Publish or perish: the harsh law of research
Publishing is a critical activity in the career of a researcher. It is the tip of the iceberg, the visible mountainside of an often colossal amount of work. But if the results of researches are not published, it's as if nothing had been done. With the release of the new version of Infoscience, EPFL's institutional archive, we'll see why these papers are worth some gold for scientists.
"The first job of a researcher is to publish" points out Benoît Deveaud-Plédran, EPFL Dean of Research. If this activity is at times perceived negatively - a researcher is evaluated according to the weight of papers written, and although the publication rate is by no means the same in all disciplines, it is nevertheless essential. "To not publish, is to have done nothing, continues Benoît Deveaud-Plédran. It is in publishing that one enters into scientific exchange, by informing their results, by making them ascertainable and, by doing so, arguable. "The number and quality of publications are reliable marks which allow one to evaluate and hire the best professors".
From the lab to paper
Everything starts of course with a discovery. The results of the research are shared first of all in the "invisible college", the researcher's informal network, through unofficial exchanges. Conferences also allow their ideas to be promoted and to appreciate how they are received. Then, the time for publication comes. It is the highest praise to see your article accepted in the magazine Nature, Cell or Science to name only a few. Every domain has its key titles and not all do benefit from the same impact factor. Their prestige rests, among others, on the review of high level peers who will evaluate the articles submitted to them (peer-reviewing).
The major stake for the researcher is to harvest the greatest number of possible quotations. The more an article is quoted by other researchers the more value it takes. It is the principle of the Google search engine: the more quoted sites make links towards my site, the better my ranking will be. A good rate of quotation is excellent for the author's H index, which attempts to measure the scientific productivity of y the scientific productiveness of all most named publications of a group of the scientists most quoted publications.
To find and to inform
The isolated scholar who makes his discoveries alone in his garret, like Balthazar Claës, the hero of Balzac's novel, The Quest of the Absolute, no longer exists. And it is extremely rare to be able to wait the time it took to prove Fermat's theorem (it took 353 years to solve it) before publishing. It is not enough to have found, it is necessary to inform about it. To speak about one's research, to interact with the media and society: so many tasks are part of the profession of the researcher who must also be a good communicator. It is through dialogue that they sustain that research evolves and remains free. Publish or perish sums up the harsh law of research, but also guarantees its quality and energy.
With more than 2,000 publications per year in the greatest international magazines, EPFL demonstrates that it is not about to perish. Furthermore, it makes sure that its scientific heritage is accessible online. Infoscience.epfl.ch is much more than a unchanging window: it is the pulse of the School, the place where it shows its creativity.
Instantaneous
Publishing is essential, because it is the only way to reveal the results of our researches. It would be a huge waste to do all this research and keep the results obtained, the things we have learned, to ourselves! It is exactly like creating an excellent product without marketing it. Taxpayers and donors finance our research; therefore it is imperative the results be published and accessible. Without publication, the scientific community can not progress, and it would be as if no research had ever been done.
Melody Swartz, Laboratory of Lymphatic and Cancer Bioengineering
"A scientist who does not publish is like an artist who does not produce works of art. It is not enough to make the experience key or to know the proof of an important hypothesis, the results must be shared, to shown, explained, in a word, one must be generous and publish!
Martin Vetterli, Laboratory of Audiovisual Communication
Publishing is necessary, because otherwise nobody reads you... Like music not played, like pictures kept in a garage. Publishing is also necessary in order to clarify your ideas, because of course all clear thoughts stem from writings or language. Publishing is necessary in order to fulfill your passion, to make it live! To not publish is to die from arrogance and from contentment. It is to eat the little dishes prepared for others in a corner. Good or bad...
Denis Duboule, Lab of Developmental Genomics
The publishing process is particularly demanding. A scientific article published in a serious magazine is gone over with a fine tooth comb by the experts of the field. And in general, it is very severe."
Michel Bierlaire, Transport and Mobility Laboratory