The Publication Machines

Every science enthusiast, before joining as a researcher in an institute, has a fascination towards doing experiments and knowing how things work, not thinking about publications that much. But once they join, there is a sudden shift in this passion towards publication. If we ask a researcher- what are you hungry for? They might say “Data”. This everlasting hunger won’t stop since the system demand “Publish or perish”.

I don’t know when this “culture” of publish or perish started. When we read books or watch movies on great scientists, thinkers, and philosophers of all time, we never spot an area where they focus on working for publishing. But I am sure that if they were living in this century, they might get this pressure too.

In PhD life, there is only one problem to solve- our project. But our focus shift from solving that mystery or inventing something to collecting data to publish articles. And also, when someone publishes their article in a journal with a high impact factor, we see them as extraordinary, and the pressure, stress, anxiety and depression on us increases unknowingly. I now remember one class during my PhD coursework. In that class, she (one scientist) said, “Don’t judge a paper by its impact factor. Some work may have a small amount of data, which might have been presented simply without using any sophisticated technologies, yet it will be relevant to society”. She also gave one best example — the invention of PCR by Kary Mullis. “Specific synthesis of DNA in vitro via a polymerase catalyzed chain reaction”- this article was published in Methods in Enzymology, which has an impact factor of less than 1.5.

There is a beautiful quote by the Nobel Prize-winning physicist ‘Richard Feynman’- “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool”. This principle is highly applicable in academia since most researchers are frustrated with themselves.

Once I asked one of my seniors- “How to do research?” The reason I got was- Doing research is like learning good magic. It takes a lot of effort, practice, perseverance and will. The key feature is to analyze everything and learn continuously. Do SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound) work and be productive (yield/hour) and always begin with the end in mind.

Recently I listened to one podcast on the Ranveer show, where the actor Farhan Akthar said a beautiful quote of ‘Alex Trebek’- “Take work seriously and not yourself”. I think we should follow this rule if we want to stick in academia. Also, the nine principles of stoicism will significantly help us in the journey.

1. Acknowledge that all emotions come from within you.
2. Find someone you respect and use them to stay honest.
3. Recognize there is a life after failure.
4. Read purposefully and apply your knowledge.
5. Challenge yourself to be brutally honest.
6. Reflect on what you spend the most time on.
7. Remind yourself: you weren’t meant to procrastinate.
8. Put the phone away and be present.
9. Remind yourself that time is our most precious resource.

Finally, I like to share one quote by one unknown author which I saw somewhere. This quote is so accurate. I dedicate this one to those who are planning to join academia to pursue a PhD.

“When you thought everything would be easy peasy lemon squeezy, but it’s actually difficult difficult lemon difficult”.

Originally published at https://voiceroll.blogspot.com.