A key factor of our scientific enterprise is the open cooperation among researchers.
In other words, scientific advances are built on work from colleagues.
However, that also means the responsibility lies with us, the scientists ourselves, to carry out and communicate our work effectively and accurately.
Thus, let us explore how to leverage sustainability for and through our community:
Today's Lesson: Leveraging Community
How to be more sustainable when it comes to our tribe
Number Of The Day
Papers uploaded to preprint servers received, on average, three more citations than those published directly with peer review. Specifically, papers published as preprints received seven citations, compared to four for non-preprinted papers. However, please note that these numbers vary over time and by journal.
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Community Driven Approaches
The most sustainable science maximizes impact and efficiency.
In other words, the more others benefit, the more sustainable a solution is. But what steps are available to us?
Open Access Publishing
Enabling every scientist to read every paper at all times is a sustainable practice.
Too often, especially older papers are disregarded when kept behind a paywall—leading to redundant experiments simply because scientists are unaware of what has been done.
If you have not heard about the different kinds of Open Access publishing, I have summarized them for you here! However, how big the advantage is, is a matter of ongoing debate as discussed here or here or whether it is just a more diverse citation.
Furthermore, ensuring that research is freely accessible allows those from less wealthy institutions to access vital scientific knowledge.
Given that the latest research is often crucial to developing new impactful work, those without access cannot properly compete.
Finally, as we often argue, sustainable practices benefit science.
Although publishers may charge extra for open access, it can pay off because the more people read your research, the more likely they are to cite it. This is true for those directly in your field, but method-related citations are another possibility to keep in mind.
Early Publishing Drives Reduction
If open-access publishing is not an option, there are other ways to make your work accessible. ResearchGate is one option, and preprint servers are another.
Preprint publishing offers similar sustainability advantages to open-access publishing, and in this case, higher citation rates are almost certain.
Each point in this graphic indicates the predicted mean of the Attention and number of citations for a hypothetical article – in other words, Fu et al. analyzed a number of papers from these journals and predicted these differences for a paper with “average” content, number of authors, last author publication age etc. Error bars indicate 95% confidence intervals.
Additionally, you will feel great since you rub it into the face of your competitors that you were faster. Jokes aside, when your competitors see that some work has already been done, they can pivot instead of doing experiments they will later exclude from their final paper.
Publishing The Unpublishable
While allowing others in the community to read your work is sustainable, allowing them to know what did not work is just as impactful! In other words, publishing negative data is a great way to reduce resource use.
Consider that negative data can still be interpreted. Just because data is not significant, does not mean it is worthless. Soon, we will talk about statistics and experimental design - although statistical analysis should be defined before study start, computing confidence intervals instead or revisiting whether data is actually normally distributed, can sometimes make a difference.
However, what if you cannot convince colleagues to share their negative data due to time constraints, reluctance to share insights with competitors, or fear of revealing the more fragile aspects of their experiments?
At the very least, negative results should be stored and shared internally within an institution or group. Given the high turnover of students (B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D.) and the number of postdocs who often stay only a few years, storing such information is a powerful way to save time and resources.
For example, a simple Excel sheet outlining which antibody works for which tissue at which concentration can already make a big difference.
Sharing Is Caring
Finally, we can use sustainability as mean to increase attention for our poster and talks while inspiring others to follow our lead.
For the courageous; if you mention how many items you could save through sustainable practice during your talk, you will certainly grab attention.
Still, a brief mention of sustainability at the end of your talk is great too. Not only does it raise awareness, it also turn you from “a presenter” into a person with character and values.
As you probably know, our visual system is very sensitive when it comes to processing faces. One simply cannot look away – you can use to your advantage! Sustainability gives you a reason to make your poster irresistible! By the way, seeing faces in objects is called pareidolia.
Similarly, consider how effective an appealing symbol (like a face or the green ReAdvance tube) and some information about sustainable practices could be as an eye-catcher on your poster!
Again, here sustainability acts as a pattern disruptor, making people pay attention and increase the memorability of you!
Applying The Knowledge
No doubt, the option suggested above are not low hanging fruits.
Services that offer possibilities to share negative data are limited. However, PLOS One or the American Chemical Society provide opportunities for you.
Also, Orphan or insufficient data can find a new home as described in this article. Remember, encouraging team members or students to get acquainted with these services might not lead to immediate publication, but it will certainly have a positive impact over time.
When it comes to publishing pre-prints, make sure to check with your publisher on the extent to which this is allowed. Still, some funding bodies require preprint publication while many encourage it.
Finally: By suggesting to include some sustainability-related content in your posters/talks as well, I can indirectly push you to remove about one-third of the data you originally wanted to share.
Remember, a detailed talk from which the audience remembers nothing is a poor talk. A talk from which the audience takes away three rough ideas is better.
Don’t worry—if scientists feel information is imprecise, they will Google it - and eventually read your papers ;)
Upcoming Lesson:
How to motivate colleagues in your institute
Asking You
How many biomedical papers were published in 2023 alone?
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