Editorial category Track E
Knowledge equity, diversity, global-south inclusion
Diamond OA, APC waivers, Plan S, bibliodiversity.
- 8 August 2026
UN Assessment: Migratory Freshwater Fish Populations Down 81% Since 1970
The CMS COP15 Global Assessment of Migratory Freshwater Fishes (released March 2026) found an 81% decline in migratory freshwater fish populations since 1970, with 325 species flagged as international protection candidates. The finding drove a ten-year, cross-border Multi-species Action Plan for Amazonian Migratory Catfish — a case study in the data standardization and international cooperation that large-scale conservation and research both depend on.
- 8 August 2026
Seven New Diamond Frog Species Discovered in Madagascar
A comprehensive taxonomic revision combining museum DNA, field surveys and frog calls has added seven new diamond frog (Rhombophryne) species to Madagascar’s amphibian fauna, bringing the genus to 27 species. The Denmark-Germany-Madagascar research team’s findings are already informing the country’s Biodiversity 30×30 protected-area planning.
- 8 August 2026
A Robot Leaps Straight From Water Into Flight Like a Diving Bird — With a Tribal College as Co-Author on the Science Paper
An MIT-led team has built a bird-like robot that flies straight out of the water without paddling first, detailed in a July 2026 Science paper. Beyond the engineering, the author list itself is notable: co-authors from MIT, EPFL (Switzerland), and Northwest Indian College — a US tribal college — with field trials carried out at Lake Geneva.
- 30 July 2026
DORA, CoARA Host Asia-Pacific RRA Workshop
DORA, FORCE11, CoARA and ALLEA convened funders, publishers and universities in Singapore to compare Asia-Pacific approaches to research-assessment reform.
- 30 July 2026
ANID’s Open Access Mandate Goes Full-Scale in 2026
Chile’s ANID is extending its 2022 Open Access Policy across every instrument it funds in 2026, backed by a new EspacioCiencia repository service and renewed InES Ciencia Abierta capacity funding. Here’s what the mandate actually requires.
- 29 July 2026
Kenya Unveils 2026-2036 Research Financing Plan
Kenya launched a 2026-2036 research-financing masterplan and the Grand Challenges Kenya fund to close its R&D spending gap and cut aid reliance.
- 29 July 2026
2026 JCR: 521 Journals Get First Impact Factor
Clarivate’s 2026 Journal Citation Reports gave 521 journals a Journal Impact Factor for the first time, from 47 countries/regions, with 58% based outside the US and Western Europe — part of a multi-year geographic-diversification trend research offices should track.
- 29 July 2026
AfriGen-D Launches: African Genomics Data Hub
AfriGen-D, a pan-African human genomics data hub, launched May 7, 2026, led by UCT, Institut Pasteur de Tunis, and University of Mauritius.
- 28 July 2026
Nigeria’s NIPPS and University Tech Transfer
Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council approved the National Intellectual Property Policy and Strategy (NIPPS) on November 6, 2025, and the government launched implementation on December 17, 2025. Here is what the framework actually changes for university IP commercialization and technology transfer offices.
- 24 July 2026
AGU’s 2024 Global Co-Authorship Policy
AGU’s 2024 authorship update asks researchers to name local collaborators as co-authors, not just acknowledgments. Here is what changed and why it matters.
- 24 July 2026
CAPES-Springer Nature Sign 2026-2028 OA Deal
CAPES and Springer Nature have signed a three-year transformative agreement (Jan 2026-Dec 2028) giving authors at 400+ Brazilian institutions APC-free open-access publishing in 1,730+ hybrid journals and reading access to 1,770+ titles.
- 24 July 2026
CAUL: How Australia and New Zealand’s University Libraries Landed Four 2026 Publisher Deals
CAUL reached in-principle 2026 open-access deals with Taylor & Francis, Springer Nature, Wiley, and, after stalled November talks, Elsevier.
- 24 July 2026
CRediT Taxonomy Translations Pass 35 Languages: What It Means for Non-English Journals
CRediT taxonomy translations now cover 35+ languages via a community project, not an official NISO release — what it means for non-English journals.
- 24 July 2026
arXiv’s 2026 Policy Overhaul: Endorsement, English-Language, and AI-Content Rules
Between late 2025 and early 2026, arXiv tightened endorsement (no more institutional-email-only qualification), required full English-language versions of every submission, and began requiring documented prior peer review for CS literature surveys and position papers after a flood of AI-generated submissions.
- 24 July 2026
The Gender Gap in Corresponding and Senior Authorship: What 2025 Studies Show
2025 bibliometric studies show women’s senior- and corresponding-authorship share still lags first-authorship gains, with implications for research policy.
- 24 July 2026
Bengaluru Roadmap: What the 3rd Diamond OA Summit Committed To
The 3rd Global Summit on Diamond Open Access (Bengaluru, Feb 2026) produced a six-pillar global roadmap for OA policy, funding, and evaluation reform.
- 23 July 2026
Wellcome Trust’s 2026 Eligibility Changes: What Research Offices Need to Know
Wellcome revises grant eligibility from 1 July 2026 and restricts lead-applicant hosts to the UK and LMICs in Africa, South and SE Asia from 29 October 2026.
- 23 July 2026
Springer Nature: China’s Gold OA Articles Now Draw 40% of Citations From Abroad
Springer Nature reports nearly 40% of citations to China’s 2022 gold OA articles now come from outside China, while a separate June 2026 announcement puts its EU open-access agreement coverage at 74% of member states, including renewed Czechia, Greece, and Finland deals.
- 23 July 2026
cOAlition S Strategy 2026-2030: A Shift Beyond Strict Plan S Mandates
cOAlition S’s Strategy 2026-2030 widens accepted open-access routes beyond Plan S’s original three, deferring rule changes to a 2026-2027 review.
- 23 July 2026
Fogarty International Center’s Proposed Elimination: The FY2026 Status
Congress rejected the White House’s FY2026 proposal to eliminate the Fogarty International Center, funding NIH’s global health research arm at $95 million — flat with FY2025. Here’s the current status.
- 16 July 2026
How libraries can build a ‘CRediT helpdesk’ in 4 weeks
A practical four-week implementation plan for a library-run CRediT helpdesk, with staffing, materials, workflows, and the first-month playbook.
- 29 April 2026
Diamond OA at the inflection: SciELO + Latindex + AmeliCA
Latin America’s Diamond OA infrastructures have run a successful model for two decades. What the rest of the world is finally learning from SciELO, Latindex, and AmeliCA.
- 4 March 2026
Plan S and Diamond OA: where the open-access conversation is going
Plan S compliance, Diamond OA’s rise, S2O models, Read-and-Publish agreements, and the slow rebalancing of who pays for global scholarly publishing.
