OPEN SCIENCE
OpenCitations has released the first version of its coronavirus citations dataset. It contains about 124,295 citations to or from 42,213 research articles. Most studies are related to SARS or MERS research, but the database will be maintained.
The EU has launched a COVID Data Platform. For sequences, gene and protein expression data, proteins, protein structures and more. In partnership with EMBL-EBI.
Research Square has posted 20,000 preprints. The amount of preprints posted has doubled within four months, thanks also to a collaboration with Springer Nature.
An XML Repository of All bioRxiv Articles is Now Available for Text and Data Mining.
PUBLISHING
The Royal Society of Chemistry launches transparent peer review, starting with its journal RSC Chemical Biology. Great to see the society implementing this, congratulations!
Clarivate will add open access data to its Journal Citation Reports. In particularly for hybrid journals this will allow a comparison of volume and, interestingly, citation rates between open access and subscription content.
RESEARCH
Donald Kennedy, Stanford’s eighth president and former Editor-in-Chief of Science, has passed away. Our sincere condolences to his family as well as his former colleagues.
Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels has published a detailed statement on the implications of the COVID pandemic and its implications for the university, along with action plans.
In the UK, amongst the universities reporting financial losses are Imperial College London and the University of Manchester. One of the key factors is an expected drop in international students.
Director of U.S. agency key to vaccine development leaves role suddenly amid coronavirus pandemic. Rick Bright is no longer the director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, and is moving to the NIH. The timing seemed peculiar and it soon transpired in the New York Times that in his view he was removed from his post after he pressed for a rigorous vetting of the hydroxychloroquine treatments pushed by the administration. Politico subsequently published more details on Bright’s dismissal.
OTHER
The pandemic may cause a significant increase in famines world-wide, and 250 million are in danger of suffering from hunger, according to the UN World Food Programme.