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This paper proposes to answer several questions that arise from the actions of American scientists between 1840 and 1890. How did the broader organization of science in the late nineteenth century create a system of professional disciplines? Why did the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) form, and why did specialized societies like the American Chemical Society (ACS) later found an organization separate from the AAAS? Why did these professional societies create journals, and how did these journals help to communicate science? This paper combines both quantitative textual analysis and qualitative historical and sociological methods within the context of nineteenth-century American science. It is hoped that by broadening the methods used, and by better understanding the early deliberations of scientists before there was a formal scholarly communication system, it may be possible to contextualize current debates about the need for changes in the scholarly communication system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the discussion on career paths in parapsychology. Topics include American Association for the Advancement of Science containing the Parapsychological Association as a member organization; social science research in general often applied disproportionately to parapsychology; and ask personality traits, targets, and methods enhancing ESP results.

This paper proposes to answer several questions that arise from the actions of American scientists between 1840 and 1890. How did the broader organization of science in the late nineteenth century create a system of professional disciplines? Why did the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) form, and why did specialized societies like the American Chemical Society (ACS) later found an organization separate from the AAAS? Why did these professional societies create journals, and how did these journals help to communicate science? This paper combines both quantitative textual analysis and qualitative historical and sociological methods within the context of nineteenth-century American science. It is hoped that by broadening the methods used, and by better understanding the early deliberations of scientists before there was a formal scholarly communication system, it may be possible to contextualize current debates about the need for changes in the scholarly communication system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In publishing ethics, self-plagiarism or text recycling is subject to a correction or retraction. This paper examines a high-profile case of ethical exceptionalism in the publishing status quo. Jennifer Couzin-Frankel, a science writer for the magazine Science, published by The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), was the first reporter to publicly reveal the identity of Brandon Stell, the President of The PubPeer Foundation, which owns PubPeer, a science whistle-blower website. The AAAS is a Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) member publisher. Couzin-Frankel published two articles, one of which self-plagiarized (i.e., the use of text written by the same person but not properly cited, or acknowledged) about 25% of text in the other article. Couzin-Frankel has also employed nested self-citation, which is the citation of a separate part of a paper such as a table or text box, to give the impression of a separate publication. These aspects call into question how strictly information is vetted and edited at AAAS’s Science. Despite alerting the AAAS, this heavily self-plagiarized paper has not been corrected or retracted. How then do the AAAS and COPE justify the continued publication of both texts?

Bibliometric indicators increasingly affect careers, funding, and reputation of individuals, their institutions and journals themselves. In contrast to author self-citations, little is known about kinetics of journal self-citations. Here we hypothesized that they may show a generalizable pattern within particular research fields or across multiple fields. We thus analyzed self-cites to 60 journals from three research fields (multidisciplinary sciences, parasitology, and information science). We also hypothesized that the kinetics of journal self-citations and citations received from other journals of the same publisher may differ from foreign citations. We analyzed the journals published the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Nature Publishing Group, and Editura Academiei Române. We found that although the kinetics of journal self-cites is generally faster compared to foreign cites, it shows some field-specific characteristics. Particularly in information science journals, the initial increase in a share of journal self-citations during post-publication year 0 was completely absent. Self-promoting journal self-citations of top-tier journals have rather indirect but negligible direct effects on bibliometric indicators, affecting just the immediacy index and marginally increasing the impact factor itself as long as the affected journals are well established in their fields. In contrast, other forms of journal self-citations and citation stacking may severely affect the impact factor, or other citation-based indices. We identified here a network consisting of three Romanian physics journals Proceedings of the Romanian Academy, Series A, Romanian Journal of Physics, and Romanian Reports in Physics, which displayed low to moderate ratio of journal self-citations, but which multiplied recently their impact factors, and were mutually responsible for 55.9%, 64.7% and 63.3% of citations within the impact factor calculation window to the three journals, respectively. They did not receive nearly any network self-cites prior impact factor calculation window, and their network self-cites decreased sharply after the impact factor calculation window. Journal self-citations and citation stacking requires increased attention and elimination from citation indices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest general science membership society, is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of advancing science, engineering and innovation for the benefit of all people, communicating science broadly, defending scientific freedom, providing a voice for science on societal issues, strengthening and diversifying the science and technology workforce, and advancing international cooperation in science. Founded in 1848, AAAS today has individual members from around 100 countries, and is the publisher of the Science family of journals, including the open-access journal Science Advances. NSR talks to Barbara Schaal—an evolutionary biologist at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, 2017 President of AAAS, former Vice President of the US National Academy of Sciences, and a former advisor of the President's Council of Advisors in Science and Technology under the Obama administration—and also to Bill Moran, the publisher of Science, about why science is a global public good, how basic science is the engine of economic growth and prosperity, the importance of social science, and why the need to defend the free flow of ideas and people across national boundaries is urgent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers developments related to the activities of the organization the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS). Every year, the IRAS organizes seven-day conference to discuss issues which are relevant to scientific thinking as well as religion. Moreover, it also organizes different types of events during the yearly meetings of the organizations like the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Academy of Religion (AAR).

Ecological succession explored at the secondary and postsecondary level is often limited to terrestrial ecosystems. The emphasis is traditionally placed on how deforestation leads to ecological succession. However, aquatic ecological succession is just as important and allows for many connections to be made with other ecological concepts. Succession initiated by beavers (Castor canadensis) in particular links both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems over time. We present a guide to an inquiry-based lesson for AP Environmental Science and undergraduate ecology courses that explores the effects of aquatic and terrestrial ecological succession initiated by deforestation and beavers. Specifically, the focus is ecological succession and its effects in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In this lesson, students (1) engage with a preassessment and broad overview of ecological succession, (2) explore authentic research data representing secondary succession in beaver ponds, (3) explain data using detective activities, (4) elaborate with a mystery pond, and (5) evaluate their new understanding by comparing a pre- and postassessment. This lesson plan meets the objectives for AP Environmental Science Biology courses as well as the core concepts and competencies for undergraduate biology education from the Vision and Change report by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2011. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In its 2011 report Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education, the American Association for the Advancement of Science emphasized the use of core concepts and competencies from multiple disciplines rather than focusing on rote memorization. After the publication of this document, many individuals, departments, and institutions started using course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) as one way to transition to the inclusion of core competencies. Well-executed CUREs focus students' learning of science practices around a project that relates to a real problem the students are helping solve. However, while CUREs are effective and can be fun for both students and instructors, not every instructor or institution has the time or the funding to engage students in a formal CURE project. This means finding alternative ways to incorporate teaching core competencies and science practices. We created the Goggle Lab to use impairment goggles, which simulate the effects of alcohol and other substances, in a general biology laboratory setting to teach core competencies and science practices, while injecting a dose of fun and integrating social issues. Students utilized the impairment goggles to design experiments, analyze data, practice basic statistics, and communicate scientific findings in a variety of formats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mindful of a stated Project 2061 goal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, emphasizing that "scientific literacy includes seeing the scientific endeavor in the light of cultural and intellectual history," and in the continuing spirit of narrowing the gap between the "two cultures" by enhancing STEAM awareness and education, this essay illustrates, quite literally through well-known works of Western art, the striking parallels between fundamental themes in physics and the visual arts through history. These connections include: the identification of microcosm–macrocosm analogies in prehistoric proto-science; the beginning of the appreciation in pre-classical antiquity of the lawfulness of nature under the aegis of a Divine Lawgiver; the rise of rationalism and the first theories of the architecture of matter during the so-called "Greek miracle"; the overlapping role of theology's "handmaiden" during the emblematic medieval Age of Faith; Renaissance renovations and the triumph of the "mechanical universe" as the capstone of the scientific revolution in the early modern period; the influence on physics of the Romantic notion of an underlying unity in all of nature, and the increasing abstraction in both art and physics during the nineteenth century; and, finally, the parallels between twentieth-century art and the physics of relativity and quantum theory, concluding with examples from modern cosmology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) will offer open-access route to its authors for compliance with the open access on publication of research papers funded by the Coalition S, an international consortium of research funders, as of January 2021.