How deeply has the primacy of the written form has shaped our knowledge-making activities? Writing’s dominance has reshaped what counts as knowledge, and how it circulates. A counter to the tyranny of writing is needed - and proposed - in this weeks essay. tinyurl.com/tyranny-of-w... #academicsky

The Tyranny Of Written Knowledge

With the ever-growing emphasis on communicating knowledge through written publications, we are increasingly experiencing a transactional relationship with knowledge: one that prioritises storage, circ...

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Is funding scientific research with cryptocurrency viable? Decentralized Science says yes and it will make science better. The only problem is that DeSci has adopted the fatal flaw of traditional institutions it hopes to take down: an obsession with money. #academicsky

In Science We Trust. In Crypto... We’ll See

Funding science with crypto? What could go wrong.

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If ChatGPT output is probabilistic then accuracy is irrelevant unless seeking "the truth". This interview with Dr Jörg Pohle (curated in a previous 🍎Digest) is a fascinating insight into responsible AI use. Guaranteed to challenge your perspective.

ChatGPT as a really big threat, because it always produces good text

In this Interview Jörg Pohle talks about generative AI tools and how they affect his research activities as well as what possible misunderstandings and fallacies in regards of using LLM’s are.

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Imagination is the foundation of good science, not objectivity. In this week's 🍏Sunday Read, The Critic explores why we see imagination as a danger in research and reminds us that good science must be true not only to its methods but also to its makers. #academicsky

Science Has an Imagination Problem

We continue to be haunted by the ghosts of scientific past.

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Societal politics shapes what we research, therefore science can never be objective. If that statement makes you shake your head, give this podcast, curated for a previous edition of 🍎The Digest, a listen (you can check out our archive for more like this). buff.ly/eo0qzpL

Why science can never be objective

Plus using the job market to let the field find you.

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THAT article in which the authors called out being coerced to cite sources in the published manuscript (curated in a previous 🍎Scholarly Digest) has been retracted by the Editor-in-Chief of the journal. The authors can resubmit and the reviewers won't be back. #academicsky tinyurl.com/rcfxmvdy

PhD done, top Postdoc secured—then your field moves on. and no university wants to hire you permanently. Now what? We found a suggestion that you can “use the job market to let the field find you”. Read more in the 🍎Scholarly Digest here: tinyurl.com/42cx96w9 #academicsky

🍎Screw you, reviewer 2

Plus a free webinar for acing a PhD interview

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The Impact Factor isn’t for assessing journal quality—it was for librarians estimating journal popularity pre-Internet. Not only are we using it wrong, it’s technically obsolete. If you didn’t know this, maybe check out this Sunday Read from our archive: tinyurl.com/4ssx36ta #academicsky

🍏The Impact Factor is Dead (It Just Doesn’t Know It Yet)

Losing an IF is not punishment if you never wanted one in the first place.

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This is a great opportunity for current PhD students across all disciplines that was featured in the opportunities section of The Digest this week. Get more PhD, Postdoc, and Academic positions like these delivered every week to your inbox: thescholarlyletter.scholar-square.com

British Library@britishlibrary.bsky.social · 2y ago

Interested in gaining research experience at the Library? Our PhD placement scheme for 2025 is now open, offering doctoral researchers the chance to develop skills and expertise outside the university sector. View the full list of projects and apply by 21 February: bit.ly/BLPhD2025

It would be easy to dismiss research(ers) from these countries as low quality. It’s more interesting to ask why our system values a publications existence more than its content; the institutions at the center of retraction hotspots didn’t invent ‘publish or perish,’ did they? #academicsky

Nature@nature.com · 2y ago

Exclusive: These universities have the most retracted scientific articles A first-of-its-kind analysis reveals which institutions are retraction hotspots Read the full story here: https://go.nature.com/3CUmFKI

If you’re pursuing a scholarly life in search of meaning, fulfillment, and intellectual challenge—but find yourself sometimes losing sight of these things—this curation of 19 year old Simone de Beauvoir’s diary by @themarginalian.org.web.brid.gy is for you www.themarginalian.org/2025/02/17/s...

19-year-old Simone de Beauvoir’s Resolutions for a Life Worth Living

We move through the world feeling inevitable, and yet we are the flotsam of otherwise — how many other ways the atoms could have fallen between the Big Bang and this body, how many other ways…

themarginalian.org

Who we are: curious minds, lovers of knowledge, a current social sciences PhD student and a STEM PhD dropout. What we do: publish The Scholarly Letter, a weekly newsletter with curated reads, handpicked resources and original think pieces about science, knowledge, research, and academia.