Newton's Law of Citation
via nature.com
More references mean more citations, according to an analysis of papers published in Science.
About Me
Obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough. Hi there, I’m Abhishek
Tiwari, and I write Fisheye
Perspective.
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Opening up to the wider science
This idea of “opening up to the wider science community methods previously available only to discipline experts”, specifically in computational biology, is by no means in its infancy
A map of how science has changed over the last 10 years
via plosone.org
"Studying the citation pattern between about 7000 scientific journals over the past decade, we find that neuroscience has transformed from an interdisciplinary specialty to a mature and stand-alone discipline."
What Do Audacious Scientists Have in Common?
Some scientists are driven to ask big, bold questions. They are committed to following the path to the answers even though it may lead to rejection, ridicule, personal attacks, lost funding, or other trials. They challenge prevailing assumptions, transform their fields, and experience the notoriety, both good and bad, that comes with being a game changer. Their audacity is not without cost. And sometimes they're wrong.
"Boldness is the single most important thing in science, assuming you have basic talent and intellect and creativity." --Vilayanur Ramachandra
If audacity is the foundation for groundbreaking science, persistence is a key companion trait. "Persistence works in conjunction with risk-taking as the ability to have confidence in a vision of how things work and to test it," says Mark Fitzsimmons
Cargo Cult Science
There is also a more subtle problem. When you have put a lot of ideas together to make an elaborate theory, you want to make sure, when explaining what it fits, that those things it fits are not just the things that gave you the idea for the theory; but that the finished theory makes something else come out right, in addition.
Cargo cult science is a term used by physicist Richard Feynman during his commencement address at the California Institute of Technology, United States in 1974 to describe work that has the semblance of being scientific, but is missing "a kind of scientific integrity, a principle of scientific thought that corresponds to a kind of utter honesty".
