I've learned that Edinburgh University is planning to cut 20% of academics in some departments To decide who gets the chop, they generated an academic contribution metric that is a raw count of *any type* of output, including book reviews. The management of UK Universities continues to amaze

Suppose you ask #AI for improvements to your writing. The #LLM was trained on, but doesn’t mention, Smith’s work. You adopt the suggestions containing Smith’s ideas. You don’t even realize YOU’VE PLAGIARIZED because you’ve never read or heard of Smith.

This looks like a pretty cool job for anyone with the right skills. Research Scientist @wikimediafoundation.org job-boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jo...

🕰️ In the third of our annual reviews we bring together ten of the best posts exploring the changing concepts, practices and contexts in which research impact occurs. #ResearchImpact #SocietalImpact #AcademicSky

I'm sure plenty of people will have trudged back into their office or turned on their home computers, blearily eyed and thinking about all the writing tacks they didn't start or finish in time for Xmas. I am hosting 2 writing workshops & retreats this month. www.eventbrite.co.uk/cc/online-ac... 1/5

Zuckerberg settles $8 billion lawsuit over Cambridge Analytica scandal, avoids testifying www.france24.com/en/americas/... @carolecadwalla.bsky.social

another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls

He had to up his game to ensure he got some of the Christmas dinner

Looks like we may have a candlelit Xmas Eve. Major power cut to about 8 houses on our lane since last night. A big hole with men outside. The Xmas food may not survive, but there are many worse things in the world. Grateful that there’s a warm cafe a mile away from here with hot coffee and food.

[blogged] Why Ghost References Still Haunt Us in 2025—And Why It's Not Just About LLMs aarontay.substack.com/p/why-ghost-...

When projects finish, they materials disappear from the face of the web (not that we're going anywhere). We have our own @know-ph.bsky.social @figshare.com collection of outputs. Infographics, videos, blogs, podcasts, all published CC-BY. You can view it here. figshare.com/collections/...

Christmas reading: The junkification of research - Rhodes & Linnenluecke (Organization, 2025) journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.... #academicsky Pictured: the downward spiral of junkification ⬇️

Feeling the @digital-science.com @altmetric.com Love, after being cited among various luminaries as part of their end of year report. I insist that from now on that @culturebullet.com and @lukegeorge.bsky.social continue to call me St Andy of Tattersall.

Several interesting takeaways from @altmetric.com last webinar of 2025 with the edutaining double act of @culturebullet.com @lukegeorge.bsky.social Including various papers that gained far more attention here than X - even ones about right wing populism.

Love this. @knowablemag.bsky.social brilliant use of the comic format to show the journey of the human sperm, featuring the brilliant @allanpacey.bsky.social

I recorded the keynote I gave for the Social Media in Higher Education conference at @lancasteruni.bsky.social last week. I'd spent a lot of time putting this together and had invested a good few hours updating my data which will be of interest to many. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp3V... 1/2

Merry Xmas everyone. Here’s my tribute to the John Lewis Christmas advert

Do not cite an academic paper unless you’ve read it

New measure of academic impact just dropped: number of citations received to papers that chatgpt created and fraudulently attributed to you.

These are all the 42 papers Google Scholar has found citing "our" paper that we never wrote - who knows how much actual human touch went into them? scholar.google.com.vn/scholar?star...

Well this is not a good sign.... I do a bit of research communications work for Death Star Inc and this happens.

Sign up for the next @know-ph.bsky.social webinar in January where we explore the importance and often neglected health impact assessments for housing developers, communities and key decision makers in England.

Do you want to hit the ground running in 2026 as an academic writer? I'm running 2 affordable writing retreats/workshops in January. You'll learn a lot over both days and you'll get words written. If you don't, I'll give you a full refund. www.eventbrite.co.uk/cc/online-ac... 1/5

Shout out to St Andy of Tattersall who had a cameo on our End of Year webinar slides @andytattersall.bsky.social #HaloEffect #AcademicSky #Altmetrics

Another live sketch from my #SocMedHE25 keynote about the death of academic X - thanks @debbaff.bsky.social for the skills

Shadow-drop: our first mobile app! @digital-science.com iOS: apps.apple.com/us/app/brief... Android: play.google.com/store/apps/d...

Love the scribe from my #SocMedHE25 keynote this morning - there is a second scribe to share later. The death of academic X and what happened next.

Summing up academic social media - how institutions stayed on board a sinking ship - in late 2022, in one image - from my #SocMedHE25 keynote

The transitions from Academic twitter to other social media platforms by academics and HE institutions. How can we make it better? A keynote at the #SocMedHE25 by @andytattersall.bsky.social

A really encouraging keynote speech from @andytattersall.bsky.social at ##SocMedHE25 on the current situation in academic social media and what the future might look like. Great advice on how to use social media in education effectively.

##SocMedHE25 @andytattersall.bsky.social keynote is sharing what universities are doing in terms of social presence and it's not all good!

In deeply unsurprising news, the foxes said they'd prefer the hen house doors to be left wide open.

Would you look at that?! It's an early Christmas pressie! The Open Research Conference 2026 Call for Contributions is now live! library.ed.ac.uk/research-sup... This year we're celebrating our adoption of the UNESCO recommendation for Open Science. Go on, treat yourself... throw in a submission.

Great role advertised at Oxford: Research Metrics and Open Infrastructure Lead my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

Starting the long trip up to @lancasteruni.bsky.social for #SocMedHE25 to give tomorrow’s keynote on the death of academic X and what lessons might be learned from it - hoping the weather and travel gods will be kind.

Bit late to the party, but last month it was announced that the Open Access Button browser extension has shut down. Fear not - Unpaywall and others are still available. Read more about that via the link. blog.oa.works/sunsetting-t...

According to mastodon-analytics.com Mastodon user accounts have continued to climb, almost reaching 10 million accounts. I know this social networking platform has been very popular with some corners of the research community. 1/2

Sharing a bit of festive joy via a podcast I recorded the other year with ex-colleagues @sheffielduni.bsky.social as part of the Research Records podcast I produced. Unloved Xmas Songs Volume 1 Trust me, you'll discover 6 of the best Xmas songs you've never heard. www.mixcloud.com/ResearchReco...

Are you interested in becoming a member of a future #LTHEchat organising team? We are looking for open practitioners, educators and students, who would be interested in joining a future organising team. If this is you, please complete this expression of interest. docs.google.com/forms/d/17DA...

I'm in favour of this as long as it works both ways and keeps Musk, Trump et al out of the UK. US could ask foreign tourists for five-year social media history before entry www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Barely a third of social scientists believe their university would promote them based on the strength of their research impact, a global poll of researchers has found. @jgro-the.bsky.social reports #academicsky https://ow.ly/yj7V50XGiar

“AI models not only point some users to false sources but also cause problems for researchers and librarians, who end up wasting their time looking for requested nonexistent records…”

NEW on Wonkhe: Lizzie Gadd and Dan Parsons argue that if AI is to be embedded into REF it should reflect sector values not just technological possibility buff.ly/GxdAtNs

Remember when the internet wasn't awful? We can go back to that. Some friends and I have released the Resonant Computing Manifesto: a call to bring back such a time, to see if we can bring back a world where technology works for us, rather than against us. resonantcomputing.org

If you want to hit the new academic writing year on the ground running, then I can help. I am running 2 online workshops and retreats in January. The 1st one looks at digital distraction and how to defeat it, 2nd one teaches you how to be a productive writer. #AcademicSky #PhdChat bit.ly/3Mr53ua

#Research is powerful - but it needs a story to be heard. In our latest Karger People & Science Live, Andy Tattersall explains how early, strategic communication and plain language storytelling turn findings into real-world #impact 🔗 https://ow.ly/ta4F50XBHsM

Writing a large grant application takes months. Now they're not even going to read them. It is very hard to maintain morale in these conditions www.chemistryworld.com/news/ukri-op...

How are we fostering more inclusivity in the profession & service? Join CILIP Disability Network with Louis Coiffait-Gunn & Sue Lacey Bryant to celebrate the achievements of our deaf, disabled & neurodivergent colleagues. #IDPwD Online - TODAY 3- 5.15pm. https://ow.ly/T96G50XCCVb#IDPwD

My UK Universities on @bsky.app Starter Pack has been updated and now contains 100 institutions with a Bluesky account. Although it's fair to say, some may be fake given they've not added any information. And only just over half seem active, posting in the last month or so. go.bsky.app/Cw16PZq