholarships/By-nationality/Chinese-African-Eastern-European-and-Latin-American

Utrecht University Excellence Scholarships for International Students

http://www.uu.nl/university/international-students/en/financialmatters/grantsandscholarships/Pages/utrechtexcellencescholarships.aspx

World Bank Scholarships for Women (International Student resident in US or Canada)

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTSTAFF/WBFN/0,,contentMDK:21084882~isCURL:Y~pagePK:64156201~piPK:64156133~theSitePK:444098,00.html#Eligibility

Canadian Window on International Development Awards, Canada

http://scholarship-positions.com/canadian-window-on-international-development-awards-canada/2010/12/02/

Paul Speijer Fund for African Students, Wageningen University, Netherlands Read more: http://scholarship-positions.com/paul-speijer-fund-for-africa

http://scholarship-positions.com/paul-speijer-fund-for-african-students-wageningen-university-netherlands/2010/12/01/

Reach Oxford Scholarship for International Undergraduate Students

http://www.ox.ac.uk/feesandfunding/prospectiveugrad/university/reach/

Reach Oxford Scholarship for International Undergraduate Students

http://www.ox.ac.uk/feesandfunding/prospectiveugrad/university/reach/

Loughborough University Graduate School Development Trust Africa Scholarships: Full-fee Scholarships

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/admin/ar/funding/pg/international/ludta/index.htm

This is very interesting if you want to study in europe

http://www.rug.nl/prospectiveStudents/scholarships/ericBleumink

Undergraduate Scholarships.

http://scholarship-positions.com/gus-archie-undergraduate-scholarship-program-2011/2010/12/04/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+ScholarshipPositions+(International+Scholarships+and+Financial+Aid+Positions)&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

University of Groningen Talent Grant, Netherlands"Be part of it"

http://scholarship-positions.com/university-of-groningen-talent-grant-netherlands/2010/12/09/

Harvard University Has Something Interesting for you. Check here for details.

http://web.hbr.org/store/landing/courses/index.php?referral=00698&cm_mmc=email-_-rtb-_-prematrics-_-prematrics_120610_rtb&utm_source=rtb_prematrics&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=prematrics_120610_rtb

Do want to Study for a full scholarship in Australia, Then this is for YOU

http://www.csiro.au/org/Postgraduate-Scholarships.html

Middlesex University Postgraduate Scholarships for International Students 2011, UK Read more: http://scholarship-positions.com/middlesex-university-p

http://scholarship-positions.com/middlesex-university-postgraduate-scholarships-for-international-students-2011-uk/2010/08/23/

Nursing and Midwifery Scholarship for you Today, Worldwide

http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/nursing/scholarships.asp

Different Scholarships for 2011 programs!

http://scholarshiponline.info/rhodes-international-postgraduate-scholarships-2011-oxford-university/

Most of the scholarships for 2011 sessions

http://www.scholarship-programs.org/postgraduate-scholarships-201112-otago-university-new-zealand/2010/05/

Loughborough Invites Africans for full scholarship "Be a Part of it"

http://scholarship-positions.com/full-fee-scholarships-loughborough-university-graduate-school-development-trust-africa-scholarships/2010/12/04/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+ScholarshipPositions+(International+Scholarships+and+Financial+Aid+Positions)&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

Sholarship 6 december 2010

http://scholarship-positions.com/oxford-students-scholarship-2011-2012-to-students-from-developing-countries/2010/12/03/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+ScholarshipPositions+(International+Scholarships+and+Financial+Aid+Positions)&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

PhD scholarship you have never seen before.

http://www.scholarshipnet.info/category/postgraduate/

You too get get a research fund. Try this now.

http://www.researchscholarships.org/

You have never seen this before........

http://www.scholarshipsworld.org/

This is the magic.

Today's Masters Scholarship Deals

http://scholarship-positions.com/category/masters-scholarships/

December 2, 2010 PhD Scholarships Deals

http://scholarship-positions.com/category/phd-scholarships-positions/

If you are interested in studying with a scholarship in Canada Then this is for you...

http://www.scholarshipscanada.com/

Search here for more scholarships.

http://www.studentscholarshipsearch.com/

http://www.finaid.org/scholarships/

Looking for a PHD scholarship, Look no further.

http://www.findaphd.com/search/listprojects.asp?disc=cs&location=&univ=&searchtype=b&keyword=&scip=506&scif=40&socp=244&socd=137&socf=19&pd=0

For Masters Degree Scholarship Click.

http://www.findamasters.com/search/courses.aspx?keywords=

Latest Scholarship November 2010

http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/engineering-and-technology

New Scholarships November 2010

http://scholarship-positions.com/category/masters-scholarships/

Find a Scholarship Today

http://www.scholarships-links.com/viewdetail/1905/European-Master-of-Science-International-Health-Degree-Programme.html

Peer Review Highly Sensitive To Poor Refereeing, Claim Researchers

Just a small number of bad referees can significantly undermine the ability of the peer-review system to select the best scientific papers. That is according to a pair of complex systems researchers in Austria who have modelled an academic publishing system and showed that human foibles can have a dramatic effect on the quality of published science.

[snip]

While the concept of peer review is widely considered the most appropriate system for regulating scientific publications, it is not without its critics. Some feel that the system's reliance on impartiality and the lack of remuneration for referees mean that in practice the process is not as open as it should be. This may be particularly apparent when referees are asked to review more controversial ideas that could damage their own standing within the community if they give their approval.

Questioning referee competence

Stefan Thurner and Rudolf Hanel at the Medical University of Vienna set out to make an assessment of how the peer-review system might respond to incompetent refereeing. [snip]

The researchers created a model of a generic specialist field where referees, selected at random, can fall into one of five categories. There are the "correct" who accept the good papers and reject the bad. There are the "altruists" and the "misanthropists", who accept or reject all papers respectively. Then there are the "rational", who reject papers that might draw attention away from their own work. And finally, there are the "random" who are not qualified to judge the quality of a paper because of incompetence or lack of time.

[snip]

Within this model community, the quality of scientists is assumed to follow a Gaussian distribution where each scientist produces one new paper every two time-units, the quality reflecting an author's ability. At every step in the model, each new paper is passed to two referees chosen at random from the community, with self-review excluded, with a reviewer being allowed to either accept or reject the paper. The paper is published if both reviewers approve the paper, and rejected if they both do not like it. If the reviewers are divided, the paper gets accepted with a probability of 0.5.

Big impact on quality

After running the model with 1000 scientists over 500 time-steps, Thurner and Hanel find that even a small presence of rational or random referees can significantly reduce the quality of published papers. When just 10% of referees do not behave "correctly" the quality of accepted papers drops by one standard deviation. If the fractions of rational, random and correct referees are about 1/3 each, the quality selection aspect of peer review practically vanished altogether.

"Our message is clear: if it can not be guaranteed that the fraction of rational and random referees is confined to a very small number, the peer-review system will not perform much better than by accepting papers by throwing (an unbiased!) coin," explain the researchers.

[snip]

Don't forget the editors

But Tim Smith, senior publisher for New Journal of Physics at IOP Publishing, which also publishes physics world.com, feels that the study overlooks the role of journal editors. "[snip]. In relation to this study however, one shouldn't ignore the role played by journal editors and Boards in accounting for potential conflicts of interest, and preserving the integrity of the referee selection and decision-making processes," he says.

Michèle Lamont a sociologist at Harvard University who analyses peer review in her 2009 book, How Professors Think: Inside the Curious World of Academic Judgment, feels that we expect too much from peer review. [snip]

When asked by physicsworld.com to offer an alternative to the current peer-review system, Thurner argues that science would benefit from the creation of a "market for scientific work". He envisages a situation where journal editors and their "scouts" search preprint servers for the most innovative papers before approaching authors with an offer of publication. [snip]

[snip]

Related

"Peer Review And Journal Models" / Paolo Dall'Aglio

[http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0608307]

About the author

James Dacey is a reporter for physicsworld.com

[http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/43691]

!!! Thanks To Antonella De Robbio For The HeadsUp !!!

The Idea of Order: Transforming Research Collections for 21st Century Scholarship

The Idea of Order explores the transition from an analog to a digital environment for knowledge access, preservation, and reconstitution, and the implications of this transition for managing research collections. The volume comprises three reports. The first, "Can a New Research Library be All-Digital?" by Lisa Spiro and Geneva Henry, explores the degree to which a new research library can eschew print. The second, "On the Cost of Keeping a Book," by Paul Courant and Matthew "Buzzy" Nielsen, argues that from the perspective of long-term storage, digital surrogates offer a considerable cost savings over print-based libraries. The final report, "Ghostlier Demarcations," examines how well large text databases being created by Google Books and other mass-digitization efforts meet the needs of scholars, and the larger implications of these projects for research, teaching, and publishing.

The reports are introduced by Charles Henry; the volume includes a conclusion by Roger Schonfeld and an epilogue by Charles Henry.

June 2010 / 123 pp. / $25 / ISBN 978-1-932326-35-2 / CLIR Reports 147

Source And Full Text Available At

[http://www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/pub147abst.html]

NISO, IU Receive Mellon Grant to Advance Tools for Quantifying Scholarly Impact From Large-scale Usage Data

BLOOMINGTON, Ind., and BALTIMORE, Md. -- A $349,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to Indiana University Bloomington will fund research to develop a sustainable initiative to create metrics for assessing scholarly impact from large-scale usage data.
IU Bloomington School of Informatics and Computing associate professor Johan Bollen and the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) will share the Mellon Foundation grant designed to build upon the MEtrics from Scholarly Usage of Resources (MESUR) project that Bollen began in 2006 with earlier support from the foundation. Bollen is also a member of the IU School of Informatics and Computing's Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research (CNetS) and the IU Cognitive Science Program faculty.

The new funding for "Developing a Generalized and Sustainable Framework for a Public, Open, Scholarly Assessment Service Based on Aggregated Large-scale Usage Data," will support the evolution of the MESUR project to a community-supported, sustainable scholarly assessment framework. MESUR has already created a database of more than 1 billion usage events with related bibliographic, citation and usage data for scholarly content.

[snip]

The project will focus on four areas in developing the sustainability model -- financial sustainability, legal frameworks for protecting data privacy, technical infrastructure and data exchange, and scholarly impact -- and then integrate the four areas to provide the MESUR project with a framework upon which to build a sustainable structure for deriving valid metrics for assessing scholarly impact based on usage data. Simultaneously, MESUR's ongoing operations will be continued with the grant funding and expanded to ingest additional data and update its present set of scholarly impact indicators.

[snip]

Data from more than 110,000 journals, newspapers and magazines, along with publisher-provided usage reports covering more than 2,000 institutions, is being ingested and normalized in MESUR's databases, resulting in large-scale, longitudinal maps of the scholarly community and a survey of more than 40 different metrics of scholarly impact.

Sources
 
[http://www.librarytechnology.org/ltg-displaytext.pl?RC=15037]
 
[http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/15040.html]

NYTimes > Scholars Test Web Alternative to Peer Review

[snip] Now some humanities scholars have begun to challenge the monopoly that peer review has on admission to career-making journals and, as a consequence, to the charmed circle of tenured academe. They argue that in an era of digital media there is a better way to assess the quality of work. Instead of relying on a few experts selected by leading publications, they advocate using the Internet to expose scholarly thinking to the swift collective judgment of a much broader interested audience.

[snip]

That transformation was behind the recent decision by the prestigious 60-year-old Shakespeare Quarterly to embark on an uncharacteristic experiment in the forthcoming fall issue — one that will make it, Ms. Rowe says, the first traditional humanities journal to open its reviewing to the World Wide Web.

Mixing traditional and new methods, the journal posted online four essays not yet accepted for publication, and a core group of experts — what Ms. Rowe called “our crowd sourcing” — were invited to post their signed comments on the Web site MediaCommons, a scholarly digital network. Others could add their thoughts as well, after registering with their own names. In the end 41 people made more than 350 comments, many of which elicited responses from the authors. The revised essays were then reviewed by the quarterly’s editors, who made the final decision to include them in the printed journal, due out Sept. 17.

The Shakespeare Quarterly trial, along with a handful of other trailblazing digital experiments, goes to the very nature of the scholarly enterprise. [snip]

[snip].

Each type of review has benefits and drawbacks.

[snip]

Clubby exclusiveness, sloppy editing and fraud have all marred peer review on occasion. Anonymity can help prevent personal bias, but it can also make reviewers less accountable; exclusiveness can help ensure quality control but can also narrow the range of feedback and participants. Open review more closely resembles Wikipedia behind the scenes, where anyone with an interest can post a comment. This open-door policy has made Wikipedia, on balance, a crucial reference resource.

Ms. Rowe said the goal is not necessarily to replace peer review but to use other, more open methods as well.

[snip]

The most daunting obstacle to opening up the process is that peer-review publishing is the path to a job and tenure, and no would-be professor wants to be the academic canary in the coal mine.

The first question that Alan Galey, a junior faculty member at the University of Toronto, asked when deciding to participate in The Shakespeare Quarterly’s experiment was whether his essay would ultimately count toward tenure. “I went straight to the dean with it,” Mr. Galey said. (It would.)

Although initially cautious, Mr. Galey said he is now “entirely won over by the open peer review model.” The comments were more extensive and more insightful, he said, than he otherwise would have received on his essay, which discusses Shakespeare in the context of information theory.

Advocates of more open reviewing, like Mr. Cohen at George Mason argue that other important scholarly values besides quality control — for example, generating discussion, improving works in progress and sharing information rapidly — are given short shrift under the current system.

“There is an ethical imperative to share information,” said Mr. Cohen, who regularly posts his work online, where he said thousands read it. Engaging people in different disciplines and from outside academia has made his scholarship better, he said.

To Mr. Cohen, the most pressing intellectual issue in the next decade is this tension between the insular, specialized world of expert scholarship and the open and free-wheeling exchange of information on the Web. “And academia,” he said, “is caught in the middle.”

A version of this article appeared in print on August 24, 2010, on page A1 of the New York edition.

[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/24/arts/24peer.html/]

Letters To The Editor > 08-30-10

[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/opinion/l30review.html]

See Also CHE > Leading Humanities Journal Debuts 'Open' Peer Review, and Likes It

[http://chronicle.com/article/Leading-Humanities-Journal/123696/]

BTW: I Profiled Several Innovative Alternative Initiatives Several Years Ago > For Example

"Alternative Peer Review:

Quality Management for 21st Century Scholarship"

[http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/APR-1.ppt]

> >> It's A Large PPT (200+ Slides) >>>

>>> But IMHO ... Well Worth The Experience [:-)] <<<

See Also (My) Other Works Listed / Linked At

The Scientist > August 2010 > Peer Review Rejected

[http://scholarship20.blogspot.com/2010/08/scientist-august-2010-peer-review.html]

NPR > An Un-'Common' Take On Copyright Law

It's safe to say that most Americans don't spend much time thinking about intellectual property law. But in Common As Air, Lewis Hyde explains why these laws profoundly affect our culture -- and how they are based on assumptions that are artificial, illogical and outdated.

[snip]

.... [I]ntellectual property laws affect our culture profoundly, in ways that go beyond college students being taken to court for downloading songs. Some people believe that not only are current copyright laws too stringent, but that the assumptions the current laws are based on are artificial, illogical and outdated.

Among them is Lewis Hyde, a professor of art and politics who has studied these issues for years. In his new book Common As Air, Hyde says he's suspicious of the concept of "intellectual property" to begin with, calling it "historically strange." Hyde backs it up with an impressive amount of research; he spends a significant amount of time reflecting on the Founding Fathers, who came up with America's initial copyright laws.

Hyde is a contrarian, but he's not a scorched-earth opponent of all copyright laws. He does believe the national paradigm for intellectual property issues should be changed, though, at one point offering several examples of the absurd situations the current laws have created. [snip]Hyde advocates for a return to a "cultural commons" and quotes, approvingly, Thomas Jefferson, who believed that "ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man."

[more]

Source / Excerpt Available At

[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129299939]

 

>>> Slide Show >>>

[http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2010/08/23/common_as_air_lewis_hyde/slideshow.html]

Teacher Magazine / AP > Net-Age Students Have Different View of Plagiarism

Published: August 16, 2010 > EASTON, Pa. (AP) — Last year, students in an Easton Area High School entrepreneurship class were assigned to write business plans. While reviewing them, teachers quickly realized one student had copied entire portions of his from a plan posted on the Internet.

[snip]

"There is a blurred vision by many in this digital age because there's just so much information they have access to," Koch said. "It's very difficult for them to filter what is mine and what is yours. It's all out there for you to utilize."

Although local educators said they haven't seen any rise in plagiarism cases lately, many found students from a generation raised on the Internet have a different perspective on what constitutes plagiarism.

[snip]

"Some students seem to think that whatever is out there is free to take," said Ed Lotto, director of first-year writing at Lehigh University. "They seem to think it's common knowledge and they can cite common knowledge without citation."

Plagiarism is a cultural, nationwide phenomenon. The problem is not limited to the Lehigh Valley.

[snip]

Lotto said the problem may manifest, in part, from the way the Internet has changed young people's perspective about digital media.

[snip]

"It's the culture they grew up in," Lotto said. "And that would affect their perception of ownership of things in the world."

[snip]

Part of the problem, he said, is students learn at a young age to use the Internet as a research tool, but are not necessarily instructed early on what requires a citation and how to cite it.

"I think it's a problem in the curriculum for younger grades," Ziegler said. "There has to be a way to better transition those kids from middle school reports to high school reports."

Other local educators don't necessarily see a connection between students raised in the digital age and plagiarism.

Hannah Stewart-Gambino, dean of Lafayette College, said students are instructed as thoroughly as ever about what constitutes plagiarism and most know the difference between what is right and wrong.

"Even as humans were scratching rudimentary writing into tree bark, the inclination to claim work that is not one's own has been human nature," Stewart-Gambino said. "I'm not convinced technology or the Internet has altered human nature or that temptation substantially, frankly."

Editorial Comment > Are You Serious ???

But she does believe students have difficulty differentiating between legitimate sources on the Internet and nonacademic sources.

[snip]

Just as music companies and film studios have had to change their online sales models in response to illegal downloading, Lotto said some educators have suggested schools will have to change their views of what constitutes plagiarism due to the rise of the Internet.

"I've heard it argued a change in perspective of plagiarism is coming, that we shouldn't be too hard-nosed about it," he said. "I'm an older guy, so I don't really buy it so much, but I do hear it sometimes from younger teachers and graduate students."

Lotto added, "It's going to change. I don't know how or in what way, but you can see it."

Information from: The Express-Times [http://www.lehighvalleylive.com]

Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Source  > Available To Subscribers / Registered Guests At

[http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2010/08/16/netstudentsplagiarism_ap.html]

The P-Word II > The Ontology of Plagiarism: Part Two > Get A Clue

Colleagues/

In response to comments on his recent NY Times Opinionator Piece > Plagiarism Is Not A Big Moral Deal

[http://scholarship20.blogspot.com/2010/08/p-word-stanley-fish-and-i-agree.html] ,

Stanley Fish has authored "The Ontology of Plagiarism: Part Two "

[http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/the-ontology-of-plagiarism-part-two/].

IMHO > Most Still Do Not (Really) Recognize/Understand The Issue(s) > Please (Do) View / Read My Perspective On The Issue >>>

A few years ago I gave a keynote at the 3rd International Plagiarism Conference / 23 - 25 June 2008 / City Campus East, Northumbria University / Newcastle-upon-tyne, UK /

"Disruptive Scholarship: An Idea Whose Time Has Come: (Re)Use / (Re)Mix / (Re)New"

Abstract

Hadrian's Wall is a stone and turf fortification built by the Roman Empire across the width of modern-day England. ... [It was] 117 kilometres long,

... [I]ts width and height [were] dependent on the construction materials [that] ... were available nearby.

... [T]he wall in the east follow[ed] the outcrop of a hard, resistant igneous diabase rock escarpment ... Local limestone was used in the construction, except for ... section[s] in the west ... where turf was used instead ... .

The Broad Wall was initially built with a clay-bonded rubble core and mortared dressed rubble facing stones, but this seems to have made it vulnerable to collapse, and repair with a mortared core was sometimes necessary.... [I]n time ... [Hadrian's] Wall was abandoned and fell into ruin. Over the centuries and even into the twentieth century a large proportion of the stone was reused in other local buildings.

Throughout history, humans have (re)used local resources to create not only buildings and fortifications, but monuments, roads, and a wide variety of other structures. For countless generations, artists, composers, and writers have freely incorporated elements from local and distant cultures to create new visual, musical, and textual forms.

In The Web 2.0 World, the open (re)combination of multiple media has become commonplace in many venues, practices that Lawrence Lessig [snip], founder of Creative Commons [snip]and others, would characterize as emblematic of a 'Remix ' or 'Read/Write' culture. Indeed, from his point of view, “the health, progress, and wealth creation of a culture is fundamentally tied to this participatory remix process” [snip]

In the recently-released Horizon Report 2008 - a joint publication of the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), six emerging information technologies and practices that are expected to significantly impact educational organizations are profiled: Grassroots Video, Collaborative Webs, Mobile Broadband, Data Mashups, Collaborative Intelligence, and Social Operating Systems.

In this presentation, we will review the Read/Write Traditions of the Arts, Humanities, and Sciences; analyze key Past / Present / Future Participatory Technologies; and explore the potential of Web 2.0 for creating/fostering Disruptive Learning / Scholarship / Teaching in the 21st century.

The Director's Cut of the (150+ Slides) PPT is available from my _Scholarship 2.0_ blog at

[ http://bit.ly/9riXmc ]

I hope The Title and Abstract indicate That I Have A Different View Of The P-Word [:-)]

/Gerry

Sharing of Data Leads to Progress on Alzheimer’s > "The Future of Research and Scholarship - Open, Social, Semantic, Mobile"

Colleagues/

On Augst 12 2010, The NYTimes piblished an article titled "Sharing of Data Leads to Progress on Alzheimer’s" >>>

In 2003, a group of scientists and executives from the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the drug and medical-imaging industries, universities and nonprofit groups joined in a project that experts say had no precedent: a collaborative effort to find the biological markers that show the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in the human brain.

[more]

Source

[http://nyti.ms/9mgrCc]

As Expected > Observed > Predicted  >>>

BTW: Not Only Did The Irish Save Civilization

[http://amzn.to/17Kp7] [http://nyti.ms/9DhC1T]

We Also ForeSaw / Foresee The Future [:-)]

>>> They Are A-Changin' > The Future Of Research And Scholarship: Open / Semantic / Social / Mobile <<<

There are four major themes that are and will become the context and framework of research and scholarship in the 21st Century: Open / Semantic / Social / Mobile

> Open > Open Access / Open Data / Open Peer Review / Open Research

>> Semantic > Audio / Interactivity / Supplemental Content / Video

>>> Social  > Science Blogging / Social Bookmarking / Social Networking / Social Software

>>>> Mobile > Mobile Access / Mobile Content / Mobile Data / Mobile Research

In scheduled presentation(s), we will briefly profile select developments related to these major themes and speculate on their potential evolution and impact on research and scholarship in the coming decade(s).

[http://scholarship20.blogspot.com/2009/05/paradigms-they-are-changin-open.html]

BTW For A summary of my presentation at the National Univerity of Ireland, Galway SEE John Brelsin's blog entry at

[http://bit.ly/9xmGe5]

Thanks, John !!!

BTW: John is the co-author of The Social Semantic Web. Springer, 2010

[http://bit.ly/12TJTX]

JOY !

/Gerry

The P-Word > Stanley Fish And I Agree? > Plagiarism Is Not A Big Moral Deal

Colleagues/

New York Times columnist, Stanley Fish,  " ... a professor of humanities and law at Florida International University, in Miami, and dean emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago," recently published his most recent NY Times Opininator column titled >

Plagiarism Is Not a Big Moral Deal

[snip]

Whenever it comes up plagiarism is a hot button topic and essays about it tend to be philosophically and morally inflated. But there are really only two points to make. (1) Plagiarism is a learned sin. (2) Plagiarism is not a philosophical issue.

[snip]

Plagiarism is like that; it’s an insider’s obsession. If you’re a professional journalist, or an academic historian, or a philosopher, or a social scientist or a scientist, the game you play for a living is underwritten by the assumed value of originality and failure properly to credit the work of others is a big and obvious no-no. But if you’re a musician or a novelist, the boundary lines are less clear (although there certainly are some)  ... .

[snip]

And if you’re a student, plagiarism will seem to be an annoying guild imposition without a persuasive rationale (who cares?); for students, learning the rules of plagiarism is worse than learning the irregular conjugations of a foreign language. It takes years, and while a knowledge of irregular verbs might conceivably come in handy if you travel, knowledge of what is and is not plagiarism in this or that professional practice is not something that will be of very much use to you unless you end up becoming a member of the profession yourself.

It follows that students who never quite get the concept right are by and large not committing a crime; they are just failing to become acclimated to the conventions of the little insular world they have, often through no choice of their own, wandered into. It’s no big moral deal; which doesn’t mean, I hasten to add, that plagiarism shouldn’t be punished — if you’re in our house, you’ve got to play by our rules — just that what you’re punishing is a breach of disciplinary decorum, not a breach of the moral universe.
[more]

[http://nyti.ms/cAa1WF]

See Also >The P-Word II > The Ontology of Plagiarism: Part Two > Get A Clue

[http://bit.ly/aI2mmE]
As Some May Know I Have A Different View On The P-Word >

NYTimes > Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age

[http://bit.ly/bEYvK7]

/Gerry