“Books are a passport to all kinds of knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom.”
Dr. T.P.Chia
The books we used to read as kids in schools, or as adults in college, are filled with knowledge that has been obtained by curious minds in pursuit of enlightenment. Books, especially science textbooks, have been curated by years of research and efforts by scientists.
Scientific publications are the essence of academia. It is vital for researchers to share and communicate their knowledge and findings to the community in the form of publications and other best possible ways. In this current day, scientific and technological advances and discoveries configure our modern day society. The necessity of evidence based decision making is unmatched and knowledge produced by science not only helps to shape the societal but also the individual decision. This is made possible by the researchers at the forefront of scientific progress via their publications.
Gauged for the quality and the proportion of published research works the researchers uphold in their careers, publishing becomes a crucial step. In the mad rush to survive in the realities of academia which idealizes publishing in famous big impact journals, the simple dilemma that often flusters the science community is – “ Whether to publish quick or publish big”.
Publishing Big
If we talk about any successful hypothesis that reaches the publication stage, there is an overwhelming amount of time spent in planning, executing and compiling the research. This often includes several rounds of failure and optimisation that goes on in the backdrop. This, along with the post-writing procedures such as submissions, revisions, and peer review takes an exorbitant amount of time. Biology being an intertwined subject in itself requires a multifaceted aspect to most of the problem. In order to find the answers we need to look at the problem, with different perspectives. This often requires validation using different approaches, which in itself consumes time. “In order to tell the complete stories, we need a wholesome understanding”, mentions an independent researcher.
Another interesting aspect to be discussed is that when we think about “publish big”, does it refer to the flagship studies that we quote. Many of these flagship papers have multiple sections with each section studied by a different group, thus leading to a “bigger picture” with a better scope of understanding. Many of these studies possess the potential of getting published “quickly” as independent works. However, they will lack the layers of information from different fields of expertise and thus the bigger picture itself. It seems like a conjecture in itself. So one can say that collaboration is the key to publishing big.
Time acts as a limiting factor for the researchers and they tend to publish their small significant findings, with the fear of their vision either not falling into the bigger picture at times or getting scooped.
Publishing Quick
If at all we could travel back in time and see how far we have reached, we will be able to appreciate how publishing quickly can help. “I see preprint servers as a good alternative for fast communications. COVID-19 related work is a recent example”, mentions an early career researcher at IGIB. Preprints serve the purpose of putting out the research before the peer review process, for everyone in the scientific community to read through the papers, cutting short the outreach time. Even though this does not bypass the need for the peer-review process, which is vital to keep a check on the credibility of the data, it surely helps accelerate the proceedings.
Although “publish quick” can be more like a practical approach provided the research is sound, significant, clean, and reproducible. It will eventually unfold into a multifaceted study in the long run. An example of this is the emerging number of the systematic reviews and meta-analysis studies. A counterpoint that is often brought up while discussing quick publishing is that hurried publishing might lead to non-reproducible or unsound research papers. The trustworthiness and transparency of the data being published can be improved by undertaking good publishing practices like depositing data into public servers, sharing the biodata IDs, and writing detailed methodologies.
Drawing lines in between the two modes of publishing might not be a good option to go with. As we see, it is extremely relative and the governing variables are many. It is unfair to put two different ways of doing science under the same umbrella, as the demands and the results are different, so is the time taken to achieve them. Rather than following the bandwagon or to out distance some of the competitors, what we need is a conscious decision depending on the nature and impact of our work. Sometimes, it is quicker and sometimes it is bigger but it is definitely hard to strike an equilibrium, and so is perfection.
Srishti Sharma
Srishti Sharma is a Ph.D student working with Dr. Binukumar B.K. She is trying to understand the neurological aspect of Wilson Disease , a rare genetic disorder. She likes to spend time writing and capturing moments through her lens .
Vivekanand is Phd student working with Dr. Mohd. Faruq at CSIR - IGIB. His area of research involves using transcriptomics and epigenomics approaches to unravel the mystery behind certain neurological disorders. In his free time he loves to travel, read and also play badminton
Srashti Jyoti Agrawal, PhD researcher in Dr. Sridhar Sivasubbu’s lab, is studying the powerhouse of the cell with the help of little friends called Zebrafish. She is a part-time reader who gets thrilled by mysteries.
She is an art and writing enthusiast who loves to explore new things.
Kedar is a PhD student in Dr. Kausik Chakraborty’s Lab. He is trying to understand the individual dependent differences in cellular protein homeostasis using mammalian systems. He likes to spend time playing badminton and reading books.