You are a scientist: a play in three acts

Act I: Enchantment

It usually starts early on. 

You are looking at something. A couple of bugs on the ground. A star in the sky. The veins on a leaf. The stream of bubbles in your soda. You are just observing.

But then you start wondering. 

What exactly is this? 

You are curious, you want to know more. 

How does it work? Is it known?

You ask questions.. that lead to more questions. You learn about it. A little bit at first, at school. But that just makes you wonder more. You decide to study it, make it your subject, at the university.

You chase it. Be it rocks, bugs, spectra or ATP synthase. You realize that you feel fulfilled when you are reading about it. Your curiosity is never-ending. It’s your passion. 

Now, you want to contribute to it; decipher how things work, build the knowledge yourself, be useful to society. You specialize in it: an Msc, a PhD.

Can I be the one giving an answer to the next question?

You are a scientist.

If only that was all you needed…

Act II: Disenchantment

…but there is a system.

A strangely structured system with a hidden machinery that relentlessly haunts science. The earlier you realize the severity of the entanglement, the better you can prepare yourself. It will push you out, if you don’t respect its rules. 

Suddenly, you realize that everything is backwards. Pursuing your passion is not enough. Discovering something and sharing it is not enough. You have to play the game. 

The game is called publish or perish. 

At no point in your education were you told how modern day “science” really works. You focused on theory, lab work, problem-solving, critical thinking. No one mentioned anything about h-indexes, publishing fees, peer review politics or impact factors. Nothing about large corporations holding the key to a researcher’s success.

You feel like you got scammed. 

That dreamy image of being a scientist is now tainted. 

Was I working towards something that doesn’t exist; an illusion?

Publishing is the currency of science. To keep working on your science you have to survive in the system. To survive in the system, you have to do what is necessary to get a “good” paper out. Publish with a good impact and survive in your group, department, faculty. 

Compliance over curiosity.

And that means…You deviate. You start thinking about reviewers. 

What will they ask? 

If you want to stay, you have to “make” your research fit the machine. You start thinking about low hanging fruit. Is it publishable? Negative results don’t count. You cannot explore too much, you have to aim for significance. You need to have a strategy in place to get your publication. 

And sometimes… it’s too late. 

Yes, there is a time limit. You thought you could work at it indefinitely; but you didn’t publish with a high enough impact, at the right academic age, until your contract’s term, or before the other group. 

The music stopped, and you didn’t get the chair.

This is just how it works. This is how it’s “always” been. 

You make your peace with the fact that you can’t just do science. 

Act III: Neo-enchantment

One thing has not changed, though. 

You are a scientist. 

You have been trained as such. You question things. You are creative. You take on considerable challenges, daring to set yourself on unknown paths, without thinking twice. And now it’s time for you to recognize your value.

Knowledge is not a commodity. And as the inventor and producer of new knowledge, you don’t just feed the process: you are the machine. 

So, you don’t need to wait for permission to change a system that is broken. You don’t need to wait for a movement. It starts with a choice, a decision at every step where the system is failing.

A decision to move on from impact factors and h-indexes and to appraise and assess researchers based on their work. 

A decision to collaborate instead of competing.

A decision to share the knowledge and findings at every step of the way.

A decision to reclaim science, and to advocate for its openness. 

A decision to change your mindset and to challenge the system.

The decision power has always been yours, it’s time you took it back. The tools are already there. 

It’s your turn to make a move.