Accelerating Scientific Publication in Biology

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how publication practices in biology have evolved over thirty years, highlighting increased data requirements and delays in publication, and calls for new communication mechanisms to accelerate scientific dissemination.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of changing publication trends in biology and discusses the need for new mechanisms to speed up scientific communication.

Findings

Publication requirements have increased over time.

Time to first publication for graduate students has lengthened.

Delays in publication hinder scientific progress.

Abstract

Scientific publications enable results and ideas to be transmitted throughout the scientific community. The number and type of journal publications also have become the primary criteria used in evaluating career advancement. Our analysis suggests that publication practices have changed considerably in the life sciences over the past thirty years. More experimental data is now required for publication, and the average time required for graduate students to publish their first paper has increased and is approaching the desirable duration of Ph.D. training. Since publication is generally a requirement for career progression, schemes to reduce the time of graduate student and postdoctoral training may be difficult to implement without also considering new mechanisms for accelerating communication of their work. The increasing time to publication also delays potential catalytic effects that ensue when many scientists have access to new information. The time has come for life scientists, funding agencies, and publishers to discuss how to communicate new findings in a way that best serves the interests of the public and the scientific community.