The Sabbath (from Hebrew (שבת) means ceasing and was first used in bible context for the seventh day of creation. It is a religious day for rest, worship, party and / or activities within several religions. Sabbatical year or more precise named research term, is a good thing for academics. For many years, the universities have had this as a strategic asset because the knowledge society is international. Internationalization and stronger contact with international academic communities contribute to raising the quality of research and education. Research term is possible for permanent employed professors after six years of earning (in 100% position), allowing them to take their families abroad for a year, giving a great opportunity for new knowledge and new networks. The social dimension is also important by the ability to meet a new culture, make new friends, and come closer together as a family.

Research term abroad is strongly recommended for all permanent professors. Because the value of the university is so great, foreign stays should be a requirement for professor competence. There can of course be social reasons why this is difficult to implement. There is actually another interesting opportunity: What about spending the research term at the Center for Advanced Study in Oslo? Here you will find offices, meeting rooms and more for you and researchers you want to associate with you from home and abroad. The Center was created by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Every year there are hosts for three research groups. On the basis of proposals received, the groups are selected by the board after group leaders, proposed international partners and the projects have been through international evaluation. The Center will strengthen basic research and provide close collaboration between Norwegian and foreign researchers. The budget for each research group is 3.5 million NOK for project costs, scholarships, free purchases of foreign researchers, as well as housing, travel, conference and seminar expenses. The application deadline is mid-January 2019 for the academic year 2020-21.

I have had a research term in Boston at the Harvard Medical School in Boston and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in addition to being a postdoc at the University of Chicago. These stays have been central to my career as researcher plus that it has actually been very fun. Soon, I will go to Boston for a new stay at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, this time for six months. Eystein Husebye will be Acting Head of Department, thank you very much for that. See you all nest Spring!

Only a few weeks after my first published article I received an invitation in my email-inbox to present at an international congress. Imagine; the big scientific community wanted to hear more about my amazing research! Very flattering for a (not quite) young but still junior PhD fellow. Luckily, I had a supervisor who quickly grounded and explained that this was not an invitation as a lecturer with covered travel and stay expenses but a, for her, totally unknown congress/organization so the invitation was relocated in the spam bin. But thereafter still more and diverse variants of inquiries are being delivered: publish articles, write book chapters and immediately be appointed as co- or chief -editor!

It is not only me who receives such inquiries; The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has conducted thorough investigative journalism by their “Fake Science”-project and thoroughly documented methodology and findings in Aftenposten’s Weekly magazine last Saturday. Researchers are fooled to pay for “Open Access” (principally great that science is widely available) but not in junk journal without thorough peer review and quality assurance! If the results have been published in such a substandard “predator” journal these results may never be published in a proper scientific journal and all the hard work is wasted/worthless. And to attend a congress to present and discuss hard-earned findings to realize that the whole conference is a small room where the other speakers either do not show up (they have already received their proof of participation) or present completely different disciplines than yours (computer algorithms, cognitive psychology, literary science and packaging technology in the same session) make participation completely scientifically worthless and time & money is completely wasted.

Here are some suggestions on how to avoid being caught by predator journals/ congresses:

– Ask  your supervisor / a senior scientist or clinical colleagues. Is this a magazine / congress / congress organizer they are familiar with? It is rare to be invited to an international lecture without knowing the invitees. Additionally, it is typical that there is nothing about coverage of travel and stay.

Check the magazine / organizer’s website:

-Are the names of the editorial board stated? Are these familiar in your field of expertise’s international/national environment? I checked the organizer of Congress of Cancer diagnosis & treatment hosted in Oslo the 2nd-3rd of August 2018; not a single Norwegian co-organizer, and not one scientist I had ever heard of. Searching through PubMed I found little correspondence between the named scientists and their specified workplaces. These were definitely not renowned scientists!

-Does the journal have information about its bibliography? E.g. which databases it is indexed in.

-Avoid these organizers: WASET, OMICS, Sciencedomain and Bioevents.

-Be are aware of names that are almost entirely similar to a journal you actually know: The International Journal of your field, may be named Journal of International your field or International Clinical & Research in your field.

To avoid violation of publication ethics: This has formerly been published as a commentary in På Høyden, 21^stof August 2018.

This summer, we received the great news that Randi Bertelsen was awarded an ERC Starting Grant (K2-News week 33). In addition to obtaining a solid economical basis to build her own research and become a principal investigator, Randi’s grant acknowledges the quality of the research community she is a part of, our department and The Faculty of Medicine.

Funds from The European Union, The Norwegian Research council, The Norwegian Cancer Society, and other funding bodies, as well as our production of publications and candidates, provides the bread and butter for K2. In addition, external funding is necessary in order for investigators to conduct experimental research at all. Grants are also an important parameter when assessing applications for positions and other resources – and it will be even more important in the future.

The parable of talents (Matthew 25) is probably known to most of you; “For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away”. It may seem unfair, but the parable is applicable to research funding. The road is always steepest in the beginning. For a young person or young environment it can be difficult to obtain the most competitive grants like the FRIPRO program of The Norwegian Research Council. Perhaps a better strategy is to apply more low-hanging fruits like The Regional Health Authorities of Western Norway grant program, Health and Rehabilitation programs or funds aimed at specific disease groups or treatments.

K2 and the faculty have worked systematically in recent years to improve applications and grant success rates. We have employed research advisors and built up internal procedures for application assessment and budgeting. Weekly overviews of grant opportunities are published in K2-Nytt. All these efforts are to make it easier for you to apply.

The next big opportunity is the Helse-Vest call ending on 15 September. Read the call and submit your application, so that you can get return on your talents.

Good luck

Eystein
Vice head of department