jan willem van groenigen february 7, 2017€¦ · finishing your thesis (~ 3 -5 articles) within...

Functional diversity in publishing

- an ecologists’ view on scientific impact -

Jan Willem van Groenigen

February 7, 2017

@JWvanGroenigen

Overview

Why am I here?

What is my highest impact publication?

Impact: on what, for whom?

Three useful concepts from ecology:

1. A natural experiment

2. K-strategy vs. r-strategy

3. Functional diversity

Conclusion / Recommendations

Why am I here?

Why am I here?

Disclaimers:

I don't publish in high impact journals much

I'm no genius

I'm a soil scientist

Essential statistics

Name: Jan Willem van Groenigen

Position: Personal professor

Age: 46 (18 years since PhD)

# of published articles: 96

1st Highest IF journal: 17.1 (Nature Climate Change)

2nd Highest IF journal: 8.4 (Global Change Biology)

Highest # of citations: 241

h-index: 34

# in upper 1%: 9%

# in upper 10%: 49%

Overview

Why am I here?

What is my highest impact publication?

Impact: on what, for whom?

Three useful concepts from ecology:

1. A natural experiment

2. K-strategy vs. r-strategy

3. Functional diversity

Conclusion / Recommendations

What is my highest impact paper?

Answer #1: The paper that is most likely to get me a personal

grant

"In the presence of earthworms,

emissions of greenhouse gases from

soil increase with 30-40%"

High-impact journal

Quantitative review

Key-player as co-author

Clear & provocative message

Lots of media attention

... not always fair or positive ...

Weakness:

Slightly eccentric topic

What is my highest impact paper?

Answer #2: The paper that will quickly get many citations

Medium-impact journal

Vision paper

Hot topic

Paid for open access

Key-players as co-authors

Timely message (common wisdom)

Weakness:

Hot air?

Opportunistic?

What is my highest impact paper?

Answer #3: The paper that gives me the highest esteem from

my peers

Medium-impact journal

Experimental study

First proof of important process

Highly technical

Weakness:

Practical relevance?

What is my highest impact paper?

Answer #4: The paper that was most beneficial to society

Medium-impact journal

Combination vision paper / quantitative review

Introducing very simple new concept

Dealing with important issues

Policy-relevant

Weakness:

After so much seriousness you have to think about your mental health

"We should express greenhouse gas

emissions not per ha of land, but per kg of

produced food"

What is my highest impact paper?

Answer #5: The paper that was best for my mental health

Low-impact journal

Refreshlingly silly

(But still good science!)

Best anecdote!

Weakness:

None!

"Velcro tape is an excellent way to keep

earthworms inside mesocosms!"

What is a high-impact paper?

Working definition:

"A paper that serves your purposes optimally"

("Biggest bang for the buck")

Overview

Why am I here?

What is my highest impact publication?

Impact: on what, for whom?

Three useful concepts from ecology:

1. A natural experiment

2. K-strategy vs. r-strategy

3. Functional diversity

Conclusion / Recommendations

Impact: for whom?

As MSc student?

As PhD student?

As postdoc?

As tenure-tracker?

As personal professor?

Who are you?

Who is:

● PhD student?

● Postdoc?

● Staff?

Who has been (co-) author of a paper?

Who has been first author of at least one paper?

.... and of more than one?

Impact: for me

As MSc student?

As PhD student?

As postdoc?

As tenure-tracker?

As personal professor?

High impact publishing for PhD student

Aims:

Finishing your thesis (~ 3 -5 articles) within time

Train your scientific skills

CV building (postdoc position, personal scholarship)

Relatively quick publishing, not necessarily high impact

Avoid being "scooped"

Learn from solid, independent feedback from reviewers!

To train your writing skills for your future Nature paper!

Why publish as early as possible?

Why publish as early as possible?

[Laurance et al., 2013]

Unirank: Quality of University

Firstpub: Year of first publication

Language: Native English speaker

PubsPhD: # Pubs. before PhD conferral

Factors affecting succes in science:

Why publish as early as possible?

[Laurance et al., 2013]

High impact publishing for tenure tracker

Aim: Build a research portfolio according to TT rules

# of papers as well as "impact"

generate publicity to attract support / funding

But TT rules vary within and between institutes:

h-index?

Impact factor?

Quartile?

First / second / last / corresponding / any author?

Open access?

A more diversified publication approach!

Overview

Why am I here?

What is my highest impact publication?

Impact: on what, for whom?

Three useful concepts from ecology:

1. A natural experiment

2. K-strategy vs. r-strategy

3. Functional diversity

Conclusion / Recommendations

A natural experiment

The Van Groenigen Twin Study

Born Together - Publishing apart

Medium impact

Jan Willem

High impact

Willem Jan

High impact

Kees Jan

The other Van Groenigen.....

Overview

Why am I here?

What is my highest impact publication?

Impact: on what, for whom?

Three useful concepts from ecology:

1. A natural experiment

2. K-strategy vs. r-strategy

3. Functional diversity

Conclusion / Recommendations

K-strategy vs. r-strategy

"Salami slicing", "least publishable unit"

Difficult issue

In the old days: "Salami hoarding"?

"The system" gives perverse

incentives

Play along and change the system

from within?

Limited papers can have their

benefits! ● quick communication of important

results ● training in writing

But you are responsible for your own

work!

Overview

Why am I here?

What is my highest impact publication?

Impact: on what, for whom?

Three useful concepts from ecology:

1. A natural experiment

2. K-strategy vs. r-strategy

3. Functional diversity

Conclusion / Recommendations

Biodiversity

"Classical biodiversity"

"Functional biodiversity"

classical biodiversity

My paper citations over time

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My paper citations over time

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My paper citations over time

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Reviews / vision papers

Methodology papers

Primary research papers

Functional biodiversity in publishing

Primary research papers

Methodology papers

Reviews /

vision papers

High

impact

Overview

Why am I here?

What is my highest impact publication?

Impact: on what, for whom?

Three useful concepts from ecology:

1. A natural experiment

2. Functional diversity

3. K-strategy vs. r-strategy

Conclusion / Recommendations

Conclusion / recommendations

(Questionable) shortcuts:

Many citations quickly:

● meta-analyses (not for long anymore....)

High impact journals:

● team up with experienced high-impact authors

● networking

● timeliness

● message sometimes takes precedence over data support

Conclusion / recommendations

Diversify!

● Primary experimental studies

● Methodology studies

● Reviews / meta-analyses

● High impact journals

Thank you and

good luck!

@JWvanGroenigen

Proposition

"The most effective publication strategies demand ethical concessions"