• Question: If there is one thing you could change about the scientific world what would it be?

    Asked by SMeegan to Aoife, Brian, Conor, Louise, Matthew on 16 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Aoife Lucid

      Aoife Lucid answered on 16 Nov 2016:

      I like this question a lot. This will be hard to explain to somebody who isn’t in this career but I will do the best I can. In the last number of years, the scientific community has gotten more and more obsessed with where your research gets published. That is how a scientist’s work is often measured, we publish things called scientific papers which tell the world about the work we do. The problem with this obsession is that it is other scientists who ultimately decide where your work gets published, so even if your work is really high quality if it is not deemed “trendy” enough then your work will not be published in “trendy” places and it can spell the end of your career very quickly depending on what field you are in. It makes me really sad as it means a lot of great science gets ignored because of where it gets published.

    • Photo: Louise Mc Grath

      Louise Mc Grath answered on 16 Nov 2016:

      Hey!

      Great question! I would be thinking along the same lines, but I would rather that we didn’t have to pay for the right to look at papers.. they can be very expensive! I would like it all to be free because then we can progress in science faster as we can use the money for research and not on papers!

      Louise =)

    • Photo: Matthew Kitching

      Matthew Kitching answered on 17 Nov 2016:

      Hi SMeegan!

      Sorry for the late reply – I was having problems with the website yesterday 🙁

      I guess that the biggest problem by far with the science world at the moment – is we’re really good at talking to other scientists – but really bad at talking to the public about what we do. I think all scientists need to get better at explaining why science is important and the cool things we find out – so that everyone can understand the amazing things that everyone is working on!

      Thats part of why i like iamscientist – because we get to talk to people who are excited about science! Do you like science? ever thought of becoming one?

      Hope this answers your question – let me know if you want to know more 🙂

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