Interlude: Unworthy Hacks, Author Order, and Image Quality
Most people love a good life or time-saving hack. I certainly do. But I recently learned about one that made me rethink the value of hacks.
Last week, I was scrolling on Instagram and saw a post about a different way to tie your shoes. As an undergrad, I majored in math and was curious about topology and knot theory, so I was intrigued by the post.
As I watched the video, I thought, "How cool is this?! And if it saves me time, then maybe I'll change the way I tie my shoes!"
Then at the end of the video, the mathematician said, "you get the exact same knot in a third of the time, which at the end of your life will have probably saved you like five minutes."
Five minutes over a lifetime? I'm sure I'll burn more than five minutes figuring out how to tie that knot and then retraining my brain to tie my shoes the new way.
Not worth it.
I think the same can be true for other hacks that we discover.
So when you learn about a new hack, consider it carefully. It might be cool, but it also might not be worth your effort.
Now onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
🎉 Featured
The Key Elements of an Introduction Section of a Research Manuscript Authors
I'm delighted to share my latest publication in the AMWA Journal. In the article, I share the key elements of the Introduction section of a research manuscript. These key elements give readers context, highlight the significance, explain the rationale, define the relevance, state the study question, and introduce the approach.
💻 From My Desk
How to Order Authors in a Research Manuscript
Struggling to decide the order of authors for your scientific or medical manuscript? Curious about the significance of the first, last, and corresponding author positions? In this second video of the authorship series, you’ll learn about the different author positions in a byline, why these positions matter, and practical strategies for choosing the order of authors.
👓 Reading
Do articles with multiple corresponding authorships have a citation advantage? A double machine learning analysis approach
"Our results of the case study based on the field of “Chemistry & Medicine” demonstrate that, when controlling for other variables, articles with multiple corresponding authors indeed tend to receive more citations than those with a single corresponding author. In addition, the citation advantage is more pronounced when multiple corresponding authors are from different institutions. However, an excessive number of corresponding authors may weaken the citation advantage."
The do’s and don’ts of scientific image editing
"Whereas scientists receive extensive training on how to collect data, less work goes into teaching them how to showcase the information in publications, presentations and grant applications. . .Some journals and scientific societies are now developing guidelines to help researchers to present their hard-won data well while maintaining image integrity. . . But not all institutions and small journals have the means to educate researchers, much less check every manuscript for image quality. Several organizations are therefore developing further guidelines and attempting to align the standards that publishers and scientific societies are expecting researchers to use."
🎧 Listening
How Science Communication Can Step Up Amid Federal Cuts – NPR Science Friday
In this episode, Felice Frankel, a science photographer and research scientist at MIT, shares her thoughts on why researchers need to get training in, support with, and encouragement to communicate their work to the public. I found myself saying "Yes!" multiple times while listening to this episode. I highly recommend it.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
