How Many Publications Can a Scientist Read Daily
Few aspects of scientific work may exist as crucial—and still as like shooting fish in a barrel to neglect—as reading the literature. Beginning a new research projection or writing a grant application can exist good opportunities for extensive literature searches, only carving out time to keep abreast of newly published papers on a regular basis is often challenging. The task is all the more daunting today, with the already vast literature continuing to abound at head-spinning speed.
To help yous keep track of the literature and avoid feeling too overwhelmed, Science Careers asked scientists in a diverse range of fields to discuss how they integrate searching for papers, and reading them, into their working routine. Their responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Why is it of import to continue upward with the literature, and what are the challenges?
Without keeping up with the literature, I can't know what other people are doing or contextualize my work. In addition, through reading the literature I can find potential solutions to scientific barriers I am facing in my own research. Merely I do detect it difficult to integrate this task into my daily routine. The demands on scientists in terms of outreach, administration, grant writing, instruction, and more are tremendous, and there are merely 24 hours in a day.
- Lynn Kamerlin , associate professor of prison cell and molecular biology at Uppsala University in Sweden
Staying upwards to date with the literature is mayhap the single almost important skill that remains crucial throughout a researcher's career. Without knowing where the current gaps are, your findings will either exist old lid or also out in left field to be cited correct abroad. But there certainly are challenges. One of them is that reading papers can feel similar dead time, considering it is such a slow and absorbing process, and there are so many papers out there to assimilate. Reading can likewise feel disheartening, as you lot will ofttimes find that other people have already published on what you idea was a really novel or original idea. And so it tin all besides easily happen that this important task of investing in your knowledge gets prioritized lower than all the other apparently more urgent duties that you take equally a scientist.
- Denis Bauer , squad leader in transformational bioinformatics at the Republic Scientific and Industrial Enquiry Organisation in Sydney, Australia
Our chore is to push the frontier of what is already known, so nosotros need to exist aware of where this frontier is. Still, trying to stay up to date with the literature is tremendously difficult. As an assistant professor, my job is to non only practise enquiry but besides to teach, obtain funding, do professional service including peer review, give talks, attend committee meetings, and more than. This abiding multitasking makes it difficult to cleave out time for keeping upwards with papers. Another challenge lies in the immense amount of new work that constantly gets published. The number of journals and venues is very large, and it continues to grow. This is further aggravated if you piece of work in a field that is multidisciplinary, because then this number is multiplied, becoming barely manageable.
- Belen Masia , assistant professor of informatics at the University of Zaragoza in Spain
It is extremely important to find what you need in the scientific literature, but information technology's difficult for anyone to block out the necessary fourth dimension. For young scientists in particular, there is the additional claiming of trying to stay on top of newly published literature while all the same building upward knowledge of their enquiry areas.
- John Borghi , onetime librarian and postdoctoral fellow at the California Digital Library in Oakland, California
Keeping up is essential, no dubiety about it. To exist able to provide novel results, you accept to know what has been washed before you. Plus, you want to do good from all the ideas, information, and interpretations that have accumulated in the literature right up to that signal. But it'southward certainly hard to keep upwards. Thousands of papers are published daily. Another challenge for me is that my research is multi-faceted, so I need to read in my broader field, which covers a lot of ground.
- Juan Jose Negro , senior staff scientist in evolutionary ecology and conservation biology at the Doñana Biological Station in Seville, Espana
Our function as scientists is to button the envelope and create new knowledge and understanding, so we e'er need to be as upwards to appointment as we can exist in our areas. But keeping upwardly with the literature is potentially an overwhelmingly big job, and there are no deadlines fastened to information technology. And and so, among all the other things that I have responsibilities for, information technology frequently feels hard to prioritize.
- Jehannine C. Austin , associate professor of psychiatry and medical genetics at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada
To make a contribution to scientific research and finer teach my students, I demand to exist very familiar with the current state of cognition and with what ideas and methods are being used at the frontier of my field. But I observe that keeping up with the literature always comes with a merchandise-off: Practice I spend more fourth dimension on my research projects, or practice I read the latest papers?
- Ina Ganguli , assistant professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst
How practise you find new papers you lot ought to read, and the time to read them?
To go along on height of my specialty expanse, I behave out regular, systematic literature searches using a tool called PubCrawler. PubCrawler automatically searches online publication databases using fundamental search terms that I gear up, and it sends me a weekly e-mail highlighting all the new and potentially relevant papers, with a link to the abstruse or full text. I find out about other recently published papers I ought to read from e-mail alerts I get from the key journals in my area. I likewise get aware of new publications through colleagues who email me, and from social media. Twitter is an underutilized resource in science, but it's neat—if you follow the right people—for keeping your finger on the pulse of new piece of work that is coming out.
Regarding finding the time, unless I am actively writing a grant or newspaper, it is harder for me to keep up with the literature, considering it's non an urgent, immediate, deadline-driven need. So I have a prepare time once a week, on Mondays, to look at the output of my literature searching tools. I sift through it all and and then at least skim the papers that I detect most relevant. I read journals' tables of contents when I go them, usually as well immediately downloading and at least skimming the papers that I discover of most interest. Thorough reading of the total papers may be more sporadic.
- Austin
The tools I use to keep rail of new literature are Feedly, which allows me to subscribe to the RSS feeds of relevant journals; a string of PubMed updates, which capture any relevant literature published exterior those journals; and Twitter, which helps me identify what literature the broader scientific community is talking well-nigh.
I similar spending a few minutes every morn skimming recent publications for articles that are specially interesting or relevant to my work. Coupled with a regular block every Friday devoted to more than critical reading and lots of annotation taking, this generally allows me to stay upwards to engagement. Whatever routine yous decide to set up for yourself, I recollect the key is to find a manner to interact with the literature regularly.
- Borghi
I continuously monitor the growing literature using the updates feature in Google Scholar, which recommends a selection of new papers to read based on your own publications. Monitoring the scattering of main conferences in my field throughout the twelvemonth, plus a couple of other relevant venues, as well does a good job. Many conferences eventually publish their proceedings, and so whenever the lists of accepted papers get published, I also go through them as shortly equally I can and expect at the papers that seem the most relevant to me. Sometimes, reading the abstract suffices. Other times, if it is closely related to my enquiry, I impress it for when I find time to go over it in more than detail. Also, I make a point to regularly look at what leading researchers in my field publish and to talk to my peers.
- Masia
To know when relevant papers are published, I rely on alerts that the journals automatically send to highlight new publications that cite papers I found of involvement previously. There is as well substantial activity on social media, with journals promoting and researchers discussing new articles. Reddit Scientific discipline's Ask Me Annihilation, or AMA, forum discussions are a great mode to hear about innovative research and talk to the authors directly. Recommender systems such equally PubChase can also be great tools to hear about new papers early. Nevertheless, most recommender systems detect papers based on how like they are to papers you previously read, which inevitably limits your exposure to tangential ideas that may be important to your research. I therefore like going through the tables of contents of my favorite journals.
In terms of how I find time for dealing with the literature, I usually go through email alerts as I go them to apace become aware of the most of import new publications. I also find that tweeting or blogging about i paper a week, or a day, is a proficient incentive for reading in depth. Twitter is particularly practiced, as it forces me to condense the paper's relevant outcomes downwards to 140 characters, which so promptly triggers my memory as I get through my Twitter feed. Other advantages of Twitter are that it helps me find researchers with similar interests and helps me build a brand.
- Bauer
1 way I proceed track of new papers existence published is past subscribing to emails that include the tables of contents of the top or nearly widely read journals in my field. In economic science there is ordinarily a long publication lag, so I also have to exist enlightened of working papers getting published and new publications beingness presented at conferences and in seminars. Attending events and talking to others are very important ways to find out about the latest papers. I also follow some blogs written by economists and several economists on Twitter who tend to write almost new papers.
To deal with the time pressure, I try to exist efficient in how I scan the literature. I notice it very useful to at to the lowest degree read through the titles and abstracts of the latest papers published in the journals, and and so I decide carefully which papers I should read extensively.
- Ganguli
To go along up with new papers being published, I utilize a combination of RSS feeds from journals in my field, Google Scholar Updates, the reference manager Papers, and recommendations from senior scientists on Faculty of yard or directly from colleagues. Twitter is likewise becoming increasingly valuable as a tool for spreading exciting research, and I strongly recommend getting networked through social media. The book of literature out in that location makes keeping track a collective try, and it's also good to have a venue for promoting your own work amid the ocean of data.
But while I continuously scan what's coming out, finding the time to read multiple papers in full is more difficult. And so, every few weeks, I try to download equally many papers equally I can—both newly published papers that are relevant to my work and older papers that I recently became enlightened of—and read them in chunks equally the week progresses. Still, summer is best for reading—I have fewer education and assistants obligations, so this is when I tin really catch up with the literature.
- Kamerlin
How exercise you lot go most conducting more than extensive groundwork literature searches?
For general groundwork reading in my field, I usually start by looking at new articles that have cited my work, equally the likelihood that I am interested in what they have to write about is much college. Similarly, I look at both recent and past citations to papers I found interesting to detect farther reading. For more targeted literature searches, Google—both Google Scholar and just the normal search bar—and PubMed are cracking. If I am moving into a new area, I commonly contact colleagues, including people I know through conferences, and enquire them if they accept recommendation lists for me.
- Kamerlin
I find that, nowadays, searching for by literature is the piece of cake function. Search engines and Google Scholar, together with other tools which allow users to follow citations, do a good task. If bailiwick-specific conferences or journals exist, I likewise go through the papers published in them, going at to the lowest degree five years back. What I find much more challenging is how to organize the works that I read and knowledge I larn, and how to search back through them. I first set up a dedicated digital database using existing tools. Mendeley is a well-known example; I myself use JabRef. Then I archive hard copies of most of the papers I read, with the main contributions written on their front end page. It is of no employ going through a bunch of papers if you are unable to remember what you lot read in them.
- Masia
For historical searches, I commonly beginning with PubMed, searching terms that make the well-nigh sense to me and expanding my scope of those search terms if I go limited results. Once I have a selection of key or index papers for a topic of interest, I pull the relevant papers cited within them. I also discover out which papers later cited my alphabetize papers, for instance by finding them on Google Scholar. Often, through this process, I am able to develop new search terms to use in PubMed, so I may then over again start the whole process iteratively.
- Austin
When conducting literature searches, I like to simultaneously look astern and forward: If I observe a newspaper that I retrieve describes a topic particularly well, I expect at both the papers it cites and the papers that cite it. Tools similar PubMed and Web of Science each have their own strengths and weaknesses but, if I'm trying to gain insight into a topic described in a paper, I typically start by using Google Scholar to look at the papers that reference the one I'g reading.
- Borghi
For broader searches, I have been applying "Ten Unproblematic Rules for Searching and Organizing the Scientific Literature" for several years now with skillful results, although the technologies have changed slightly over time. Today, I usually start from the article that fabricated me interested in the topic (what I call the seed newspaper) and read the papers that are cited in the references. For this I use ReadCube, every bit information technology helps prioritize papers by the number of citations they take. Then I also try to find a review article on PubMed, which helps me identify other enquiry groups in the field whose work might not have been referred to in the seed newspaper but is yet of import. Finally, I endeavour searches for inquiry articles in PubMed and Google Scholar with very precise keywords and cull new seed papers from at that place, starting the process all over again. Eventually, this helps me plant connections between different schools of thought.
- Bauer
Does the literature sometimes experience overwhelming? How do yous prioritize what to read, and how do you reduce the adventure of missing an of import paper?
It's easy to feel overwhelmed with the catamenia of information. The determination to exist made is i of sensitivity versus specificity. I tend to prioritize specificity (whether the papers I find are on target for me) and accept lower sensitivity (I'one thousand not going to find everything that could potentially be relevant). I accept drawn a line that makes sense for me based on the principle of diminishing returns. Of course, where exactly to describe this line is likely different for everyone.
Regarding how to make certain aught crucial escapes my attention, I endeavour to send links to papers that I observe to colleagues and students whom I think might exist interested in them, given what I know nearly their work. My hope is that, in turn, they volition send things that they come beyond to me as well, and then maybe I volition miss less. I also find that, when I am writing grants and papers and engaging in more thorough systematic literature reviews, I tin can catch upward on things I may have missed.
- Austin
It is important to be exposed to ideas and approaches from other disciplines, but there can be an overwhelming amount of information if nosotros effort to read everything that gets published, and sometimes it is difficult to know where to draw the line. I prioritize the papers that are directly related to my own projects, especially when I am writing literature reviews for publications or grant proposals. I also prioritize reading papers from the tiptop journals in my main research areas to keep on summit of which topics and methods are at the frontier of knowledge. And so if I accept some spare fourth dimension, I also endeavor to read papers that are a little bit further from my main research topics.
There are certainly some times when yous have that "I tin can't believe I missed this paper" moment. But usually, if the papers are important enough, you lot will eventually find out about them through conference presentations, conversations with colleagues, Twitter, blogs, magazines, or other channels. Yous just hope you don't have that moment when reading a report from a referee who isn't happy that you missed an important commendation!
- Ganguli
The number of papers out there makes it impossible non to miss important papers, especially when you are working in multiple disciplines. So I prioritize my reading in terms of what is nearly immediately relevant to what I am working on, and and then I fan out from in that location every bit time allows.
- Kamerlin
Trying to read besides broadly, too deeply, or too quickly is a sure path to information overload. So don't try to read it all at once! Scientists who are feeling overwhelmed by the flow of information should take a step back and remember nigh what exactly they're looking for in the literature—and so prioritize the papers direct related to that question. It also helps to realize that, ultimately, a single scientist tin can't read everything. A grouping of scientists navigating unlike branches of the literature can still cover a lot of basis. Personally, I've benefited greatly from collaborators and friends working in fields adjacent to my own pointing me toward things they've see.
- Borghi
Are at that place any potential pitfalls that you'd like to highlight for young scientists? Do you take whatsoever farther advice?
Young scientists sometimes tend to fail the literature. They look at a number of related papers when they start working on their project, merely then they fail to go on looking for more papers as their research—and the work of other researchers—progresses. They also rarely become back to the literature they've searched and read, fifty-fifty though it remains a slap-up source of inspiration.
- Masia
Talk to librarians! Depending on their expanse of expertise, they may be able to give you specific advice about accessing important papers or navigating the scientific literature. Fifty-fifty if they don't accept specific field of study area knowledge, librarians are an ofttimes-untapped source of noesis about how scholarly information is organized, evaluated, and disseminated.
- Borghi
Remember that we walk on the shoulders of giants. Einstein would exist a notable example, and Darwin's piece of work is still equally relevant to evolutionary biologists today as it was in his day. In other words, don't limit your literature searches to the 21st century.
- Negro
At the early stages of your research career, it'south particularly important that yous take the time each day to get upward to speed with the literature. I would recommend trying the dissimilar tools available and experimenting with your reading routine until you discover what works for y'all. At that place are so many great options out in that location, and people have different tastes in terms of what they are comfortable with. Also, don't be agape to enquire your adviser for literature recommendations. Finally, it's a good idea to gear up a physical or virtual journal club to share papers and discuss ideas with your peers.
- Kamerlin
Source: https://www.science.org/content/article/how-keep-scientific-literature
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