Journal editors (mainly men) often self-publish – Study [University World News, January 2023]

Title:

Journal editors (mainly men) often self-publish - study

Author:

Nathan M Greenfield

Published:

University World News, 28 January 2023

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20230127144957970

From the article:

Women scientists are vastly under-represented on the editorial boards of scientific journals, says a new study that examined 1,167 journals in 15 disciplines over 50 years.  “Gender inequality and self-publication are common among academic editors” (“Gender Inequality”) published in the journal Nature on 16 January also shows that men editors publish their own work (self-publishing) in the journals they edit at a much higher rate than do women editors – and men publish their own work sooner than do women after becoming a journal’s editor.

 

JAPAN - High demand for STEM degrees raises concern for humanities [University World News, 2022]

Title:

High demand for STEM degrees raises concern for humanities 

 

Author:

Suvendrini Kakuchi  

 

Published:

University World News, 21 April 2022

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20220421144951527

 

From the article:

In June last year Midori Koya, aged 24, changed from graduate studies in history at a prestigious private university in Japan to digital marketing, saying it would help her gain a better-paying job. “A doctorate in history, my ultimate goal, is basically limiting my job prospects,” she said.

 

Is there gender bias in research grant success in social sciences?: Hong Kong as a case study [Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 2020]

Title:

Is there gender bias in research grant success in social sciences?: Hong Kong as a case study 

 

Authors:

Paul Siu Fai Yip, Yunyu Xiao, Clifford Long Hin Wong & Terry Kit Fong Au  

 

Published:

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Volume 7, Article number: 173 (2020)

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-020-00656-y

 

Abstract:

Despite growing attention to gender disparities in higher education, women in academia still receive less research funding and recognition. Previous research on this gender gap has focused on biomedical, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the West—relatively silent on social sciences and Asia. This study examined how well staff gender, submission rate, success rate, and amount per award could predict annual changes in the number and amount of grant funding for academic years 2015/2016–2020/2021 in the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Hong Kong, a leading institution in social sciences in Asia. Decomposition analysis revealed that, compared to men, women had higher submission rates, which significantly contributed to an increase in the number of awards for the University in recent years in two major funding mechanisms (namely, General Research Fund and Early Career Scheme), especially from 2019/2020 to 2020/2021. Women also outperformed men in the success rate in the Early Career Scheme (i.e., within the first three years of faculty appointment). Both submission rate and success rate contributed to changes in award number and the total amount for the University over time. Overall, women had a higher submission rate, successful rate, and amount per award than their male counterparts. We have identified good practices and distinctive contextual factors in Hong Kong that likely contribute to the lack of gender bias for research grant application results in Social Sciences.

South African Journal of Science (2020) - More eyes on the problem: Perspectives from Political Science: Insights from the political management of COVID-19

Title:

More eyes on the problem: Perspectives from Political Science: Insights from the political management of COVID-19

 

Author:

Adam Habib

University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, South Africa

 

Published:

South African Journal of Science, Volume 116, Number 7/8 (2020)

https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2020/8499

 

From the article:

When COVID-19 arrived on our shores, our political authorities quickly assembled the medical fraternity’s best minds to advise them on how to respond. The President very quickly engaged in consultations with opposition parties and with social actors including business, labour and civic players like religious leaders. A private–public partnership in the form of a Solidarity Fund was announced, and a number of billionaire families including the Oppenheimers, Ruperts and Motsepes pledged a billion rand each. This was rapidly followed by government’s decision to impose one of the most rigid and extreme lockdowns announced anywhere in the world. We collectively beamed at this decisive, world-class response. We bathed in the praise of the World Health Organization, of the recognitions of our public–private partnerships, and in the realisation that the political responses of our President and government were based on evidence, data and world-class science.

 

Then COVID-19 exposed the crude underbelly of South Africa.

 

Scholarly Article (2020) - More eyes on COVID-19: Perspectives from Anthropology: What people believe is a lot less important than that they believe it

Title:
More eyes on COVID-19: Perspectives from Anthropology: What people believe is a lot less important than that they believe it

Author:
Jess Auerbach
Faculty of Education, Stellenbosch University

Published:
South African Journal of Science, Volume 116, Number 7/8 (2020)
https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2020/8491

From the article:
Anthropology compels us all to see the world from many different perspectives at once. On the rare occasions, such as a pandemic, where we all need to adopt very specific habits from the intimate to the public, these different perspectives must be taken seriously and must inform policy at every level.

Health is not only biophysical, but also emotional, spiritual, environmental and societal. Dignity, security, and purpose cannot be achieved alone, but through collective everyday experiences that are currently being radically altered.
        

University World News, 21 May 2020 - Social science shows it can contribute to COVID-19 policy-making

Title:
Social science shows it can contribute to COVID-19 policy-making

Authors:
Nico Cloete, Murray Leibbrandt & Francois van Schalkwyk

Published:
University World News, 21 May 2020
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20200520144250507

From the article:
"The work of a group of economists attached to an expert academic research unit at the University of Cape Town, which led to the introduction of a child grant to relieve social distress caused by the COVID-19 lockdown in South Africa, shows that Africa has the research capacity to influence evidence-based policy-making. The bigger issue is how to expand this capacity."