Recommended reads #32
When editors reject manuscripts without review, does this decision indicate manuscript quality? This study says “no.”
The National Academy of Sciences just came out with a report on the status and future of field stations. If you’re a field scientist, this is an important read.
“A sixth-grader may have stolen credit for marine biologist’s lionfish research.” I think the phrase “may have” is there to avert a lawsuit, because I don’t see much room for doubt. The big news outlets, including NPR, initially brought this to the public’s attention with reporting that was somewhere between shoddy and false. If you read through both links, you’ll wonder about the quality of fact-checking apparatus at NPR, or wonder if such a thing exists. [update 29 July 2014: NPR has an update on this linked article, in which they correct their biggest errors in the story.]
These things are related. This link is a very short summary of the status of misogyny and institutional sexism in science. I kept some of these things in mind while I’ve been at conferences over the past two weeks. (International Union for the Study of Social Insects, and the Association for Tropical Biology, if you’re curious.) I’ve made a point to observe how junior scientists have been treated by senior scientists. Especially in the latter conference, I’ve noticed a disturbing pattern about how women are far more likely to have senior scientists interject during the question period, to explain the science on behalf of the speaker. The speakers were just left standing at the podium while a senior scientist was explaining things from the audience. But I never saw this happen to any of the speakers who were guys, not at all. Supportive senior colleagues need to let junior scientists represent themselves when they are giving presentations, and if they feel the speaker isn’t up to fielding questions, this should be handled privately after the talk. You would hope this is obvious, but I’ve seen some of the leaders in my field undermine the professionalism of junior scientists, some of whom don’t even realize that they’re doing so. As a community, we need to do much, much better.
I hope you’re having a great summer (for those of you in the temperate northern hemisphere).