Comment in 2016

Thirty years on from the first congress on peer review, Drummond Rennie reflects on the improvements brought about by research into the process — and calls for more.

Marc Fleurbaey and colleagues explain why and how 300 scholars in the social sciences and humanities are collaborating to synthesize knowledge for policymakers.

Stéphane Hallegatte, Katharine J. Mach and colleagues urge researchers to gear their studies, and the way they present their results, to the needs of policymakers.

China has lessons for the world when it comes to overseeing ethically sensitive research in the life sciences, argue Douglas Sipp and Duanqing Pei.

Improving the quality, integrity and applicability of scientific research will underpin long-term economic growth, writes Wei Yang.

Måns Nilsson, Dave Griggs and Martin Visbeck present a simple way of rating relationships between the targets to highlight priorities for integrated policy.

Christopher Golden and colleagues calculate that declining numbers of marine fish will spell more malnutrition in many developing nations.

Common compliance situations can get good researchers into trouble, warn James M. DuBois and colleagues.

The marine arm of UNESCO's World Heritage Convention needs secure funding to realize its vast potential to protect the ocean, argues Fanny Douvere.

John L. Tucker and Margaret M. Faul describe how they transformed their company to save time and money by making drugs sustainably.

Spencer Klein calls for bigger telescope arrays to catch particles from the most energetic places in the Universe.

New guidelines for the surgical treatment of type 2 diabetes bolster hopes of finding a cure, writes Francesco Rubino, but long-standing preconceptions must be put aside.

Evolve governance structures, practices and metrics to accelerate innovation in an era of digital connectivity, writes Martin Curley.

New guidelines from the International Society for Stem Cell Research offer a model for self-regulation in contentious areas, write Jonathan Kimmelman and colleagues.

Klaas-Douwe B. Dijkstra has named a new dragonfly after David Attenborough to mark the broadcaster's 90th birthday — and to honour the importance of knowing the natural world.

Studies of human development in vitro are on a collision course with an international policy that limits embryo research to the first two weeks of development, warn Insoo Hyun, Amy Wilkerson and Josephine Johnston.

Tadataka Yamada, V. Ayano Ogawa and Maria Freire call for research and development funding and coordination to counter global infectious-disease threats.

Purifying mixtures without using heat would lower global energy use, emissions and pollution — and open up new routes to resources, say David S. Sholl and Ryan P. Lively.

Data transparency is key to accounting for how local governments and the private sector are contributing to global emissions reduction, say Angel Hsu and colleagues.

Pivotal moments in the history of academic refereeing have occurred at times when the public status of science was being renegotiated, explains Alex Csiszar.