Science, impactless paper or impactful paper
A visitor from Hong Kong working in my lab now is impressed that our group has published a Science paper last year. To him, a Science or Nature paper seems like an end in itself. Once you have a Science or Nature paper, you are somebody. You have "made it".
However, a post-doc in my group, also from Hong Kong, holds the opinion that many Science and Nature papers are "useless". And in a way, it is true. Many papers get into these journals because they describe a novel idea or technique. And it may be just that - novel, but not very useful or practical. Hence the impact is limited.
On the other hand, there are some papers published in lesser journals like Applied Physics Letters, but have nevertheless made a huge impact. The first paper on the bilayer organic solar cell, for instance, was published in APL, but it now has over 600 citations. It is fair to say that it kickstarted the entire field of organic solar cells.
So while I still do dream of the Science or Nature paper, I think I will rather focus my attention now on getting something "useful", or just something at all. And I am not ashamed to say that APL is my favorite journal. It has got a wide readership, and it is the main platform for organic electronics. Not to mention that at this point in my scientific career, the priority is still more papers, rather than high quality papers. I think all 3 of us share the same view - as a grad student, first try to get 2-3 papers out, before focusing on quality. We need to graduate. Good luck to us all.
However, a post-doc in my group, also from Hong Kong, holds the opinion that many Science and Nature papers are "useless". And in a way, it is true. Many papers get into these journals because they describe a novel idea or technique. And it may be just that - novel, but not very useful or practical. Hence the impact is limited.
On the other hand, there are some papers published in lesser journals like Applied Physics Letters, but have nevertheless made a huge impact. The first paper on the bilayer organic solar cell, for instance, was published in APL, but it now has over 600 citations. It is fair to say that it kickstarted the entire field of organic solar cells.
So while I still do dream of the Science or Nature paper, I think I will rather focus my attention now on getting something "useful", or just something at all. And I am not ashamed to say that APL is my favorite journal. It has got a wide readership, and it is the main platform for organic electronics. Not to mention that at this point in my scientific career, the priority is still more papers, rather than high quality papers. I think all 3 of us share the same view - as a grad student, first try to get 2-3 papers out, before focusing on quality. We need to graduate. Good luck to us all.
posted by Yifan at 7:48 PM
3 Comments:
in my opinion, getting a publication in science or nature helps kickstart careers and streaks. once you publish, you immediately get slaps on the back, and maybe even offers from nice places to go work for them. the thing, though, is that in order to have your paper cited a lot, you need to wait for at least a few years for the citations to start coming in. by then, you'd be some where else, possibly working on other things, and maybe already established.
my suggestion is this: get an impressive publication under your belt in a prestigious journal for graduate school. then start publishing meaningful papers when you already have a position so you can leave a legacy behind.
by the way, yee fun. fix spelling of the damned link to my blog.
Alright, I shall work hard for my Science paper. Thanks for the encouragement =)
I think Chaos4Never sounds nicer - I think Zach used that as a starcraft nick in response to yours? Lol
Hello. Great job. I did not expect this on a Wednesday. This is a great story. Thanks!
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