Science needs time to think: the movement that wants to end the culture of "publish or die"

The pace of scientific production has exploded in recent decades. According to some recent studies, about 30,000 journals now publish more than 2 million and a half scientific papers a year, with an annual growth rate of 5%.

The constant pressure for publication (the famous "publish or die") favored by the demanding academic evaluation system and increased competition among the growing number of research groups are among the causes of this overproduction of articles and magazines. On the other hand, it is also worth highlighting the appearance of "predator" magazines and congresses with which some researchers, wishing to increase their number of publications, are trying to inflate their programs. studies with weak scientific contributions and little peer review.

The other consequences of this acceleration of scientific production are the reduction of the same scientific study in as many articles as possible ("slicing"), plagiarism and the publication of results that are difficult to reproduce, or even erroneous, often due to precipitation at the time of publication.

In 2010, the Slow Science Academy in Berlin launched a manifesto in favor of slowing down this rate of scientific production.

"We say yes to the constant flow of peer-reviewed journal publications and their impact, we say yes to growing specialization and diversification in all disciplines, but we maintain that this can not be all. needs time to think Science needs time to read and fail Society should give scientists the time they need, but more importantly, they should take their time. "

Like so-called "quiet moves" Slow Food and Slow Fashion, Slow Science aims to value more the quality of scientific articles than their quantity, in order to promote a much more thoughtful and deliberate search.

"Counting the number of publications is a quick and easy way to evaluate research does not mean that it is a good way to measure its quality, but science is a slow, consistent and methodical process. we should not expect scientists to provide quick solutions to society's problems. "

These are the words of Uta Frith, professor emeritus at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London and one of the promoters of the Slow Science movement. He tells in one of his articles that, as for the production of food, slowness can be a virtue.

This is a way to improve quality and an alternative to the predominant culture of "publish or die". According to Frith, "for the moment, there are no short-term plans, but only to raise awareness, and more and more people are talking about this idea individually in different parts of the world".

In Spain, too, some researchers are aware of the need to slow down the fast pace of scientific production.

"I think that the relevance of this movement is above all due to its commitment to conviviality.We must slow down the investigation procedures to be sure to ask ourselves the best questions, which is to listen to the people concerned and to integrate them into the task of designing the questions and interpreting the answers ".

This explains the importance of Slow Science Antonio Lafuente, research scientist at the CSIC Center for Humanities and Social Sciences and one of the driving forces of the movement in Spain.

In one of his interviews, Lafuente recalls the story of Stefan Grimm, professor of toxicology at Imperial College London, who committed suicide in 2014 after receiving an e-mail from his leaders who had asked him to improve his academic statistics and earn more money. in research projects.

Before committing suicide, Grimm sent an email to his colleagues at the university to inform him of what had happened.

"My boss, Professor Martin Wilikins, came to my office and asked me how many scholarships he had.After listing them, they said that it was not enough and that I should leave the university in a year The reality is that these top scientists are only relying on numbers to judge their colleagues, whether they have an impact on the factors or the income of the grants After all, how can you convince your boss that you are working on something exciting if you do not even attend the usual departmental seminars? "

"In 1844, Charles Goodyear described in a patent the preparation of vulcanized rubber, one of the materials currently produced in the chemical industry. This great discovery was not the result of a sudden inspiration, but came after more than 10 years of repeated experiments and unsuccessful results.

The story is told by Jean-François Lutz, researcher at the CNRS at the Charles Sadron Institute in Strasbourg, in the prestigious journal Nature Chemistry. He criticizes the speed with which many articles are published in the field of chemistry before they are mature enough.

"Clearly, the Slow Science Manifesto does not bring about a change of pace in contemporary science. However, this encourages scientists to think about their work and their role in society. Therefore, each researcher should take a few minutes to read it, then draw his or her own conclusions. After all, taking the time to think is, in a way, what we all aspire to. "

Manuel Souto Salom: Postdoctoral researcher Juan de la Cierva at the Institute of Molecular Sciences of the University of Valencia (ICMol-UV), University of Valencia