More Editorial Board Fun: Is the Journal of Neuroscience Interested in Behavioral Pharmacology Again?
April 28, 2008
It is no secret (although a much ignored fact) that journals will have a certain “type” of article that they are looking for that has little to do with objective scientific quality. Certain topics are “hot” while others that are not obviously different (from a detached scientific perspective) are not. Even “general” science or sub-discipline general (such as “general neuroscience”) journals will experience trends in which a certain technique or set of techniques are acceptable and others are not. For example RPM at evolgen has an observation about Tyrannosaur papers being published in Science (one of two top general-science journals). These trends are independent of the real scientific quality or potential for impact and change over time. For example, it was not so long ago that knock-out-gene-and-vaguely-describe-mouse was a killer C/N/S publication strategy.
Oftentimes the structural preference for a certain type of manuscript translates as HotNewTechnique = Publishable and OldSkoole = AutoReject, but not always. Sometimes it is OldSkoole Technique A = Publishable and OldSkoole Technique B = Teh Suckzzs. Which brings me to The Journal of Neuroscience.
A comment on a recent post of mine asked if I thought technicians should be paid more than postdocs. The direct answer is “no”, the more-involved issue revolves around my belief that “internships” and “training periods” are used in essence by those with power to steal labor from those without. Nevertheless this reminded me of a prior post that I put up on the old blog on August 30, 2007; it quickly turned into one of my most-viewed posts on WP. Note I don’t say “most appreciated”! Enjoy.
In a recent post, YoungFemaleScientist opines:
as a postdoc, you’re essentially a PI with most of the drawbacks and none of the benefits. You’re frequently on your own, but they get to claim they’re training you. You’re basically doing everything yourself, but they get to be senior author on your paper and put your work in their grants. Etc. etc.
See Thus Spake Zuska discussing an offhand PI quote in a LA Times 4-parter on a neuroscience lab in which it was suggested that grad students are “cannon fodder”. These comments are also supported by a recent Nature piece on trainees as indentured servants of their PIs. These types of comments (and indeed much more of the attitude to be found on YoungFemaleScientist blog) reflect the disgruntled post-doc and disgruntled grad student mindset on “exploitation”. This is a common theme, inevitably cited as a reason for all that is wrong with this “business”. There is some truth to the complaint, of course. But the PI is not always the bad guy and sometimes “exploitation” is actually the voice of experience trying to help the trainee’s career. We’ll start with the hit-em-hard:
A comment on a recent post of mine asked if I thought technicians should be paid more than postdocs. The direct answer is “no”, the more-involved issue revolves around my belief that “internships” and “training periods” are used in essence by those with power to steal labor from those without. Nevertheless this reminded me of a prior post that I put up on the old blog on August 30, 2007; it quickly turned into one of my most-viewed posts on WP. Note I don’t say “most appreciated”! Enjoy.
In a recent post, YoungFemaleScientist opines:
as a postdoc, you’re essentially a PI with most of the drawbacks and none of the benefits. You’re frequently on your own, but they get to claim they’re training you. You’re basically doing everything yourself, but they get to be senior author on your paper and put your work in their grants. Etc. etc.
See Thus Spake Zuska discussing an offhand PI quote in a LA Times 4-parter on a neuroscience lab in which it was suggested that grad students are “cannon fodder”. These comments are also supported by a recent Nature piece on trainees as indentured servants of their PIs. These types of comments (and indeed much more of the attitude to be found on YoungFemaleScientist blog) reflect the disgruntled post-doc and disgruntled grad student mindset on “exploitation”. This is a common theme, inevitably cited as a reason for all that is wrong with this “business”. There is some truth to the complaint, of course. But the PI is not always the bad guy and sometimes “exploitation” is actually the voice of experience trying to help the trainee’s career. We’ll start with the hit-em-hard:
Welcome ERV!!! w00t!!!
April 28, 2008
Welcome our newest ScienceBlogger ERV!!!1!1!!!
From her first post here:
Other than viruses and evolution, I also post about religion (I know, shocking, but Im an atheist evilutionist in Oklahoma, so I vent, okay?), fitness, grad school stuff, and my best buddy in the whole world, Arnold Swarwarchenegger.
I am sure ERV will be taking names and kicking total fucking ass!!1!!11!!ELEVENTY1!!!!!!!!!111!!!!11!!
DrugMonkey 