London, UK & Berlin, Germany—Tuesday 28 October 2025

Digital Science and the Berlin Institute for Scholarly Publishing (BISP) invite applications for the 2026 APE Award for Innovation in Scholarly Communication.

Now in its fourth year, the award will be presented at the 21st Academic Publishing in Europe APE Conference in Berlin (13-14 January 2026).

The award is given to an individual who has brought innovation in scholarly communication to the world of research and the academic publishing community. The winner will receive a €1,000 prize, along with travel support and free attendance to the conference.

The closing date for applications is Friday 28 November 2025 – see full application details here.

Since its launch, the APE award has recognized a diverse range of innovators working to improve scholarly communication.

Past recipients include:

• Vsevolod Solovyov (2023) for his work on an online platform that recommends grant reviewers to the European Research Council
• Laura Feetham-Walker (2024) for advancing academic peer review, through training and certification
• Dr Raym Crow (2025) for pioneering mission-driven, sustainable open publishing models

Dr Daniel Hook, CEO of Digital Science, said: “We are honored to once again partner with BISP to celebrate individuals who – through their vision and passion – are redefining how research is shared with the world.

“Innovation in scholarly communication isn’t just about technology or products, it’s about new ways of thinking, new business models, and collaborations. We look forward to seeing creative nominations from across the global research community.”

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, metaphacts, Overleaf, ReadCube, Symplectic, and Writefull – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit digital-science.com and follow Digital Science on Bluesky, on X or on LinkedIn.

Media Contact

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

The post Applications now open for the 2026 APE Award for Innovation in Scholarly Communication appeared first on Digital Science.

Wednesday 15 October 2025

In a major step forward for tracking the real-world impact of research, Digital Science today announces that Altmetric has added a new attention source: Podcasts.

Altmetric is the first in the world to include podcasts among its measures of research impact.

Podcasts will now be reflected in the distinctive Altmetric Badges – appearing as a purple color – as well as in Altmetric Attention Scores, with more detail displayed in Altmetric Explorer.

In addition to podcasts, Altmetric’s many attention sources include select social media channels, news, blogs, public policy sites, patents, clinical guidelines, and more.

A complete view of research influence

Miguel Garcia, VP of Product, Digital Science, said: “Altmetric is about tuning in to where research conversations are really happening, and understanding how that research is being received, discussed, debated, and shared. A complete view of research influence isn’t possible without podcasts.

“With Altmetric podcast tracking, we recognize that these real-world conversations play a critical role in shaping public understanding and acceptance of research. Podcasts add rich, narrative-driven evidence to the impact story, offering a more complete view of research influence across scholarly, professional, and public domains.

“With more than half a billion people listening to podcasts for information, and at a time when podcasts are growing as a communication and educational platform, we feel the moment is right to include these conversations as an attention source. Publishers, academics, industry, governments, and funders will all now benefit from better understanding the impact of research.”

Benefits of podcast tracking

By adding podcasts as an attention source, Altmetric will enable users to:

• Strengthen reporting on research impact
• Capture a broader, more complete attention landscape
• Gain deeper public engagement insights
• Diversify research impact data sources

All user segments within the research ecosystem will benefit from Altmetric’s podcast tracking:

• Academics: Strengthen submissions that demonstrate the real-world impact and influence of research
• Enterprise: Identify emerging Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) and track therapeutic-area conversations, even outside traditional publishing
• Publishers: Highlight where journals are discussed in accessible, mainstream forums that boost author engagement
• Funders: Ensure research funded is making an impact in broader public discourse, justifying investment

About Altmetric

Altmetric is a leading provider of alternative research metrics, helping everyone involved in research gauge the impact of their work. We serve diverse markets including universities, institutions, government, publishers, corporations, and those who fund research. Our powerful technology searches thousands of online sources, revealing where research is being shared and discussed. Teams can use our powerful Altmetric Explorer application to interrogate the data themselves, embed our dynamic ‘badges’ into their webpages, or get expert insights from Altmetric’s consultants. Altmetric is part of the Digital Science group, dedicated to making the research experience simpler and more productive by applying pioneering technology solutions. Find out more at altmetric.com and follow @altmetric on X and @altmetric.com on Bluesky.

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, metaphacts, Overleaf, ReadCube, Symplectic, and Writefull – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit digital-science.com and follow Digital Science on Bluesky, on X or on LinkedIn.

Media Contact

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

The post Podcasts now count towards research impact in world first for Altmetric appeared first on Digital Science.

Thursday 9 October 2025

Digital Science, a technology company serving stakeholders across the research ecosystem, has made a series of 23 recommendations for Australia’s research future in a report published today into the use of persistent identifiers (PIDs) in research.

The report is the Australian National Persistent Identifier (PID) Benchmarking Toolkit, available now on Figshare.

Commissioned by the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC), Digital Science was tasked with developing a comprehensive PID benchmarking framework, and to conduct a benchmarking process that could be used to monitor the effectiveness of Australia’s National PID Strategy over time. The report, developed collaboratively with the ARDC, also benefited from consultation and engagement with the Australian research community. 

The lead author of the report, Digital Science’s VP of Research Futures, Simon Porter, will discuss the findings at two upcoming events in Brisbane, Australia: International Data Week (13-16 October) and the eResearch Australasia Conference (20-24 October).

A unique opportunity for Australian research

“This is the first time Australia’s National PID Strategy has been benchmarked, and it represents a unique opportunity for the Australian research system to benefit from that process,” Simon Porter said.

“What we’ve seen from the benchmarking is that Australia’s adoption of ORCID for research publications across the research sector has been extremely successful – and Australia is now third in the world for including DOI (Digital Object Identifier) links with dissertations published online.

“Workflows between publishers, institutional research information systems, and ORCID are also sufficiently strong, and we can see that Australia is well placed for a more comprehensive use of the ORCID infrastructure.

“However, our comprehensive review gave Australian research a mixed score card and recommended several changes and interventions to help strengthen the national strategy,” Mr Porter said.

“One of the key issues we’ve seen is that although Australian researchers are more engaged than the global average in the practice of data citation, they trail significantly behind their European peers.

“And while ORCID and ROR adoption has been strong for publications, the use of persistent identifiers with data sets and non-traditional research outputs (NTROs) remains the exception rather than the norm. As significant publishers of NTRO items in their own right, institutions should hold themselves to the same standards that they expect from publishers – all creators should ideally be described with an ORCID, and affiliation id (ROR).”

Natasha Simons, Director of National Coordination at the ARDC, congratulated Digital Science on the release of the National PID Benchmarking Toolkit. “The Australian Persistent Identifier Strategy is a critical national initiative to benefit the Australian people by strengthening our digital information ecosystem, the quality of our research and our capacity for effective research engagement, innovation and impact,” she said. “So it is essential to develop robust benchmarks that can track our progress and measure outcomes. The Toolkit provides us with exactly what’s needed.”

Recommendations to strengthen Australia’s research future

Some of the 23 recommendations made in the report include:

• Australian research has progressed to the point where ORCIDs should now be mandatory for all researchers; Australian Institutions should require ORCID registration within their institutional research information management systems.

• Australian research institutions should adopt the best practices of publishers to ensure that all authors are described by ORCIDs and affiliations via ROR.

• Australia should join international pressure to ensure that all publishers both record ORCID records and push the associated metadata into Crossref, and to avoid publishers that do not support ORCID workflows.

• Australia should consider a national policy for publishing dissertations with DOIs in institutional repositories, formalizing the use of ORCIDs for authors and their supervisors.

• Reports published by universities and their research centres should ideally be published in institutional repositories, with associated identifiers.

• Ongoing benchmarking analysis of PIDs should not ignore closed access material. (e.g., ignoring closed-access publications would result in missing 35% of Australia’s research output in 2024.)

• RAiDs (Research Activity Identifiers) should be added from “day one” of the creation of a funding grant.

• Grants funding organizations should create persistent identifiers “as soon as is practical” – including complete metadata – to enable research funding to be visible and tracked earlier.

“We welcome the opportunity to have led this benchmarking process, and we hope our recommendations will lead to some meaningful improvements within Australian research,” Mr Porter said.

“Importantly, we’ve also demonstrated that it is possible to produce a benchmarking toolkit for PIDs, and our work may have implications for other nations and their roadmaps towards a persistent identifier future.”

Background: The importance of PIDs

Persistent identifiers (PIDs) are unique numbered references to individual researchers and their work, which are connected to digital outputs and resources. They help connect researchers, projects, outputs, and institutions, and have become critical for:

• Making research inputs and outputs FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable)
• Enabling research outputs to be identified, tracked and cited
• Analyzing research impact
• Supporting national-scale research analytics

Widely used PIDs include ORCID iDs, DOIs, RORs, and emerging identifiers include DOIs for grants, and identifiers for projects (RAiDs).

Note: In the report, Simon Porter declares that he is also a member of the ORCID Board.

Discover more at International Data Week (13-16 October) and the eResearch Australasia Conference (20-24 October).

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, metaphacts, OntoChem, Overleaf, ReadCube, Symplectic, and Writefull – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit digital-science.com and follow Digital Science on Bluesky, on X or on LinkedIn.

Media contact

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

The post Australian research well placed for adoption of National Persistent Identifier (PID) Strategy appeared first on Digital Science.

Tuesday 30 September 2025

Research institutions and government agencies can now fully integrate research security checks and compliance into their workflows, with the launch of Digital Science’s new Dimensions Research Security API.

Built on Digital Science’s Dimensions – the world’s largest interconnected global research database – the Dimensions Research Security API offers universities and government agencies a powerful way to integrate research security oversight into their internal systems.

A new era of embedded research security

The Dimensions Research Security API helps compliance teams quickly identify potential areas of concern – such as undisclosed affiliations, sensitive funding sources, or collaborations that may require further investigation.

By embedding this trusted data directly into compliance, HR, and grants workflows, institutions and agencies can streamline reviews, strengthen oversight, and safeguard both funding and reputations – while ensuring that final compliance decisions remain with in-house experts.

Strengthen research security oversight at scale

Digital Science’s VP of Research Integrity and Security, Dr Leslie McIntosh, said: “Institutions globally are under increasing pressure to enforce safeguards around research security, protect intellectual property, manage conflicts of interest, and comply with evolving government regulation.

“Since we launched the initial version of Dimensions Research Security just two years ago, it’s proven to be of immense value to universities and government agencies alike, including agencies protecting U.S. research. Our new API will strengthen research security oversight at scale, enabling the review of researchers and collaborators, with structured data that supports efficient workflows.

“More than ever it’s important to be able to surface hidden risks early. The Dimensions Research Security API will enable compliance teams to incorporate research security data points, such as dual affiliations, with internally held data, so they can more effectively conduct holistic reviews at scale,” Dr McIntosh said.

Digital Science’s VP of Research Security & Intelligence, Mark Franco, added: “Dimensions Research Security (DRS) has significantly improved how funding agencies and universities identify and address potential research security risks in line with current regulations.

“By increasing transparency, DRS fosters strong collaboration between funders and institutions, helping them not only mitigate risks but also engage and educate researchers when discrepancies arise in self-disclosure forms.

“For investigative and oversight agencies, DRS enables proactive detection of risks, such as undisclosed collaborations or dual affiliations with prohibited entities, that may require further review.

“The new DRS API further enhances these capabilities by enabling large-scale, repeatable queries, streamlining workflows, and integrating DRS insights with other key data sources.”

Features of Dimensions Research Security API

• Embeds directly into an institution’s workflows and secure systems – strengthen oversight without adding extra steps
• Makes reviews defensible – every flagged record comes with structured outputs, metadata, and clear, actionable reasons for flags being raised
• Works at scale with speed – supporting thousands of reviews under tight timelines with structured, continuously updated data
• Supports flexible risk parameters – configure risk parameters according to need

About Dimensions

Part of Digital Science, Dimensions hosts the largest collection of interconnected global research data, re-imagining research discovery with access to grants, publications, clinical trials, patents and policy documents all in one place. Follow Dimensions on Bluesky, X and LinkedIn.

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry, and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, metaphacts, OntoChem, Overleaf, ReadCube, Symplectic, and Writefull – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit digital-science.com and follow Digital Science on Bluesky, on X or on LinkedIn.

Media contact

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

The post Digital Science introduces Dimensions Research Security API appeared first on Digital Science.

Researchers associated with a fictitious research network and funding source have collectively netted millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money for current studies from the United States, Japan, Ireland, and other nations. That’s according to investigations led by Digital Science’s VP of Research Integrity, Dr Leslie McIntosh.

The results of her investigations raise serious concerns about the lack of accountability for those involved in questionable research publications.

“This example illustrates how weaknesses in research and publishing systems can be systematically exploited, so that researchers can game the system for their own benefit,” Dr McIntosh says.

Dr McIntosh – one of the co-founders of the Forensic Scientometrics (FoSci) movement – has presented her analysis at this week’s 10th International Congress on Peer Review and Scientific Publication in Chicago, in a talk entitled: Manufactured Impact: How a Non-existent Research Network Manipulated Scholarly Publishing.

While not naming the individual researchers involved, Dr McIntosh’s presentation was centered on a group known as the Pharmakon Neuroscience Network, a non-existent body listed on more than 120 research publications from 2019–2022 until being exposed as fictitious. These publications involved 331 unique authors and were associated with 232 organizations and institutions across 40 countries.

Research network raised multiple red flags

The Pharmakon Neuroscience Network functioned as a loosely organized collaboration of predominantly early-career researchers, such as postdoctoral and PhD students, whose publications included:

• Funding acknowledgments with unverifiable organizations
• Use of questionable or unverifiable institutional affiliations
• Suspiciously large citations in a short timeframe
• Globally connected despite a young publication age

“Despite clear concerns about the legitimacy of their work, only three papers have been formally retracted to date,” Dr McIntosh says.

Using Digital Science’s research solutions Dimensions and Altmetric, Dr McIntosh and colleagues have tracked the progress of the authors connected with this network.

“Once the Pharmakon Neuroscience Network was exposed as being fake in 2022, it no longer appeared on publications, but many of the researchers associated with it have continued to publish and attract significant funding for their work,” she says.

Millions in funding for current research

Of the initial 331 researchers associated with the Pharmakon Neuroscience Network’s publications, Dr McIntosh has established that more than 20 currently have funding either as a Principal Investigator or a Co-Principal Investigator from sources where the grant commenced in 2022 or later. During this time, those researchers have collectively been awarded the equivalent of at least US$6.5 million from seven countries: US, Japan, Ireland, France, Portugal, and Croatia, and an undisclosed sum from Russia.

One researcher with more than US$50 million in funding has authorship on one of the Pharmakon papers. It is not clear if he knowingly participated in the network or was part of a former student activity. 

“Many of the researchers had grants before and after Pharmakon. This is legitimate, taxpayer money in most instances that are funding very unethical practices,” Dr McIntosh says.

“One aspect we need more time to vet is the possibility that a few of these researchers do not know they were authors on papers within this network. We are still completing this work.”

Of the funded researchers, five had never previously received funding for their research, but following their involvement with the Pharmakon Neuroscience Network they have since been awarded grants from the following sources ($US equivalent):

• Science Foundation Ireland – $649,891
• Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (Portugal) – $538,904 total
• Croatian Science Foundation – $206,681
• Russian Science Foundation – undisclosed sum

“Here we have evidence that some authors have secured legitimate funding, including large sums of taxpayers’ money, following their participation in questionable research and publication activity,” Dr McIntosh says.

“We can presume that their publication portfolio, no matter how it was obtained, helped in securing this funding from legitimate sources.”

Dr McIntosh says this case has implications across the research system and emphasizes the need for stronger verification, monitoring, and cooperation.

“Although most of these publications remain in circulation and have been cited widely, corrective actions have been limited. This highlights the challenge of addressing such networks once their work is embedded in the scholarly record,” she says.

Recommendations

Dr McIntosh recommends the following:

• Oversight to be reinforced by requiring the use of verified institutional identifiers, such as GRID or ROR, in all publications to ensure affiliations are legitimate and traceable.
• Transparency to be mandated through clearer author contribution statements and verified funding acknowledgments, creating a more reliable and accountable record of how research is conducted and supported.
• Monitoring mechanisms should be improved by supporting the adoption of forensic scientometrics, which can detect unusual collaboration patterns or questionable authorship practices before they become systemic.

“By addressing these gaps, governments, publishers and research institutions alike can help protect the integrity of the research system and ensure that trust in science is maintained,” Dr McIntosh says.

See further detail about this investigation in Dr McIntosh’s blog post: From Nefarious Networks to Legitimate Funding.

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, metaphacts, OntoChem, Overleaf, ReadCube, Symplectic, and Writefull – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit digital-science.com and follow Digital Science on Bluesky, on X or on LinkedIn.

Media contact

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

The post Digital Science investigation shows millions of taxpayers’ money has been awarded to researchers associated with fictitious network appeared first on Digital Science.

Tuesday 2 September 2025

Digital Science is pleased to announce that Altmetric, which captures the online attention of research, has introduced a new AI-powered sentiment analysis feature, to provide research teams with deeper insights into the public response and impact of their work on selected social media platforms.

Now available in Altmetric Explorer, Altmetric’s AI-powered Sentiment Analysis has been robustly refined to explore the sentiment towards the use of research, thanks to the work of Digital Science Senior Data Scientist Dr Carlos Areia and Head of Data Insights Mike Taylor, in consultation with the research community.

Mike Taylor said: “Impactful research deserves the best possible insights. Our new Sentiment Analysis feature gives some meaning to numbers, leveraging advanced technology to interpret and visualize the sentiment behind mentions on key social media platforms, and brings the potential to turn raw data into actionable insights for members of the research community.”

Using AI to assign scores to mentions, it was possible to create a spectrum of sentiment for given research outputs. By capturing a whole range of reactions and discourse on social media, sentiment analysis supports research teams to better understand how their work is being received and engaged online across different audiences.

“There are many potential benefits from these new insights, including the opportunity for research teams to refine their approach to research publication, communication and dissemination plans,” Taylor said.

Key Features of Altmetric Sentiment Analysis

• Sentiment Scoring: Automatically assigns a sentiment score to individual social media mentions (ranging from strong negative to strong positive).
• Sentiment Breakdown Charts: Visualize sentiment trends with clear and concise graphical representations. Research teams can quickly identify changes in perception and respond accordingly.
• Filtering by Sentiment: Narrow down results in the Altmetric Explorer by sentiment type, allowing users to focus on specific aspects of discussions most relevant to their strategy or goals.

Amye Kenall, Chief Product Officer, Digital Science, said: “The inclusion of Sentiment Analysis into Altmetric data is an important step in helping users get real insight from Altmetric data, enabling researchers and organizations to understand how their publications are being received, discussed and used. Digital Science is committed to using AI responsibly and ethically in ways that drive more value to our users but also protect the community we serve. We’re pleased to bring this feature to our Altmetric Explorer users.

“Medical affairs professionals, academic researchers, scholarly publishers, and R&D specialists alike can fully explore the ‘how and why’ behind their impact, leveraging these insights to maximize the visibility and effectiveness of their published research.”

About Altmetric

Altmetric is a leading provider of alternative research metrics, helping everyone involved in research gauge the impact of their work. We serve diverse markets including universities, institutions, government, publishers, corporations, and those who fund research. Our powerful technology searches thousands of online sources, revealing where research is being shared and discussed. Teams can use our powerful Altmetric Explorer application to interrogate the data themselves, embed our dynamic ‘badges’ into their webpages, or get expert insights from Altmetric’s consultants. Altmetric is part of the Digital Science group, dedicated to making the research experience simpler and more productive by applying pioneering technology solutions. Find out more at altmetric.com and follow @altmetric on X and @altmetric.com on Bluesky.

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, metaphacts, OntoChem, Overleaf, ReadCube, Symplectic, and Writefull – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit digital-science.com and follow Digital Science on Bluesky, on X or on LinkedIn.

Media Contact

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

The post Altmetric adds Sentiment Analysis to social media tracking appeared first on Digital Science.

Tuesday 19 August 2025

Digital Science, a technology company serving stakeholders across the research ecosystem, today launches its Catalyst Grant round for 2025 to support innovative tech ideas.

Now in its 15th year, the theme for Digital Science’s 2025 Catalyst Grant is: Data visualization.

Up to £25,000 will be awarded to individuals or startups for their technology-driven ideas.

Update: The deadline to apply is Monday 13 October 2025.

Steve Scott, Director of Portfolio Development at Digital Science, said: “With the rapid growth of AI, data science, and open research, visualization is emerging as a vital tool to aid research impact. In today’s data-rich, attention-poor world, how we understand and communicate data is just as important as what the data says.

“This year, the Digital Science Catalyst Grant challenges innovators to push the boundaries of data visualization, not just as a communication tool, but as a driver for prediction, insight, and action.

“We want to ‘see the future’ through data; we want visualizations to be used as a process for discovery. To do this, we’re looking for game-changers who are turning raw data into intuitive stories, elegant dashboards, and predictive visuals that empower researchers, institutions, funders, and decision-makers alike.”

About Catalyst Grant

The Digital Science Catalyst Grant is an international initiative to support innovation in new software tools and technologies, to advance research and create meaningful change.

The program supports and invests in early-stage ideas in the novel use of technology, with an award of up to £25,000 for the most promising ideas that aid research and further its impact on society.

The Catalyst Grant is awarded to innovative individuals or startups without the need for a complete business or development plan. Several previous Catalyst Grant winners have developed important products and solutions within Digital Science itself.

Data Visualization – the 2025 Catalyst Grant focus

For Catalyst Grant 2025, Digital Science is looking for novel applications of data visualization technology that can benefit any aspect of the research ecosystem and lifecycle, and any stakeholders Digital Science serves. These include: researchers, universities, funders, industry, and publishers.

We’re seeking tools and technologies that:

• Model complex data to uncover hidden patterns, trends and predictive insights
• Use advanced technologies, including AI and machine learning, to uncover patterns that traditional analysis might miss
• Visualize high-dimensional data to improve understanding and support better decision-making
• Deliver intuitive web and mobile-first solutions for scientific storytelling or discovery, reducing time-to-insight
• Create a unique user interface (UI) or user experience (UX) for dashboards, lab tools, or clinical data systems
• Enable interactive exploration of real-world evidence
   

Apply for the Digital Science Catalyst Grant

The Digital Science Catalyst Grant is now open for entries. Key details:

• Visit the Digital Science Catalyst Grant website for full eligibility criteria and how to apply
• Open globally to individuals and startups with early-stage technology ideas
• Questions about the Catalyst Grant to be directed to: catalyst@digital-science.com
• Updated deadline: Monday 13 October 2025, 5pm BST, 12 noon EDT

Join the conversation on social media with: #CatalystGrant

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, metaphacts, OntoChem, Overleaf, ReadCube, Symplectic, and Writefull – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit digital-science.com and follow Digital Science on Bluesky, on X or on LinkedIn.

Media contact

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

The post Digital Science’s 2025 Catalyst Grant seeking innovations to “see the future” with data visualization appeared first on Digital Science.

Digital Science is pleased to announce that Emerald Publishing has adopted Dimensions Author Check as part of Emerald’s ongoing commitment to research integrity.

Dimensions Author Check offers publishers a fast and reliable way to incorporate research integrity checks into their work, helping to support responsible and ethical publishing.

Built on Digital Science’s Dimensions – the world’s largest interconnected global research database – Dimensions Author Check offers unmatched transparency into authors’, editors’ and reviewers’ publishing and collaboration histories, accessible through an intuitive and visual dashboard.

Using the dashboard, publishers can thoroughly review the publishing history of a researcher and the people they’ve collaborated with, to spot any unusual activities, such as retractions, expressions of concern, or atypical collaboration patterns.

Sally Wilson, VP Publishing at Emerald, said: “The primary use case for Author Check is to support our due diligence processes when developing and reviewing new special issue proposals. It allows us to efficiently verify the academic credentials, publication history, and editorial experience of proposed guest editors and contributors, helping ensure they meet our editorial standards and ethical expectations.

“Additional use cases are to support our editor succession planning and commissioning activities, offering valuable insights into potential candidates’ research impact and professional networks.

“We hope by integrating Author Check into these workflows, we not only enhance the integrity and transparency of our editorial decision-making but also save time by streamlining what would otherwise be manual and time-consuming processes.”

Dr Leslie McIntosh, VP of Research Integrity at Digital Science, said: “We’re excited that Emerald has become the latest publisher to adopt Dimensions Author Check, further boosting Emerald’s commitment to supporting the integrity of the scholarly record.

“Dimensions Author Check empowers publishers to uphold trust and transparency in research by ensuring they have the best possible information at their fingertips – within seconds.”

About Emerald

Founded by management scholars in 1967, and now part of the Cambridge Information Group, Emerald Publishing provides a range of publishing services to help researchers tell their stories in a meaningful and timely way, providing innovative tools and services to build confidence and capability in impactful research. As a proud signatory of DORA, Emerald is committed to establishing new pathways to impact, making research more accessible, and helping communities make decisions that change their world for the better.

For over 55 years Emerald’s core purpose has been to champion fresh thinkers and help them make a difference so that little by little those in academia or in practice can unite to bring positive change in the real world. Emerald Publishing is proud to be a Times Top 50 Employer for Gender Equality 2025 – for the second year in a row – and one of the Top 50 Inspiring Workplaces in the UK and Ireland for 2025.

About Dimensions

Part of Digital Science, Dimensions hosts the largest collection of interconnected global research data, re-imagining research discovery with access to grants, publications, clinical trials, patents and policy documents all in one place. Follow Dimensions on Bluesky, X and LinkedIn.

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry, and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, metaphacts, OntoChem, Overleaf, ReadCube, Symplectic, and Writefull – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit digital-science.com and follow Digital Science on Bluesky, on X or on LinkedIn.

Media contacts

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

Tom Shiels, Communications Manager, Emerald Publishing: tshiels@emerald.com

The post Emerald Publishing to safeguard research integrity with Dimensions Author Check appeared first on Digital Science.

Access to Altmetric and Dimensions data is now boosted with Dimensions on BigQuery for researchers in the scientometrics field

Tuesday 22 July 2025

Digital Science today reaffirms its commitment to supporting the global scientometric research community and the study of scholarly literature, by relaunching its Scientometric Researcher Access to Data (SRAD) program.

This revitalized initiative will offer scientometric researchers streamlined, no-cost access to Digital Science’s Altmetric and Dimensions data, and is now further expanded by offering access to Dimensions on BigQuery.

The SRAD program is available to scientometrics researchers involved in non-commercial scientometric studies, empowering them to more easily answer system-wide research questions about scholarly literature and its impact.

To lead this important effort and build a thriving global community of expert users, Digital Science has appointed Kathryn Weber-Boer to the position of Director Scientometrics – Scientometric Researcher Engagement. Ms Weber-Boer brings deep expertise in scientometrics, academic engagement, and advanced analytics. 

Ms Weber-Boer said: “This program plays an important role in Digital Science’s commitment to open research and improving research. I am honoured to be in the position of driving strategic outreach, program design, and community leadership, to help researchers maximize the impact of Digital Science tools.

“By expanding access to Dimensions on GBQ, we’re excited to enable scientometrics researchers to answer complex questions with big data, exploring and linking more datapoints, and connecting our world-leading Dimensions data to other open datasets.

“The SRAD program is built around key principles of accessibility, responsible data use, and community empowerment. Through tailored training and dynamic community engagement, it’s our hope that we can contribute to driving innovation in the fields of Scientometrics, Research Policy, and Innovation Studies,” she said.

About Dimensions

Part of Digital Science, Dimensions hosts the largest collection of interconnected global research data, re-imagining research discovery with access to grants, publications, clinical trials, patents and policy documents all in one place. Follow Dimensions on Bluesky, X and LinkedIn.

About Altmetric

Altmetric is a leading provider of alternative research metrics, helping everyone involved in research gauge the impact of their work. We serve diverse markets including universities, institutions, government, publishers, corporations, and those who fund research. Our powerful technology searches thousands of online sources, revealing where research is being shared and discussed. Teams can use our powerful Altmetric Explorer application to interrogate the data themselves, embed our dynamic ‘badges’ into their webpages, or get expert insights from Altmetric’s consultants. Altmetric is part of the Digital Science group, dedicated to making the research experience simpler and more productive by applying pioneering technology solutions. Find out more at altmetric.com and follow @altmetric on X and @altmetric.com on Bluesky.

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, metaphacts, OntoChem, Overleaf, ReadCube, Symplectic, and Writefull – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit digital-science.com and follow Digital Science on Bluesky, on X or on LinkedIn.

Media contact

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

The post Digital Science relaunches Scientometric Researcher Access to Data (SRAD) program appeared first on Digital Science.

Scholarly publishers can now fully integrate research integrity checks into their editorial and submission workflows, thanks to Digital Science’s new Dimensions Author Check API, which launches today.

Built on Dimensions – the world’s largest interconnected global research database – Dimensions Author Check evaluates researchers’ publication and collaboration histories within seconds, delivering reliable, concise, structured insights.

For the first time, the new Dimensions Author Check API enables publishers to embed this functionality directly into their own workflows, without the need to switch to an outside platform.

Dr Leslie McIntosh, Vice President of Research Integrity at Digital Science, said Dimensions Author Check API is designed to support consistent and confident editorial decision-making.

“By highlighting key indicators of research integrity – such as retractions, tortured phrases, or unusual co-authorship patterns – the Dimensions Author Check API helps to rapidly identify potential issues for concern. These include continuously improving indicators that will identify paper mills and increase trust in science,” Dr McIntosh said.

“Importantly, the Author Check API can do this at scale, giving publishers the ability to screen multiple researchers per request. This makes it ideal for high-volume manuscript processing and broader editorial oversight.”

Key benefits of the new Dimensions Author Check API include:

• Seamless integration: A standards-based RESTful API designed for easy deployment within publishers’ internal systems or third-party platforms.
• Actionable insights: Clear summaries highlighting key aspects of researchers’ publication and collaboration histories.
• Operational efficiency: Reducing editorial workload while enhancing the quality and consistency of integrity assessments.
• Support for transparency and trust: Surfacing critical integrity information at key decision points, strengthening publishers’ ability to adhere to ethical standards.

Note to editors: The Dimensions Author Check dashboard was originally announced in December last year. This announcement is specific to the Dimensions Author Check API, which launches today.

About Dimensions

Part of Digital Science, Dimensions hosts the largest collection of interconnected global research data, re-imagining research discovery with access to grants, publications, clinical trials, patents and policy documents all in one place. Follow Dimensions on Bluesky, X and LinkedIn.

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, metaphacts, OntoChem, Overleaf, ReadCube, Symplectic, and Writefull – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit digital-science.com and follow Digital Science on Bluesky, on X or on LinkedIn.

Media contact

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

The post Digital Science to strengthen research integrity in publishing with new Dimensions Author Check API appeared first on Digital Science.

Thursday 10 July 2025

China is outstripping the rest of the world in artificial intelligence research at a time when AI is becoming a “strategic asset” akin to energy or military capability, according to a new report released today by research technology company Digital Science.

The report – entitled DeepSeek and the New Geopolitics of AI: China’s ascent to research pre-eminence in AI – has been authored by Digital Science CEO Dr Daniel Hook based on data from Dimensions, the world’s largest and most comprehensive database describing the global research ecosystem.

Dr Hook has analyzed AI research data from the year 2000 to 2024, tracking trends in research collaborations and placing these within geopolitical, economic, and technological contexts.

His report says AI research has grown at an “impressive rate” globally since the turn of the millennium – from just under 10,000 publications in 2000, to 60,000 publications in 2024.

Dr Hook’s key findings include:

• China has become the pre-eminent world power in AI research, leading not only by research volume, but also by citation attention, and influence, rapidly increasing its lead on the rest of the world over the past seven years.
• The US continues to have the strongest AI startup scene, but China is catching up fast.
• In 2024, China’s AI research publication output matched the combined output of the US, UK, and European Union (EU-27), and now commands more than 40% of global citation attention.
• Despite global tensions, China has become the top collaborator for the US, UK, and EU in AI research, while needing less reciprocal collaboration than any of them.
• China’s AI talent pool dwarfs its rivals – with 30,000 active AI researchers and a massive student and postdoctoral population.
• The EU benefits from strong internal AI collaboration across its research bloc.
• China dominates AI-related patents – patent filings and company-affiliated AI research show China outpacing the US tenfold in some indicators, underscoring its capacity to translate research into innovation.

“AI is no longer neutral – governments are using it as a strategic asset, akin to energy or military capability, and China is actively leveraging this advantage,” Dr Hook says.

“Governments need to understand the local, national and geostrategic implications of AI, with the underlying concern that lack of AI capability or capacity could be damaging from economic, political, social, and military perspectives.”

Dr Hook says China is “massively and impressively” growing its AI research capacity. Unlike Western nations with clustered AI hubs, he says China boasts 156 institutions publishing more than 50 AI papers each in 2024, supporting a nationwide innovation ecosystem. In addition, “China’s AI workforce is young, growing fast, and uniquely positioned for long-term innovation.”

He says one sign of China’s rapidly developing capabilities is its release of the DeepSeek chatbot in January this year. “The emergence of DeepSeek is not merely a technological innovation – it is a symbol of a profound shift in the global AI landscape,” Dr Hook says.

“DeepSeek exemplifies China’s technological independence. Its cost-efficient, open-source LLM demonstrates the country’s ability to innovate around US chip restrictions and dominate AI development at scale.”

Dr Hook’s report comments further on the AI research landscape in the US, UK and EU.

He says the UK remains “small but globally impactful”. “Despite its modest size, the UK consistently punches above its weight in attention-per-output metrics.”

However, the EU “risks falling behind in translation and visibility”. “The EU shows weaker international collaboration beyond its borders and struggles to convert research into applied outputs (e.g., patents), raising concerns about its future AI competitiveness.”

About Dimensions

Part of Digital Science, Dimensions hosts the largest collection of interconnected global research data, re-imagining research discovery with access to grants, publications, clinical trials, patents and policy documents all in one place. Follow Dimensions on Bluesky, on X and LinkedIn.

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, metaphacts, OntoChem, Overleaf, ReadCube, Symplectic, and Writefull – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit digital-science.com and follow Digital Science on Bluesky, on X or on LinkedIn.

Media contact

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

The post New report shows China dominates in AI research – and is western world’s leading collaborator on AI appeared first on Digital Science.

London, UK — Tuesday 24 June 2025

More than 20 million research writers worldwide now have immediate access to powerful new AI features from Digital Science through an optional add-on for Overleaf.

The add-on, called AI Assist, helps researchers write in LaTeX faster and smarter by combining the power of advanced language feedback with cutting-edge LaTeX AI tools.

Overleaf users can explore the new AI features with a limited number of free uses and upgrade at any time for unlimited access to AI Assist.

Overleaf is the world’s leading scientific and technical writing platform. A LaTeX editor, Overleaf was developed by researchers to make scientific and technical writing simpler and more collaborative. With the launch of AI Assist, Digital Science is bringing powerful AI features from its Writefull service to the global Overleaf community.

With the AI Assist add-on, Overleaf users can take advantage of:

Language and writing tools

• AI-powered language feedback: Context-aware suggestions to improve grammar, spelling, word choice, and sentence structure, all tailored to the nuances of academic and research writing.
• Contextual editing tools: Paraphrase selected text, summarize lengthy paragraphs, check synonyms in context, or even generate abstracts and titles with just a few clicks.

LaTeX tools

• LaTeX error assistance: Instantly identify and fix LaTeX coding errors, to get documents compiling smoothly.
• LaTeX code generation: Generate LaTeX code, including tables and equations, from simple prompts or even images, saving hours of manual coding.
• TeXGPT: Ask TeXGPT to help with formatting, figure generation, custom commands, and much more.

Overleaf co-founder Dr John Lees-Miller, Senior VP of B2C Products at Digital Science, said: “The combination of language and writing tools within our AI Assist add-on means millions of Overleaf users can now write their research papers, theses, and technical documents more efficiently and effectively than ever before.

“These AI features will ensure they’ll spend less time wrestling with LaTeX code and perfecting their prose, and more time focusing on groundbreaking research. Users will be able to write with greater confidence, ensuring their documents are error-free, polished, and ready for publication, thanks to the AI Assist add-on.”

Digital Science CEO Dr Daniel Hook said: “Overleaf AI Assist is another example of how Digital Science is bringing tools to our community that save them time and help them to do more research. Responsibly developed AI tools are going to be at the core of giving time back to researchers over the next few years. We are pleased that users can now focus on the important tasks of communicating their research results to the world.”

Find out more about AI Assist and simplify your research writing today.

About Overleaf

Overleaf is the market-leading scientific and technical writing platform from Digital Science. It’s a LaTeX editor that’s easy enough for beginners and powerful enough for experts. Loved by over 20 million users, it’s trusted by top research institutions and Fortune 500 companies around the world. Users can collaborate easily with colleagues, track changes in real-time, write in LaTeX code or a visual editor, and work in the cloud or on-premises. With Overleaf, anyone can write smarter—creating complex, beautifully formatted documents with ease. Visit overleaf.com and follow Overleaf on X, or on LinkedIn.

About Writefull

Writefull is a Digital Science solution that helps researchers write better, faster, and with confidence, with AI tools that deliver everything from advanced English language edits to research-tailored paraphrasing. It also enables publishers to improve efficiencies across their submission, copy editing, and quality control workflows, and is trusted by some of the world’s leading scholarly publishers. Visit writefull.com and follow @Writefullapp on X.

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry, and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, metaphacts, OntoChem, Overleaf, ReadCube, Symplectic, and Writefull – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit digital-science.com and follow Digital Science on Bluesky, on X or on LinkedIn.

Media contact

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

The post Digital Science launches new cutting-edge AI writing tools for 20+ million Overleaf users appeared first on Digital Science.