Science Minister at Vitae Connections Week 2020 | GOV.UK

In a recorded message, Amanda Solloway spoke about the promoting a culture of wellbeing for researchers and improving the way we evaluate research.

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I of course recognise that the ‘publish or perish’ culture in research is not unique to the UK.

But part of being a global leader in research is having the courage to lead into new places, to take on challenges that to others might seem insurmountable.

So I have today written to science ministers across the world, to invite them to join me in looking closely at this dependence on publications and to find out what we can collectively do about it.

An important part of the solution must be to make research more openly available.

It is absurd that the very research community that gave us the great gift of the Internet – the means to freely share information instantly with almost anyone around the world – still relies on an outdated system of publishing in closed-access journals which locks scientific discoveries away, tragically curtailing their usefulness.

So let me restate this government’s commitment to full and immediate open access to all publicly funded research. And let me give my full backing to UKRI for the work they are doing to develop a new open access policy, working alongside international partners.

But we should be bolder than this.

We should embrace, and encourage, new ways to share research – the exciting, diverse ways to communicate research and engage more people in research.

We should value datasets, code and open methods, just as much as we value books, journals and conferences.

Our assessment systems should recognise diversity in outcomes and impact.

And equally, let’s celebrate the exhibition, the performance, the roadshow, the website and the wiki. The television programme, the community engagements, the patient involvement and the citizen science programme.

Let’s seize this opportunity, this moment of renewal, to unleash the creativity of all of us, to improve research culture – to make it more diverse, more imaginative and more impactful.

Because that’s really the most amazing thing about research: the potential to be surprised, to discover something truly new and interesting, and to advance human progress – whether by a tiny step or a giant leap.

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