Survival Blog for Scientists

Should academics pursue patents?

Published on 2012-02-02 16:43:17

For researchers in applied sciences, it is the norm to file intellectual property (IP). This practice can be construed to make a lot of sense: The objective of applied research is applications, solving real-world problems. Applications generally make it out into the real world because a company thinks they can make a profit solving a [...]

Assessing research

Published on 2012-01-26 16:38:51

Being a PhD student for almost three years now, a challenge I keep on running into is assessing the research projects I have done. What I mean by assessing is: judging what is new and interesting about the research. During my Master’s I thought science is all about discovering new physics. But new physics is [...]

“The nature of the contribution of every author should be made clear”

Published on 2012-01-26 02:10:05

Being an author of a scientific paper is still the most secure building bock of a scientific career and a way to recognition. As a result people fight to be on the author list and are disappointed – if not angry – when they feel that they are left out for no good reason. The [...]

We are back on track

Published on 2012-01-24 07:14:26

A few important changes have been introduced for this blog: user who registers has to wait approval only logged-in registered users can comment Why? I had to : remove a few hundred users that were spammers remove over 500 comments that were spam We have been quite for some time. A number of my colleagues have [...]

Increasing your h-index by reclaiming misspelled citations

Published on 2011-02-19 05:27:15

Here is a short contribution on how to correct misspelled citations in Web of Science. Citations have become the currency of science, which is used to reward scientists and scientific institutions. Small variations in citation scores can make millions of pounds difference in the financial outcomes of national Research Assessments . Therefore keeping your citation [...]

Moving to a new job

Published on 2010-11-26 15:56:59

I always thought I might move from one academic job to another but stayed in the same place for 13 years. Finally I moved to the University of Glasgow this November. Moving is important but also quite disruptive.

Improving plotting programs with better data import

Published on 2010-11-26 05:27:45

When you look at modern scientific journals you will find that in the majority of papers (some of) the results are presented in graphical form, from a simple black-and-white X-Y plot to sophisticated multicolor 3D-plots. The data that are graphed come from various origins, like filled-out surveys, output of detectors, or mathematical programs. If the data [...]

Deliberately misleading titles and abstracts of papers

Published on 2010-11-17 13:42:06

In the Shakespeare play As You Like It main character Rosalind reads the epilogue, from which we cite: If it be true that good wine needs no bush, ’tis true that a good play needs no epilogue; The Dutch translation of the saying “Good wine needs no bush” is quite confusing as “bush” is translated [...]

Impossible to unsubscribe

Published on 2010-10-20 14:31:35

Like many of my colleagues I get tens and tens of emails per day. My estimate is that about one quarter of is spam that by definition cannot be caught by any spam filter. I really get irritated by receiving these emails. I will give a few examples that I got today: (i) a the [...]

How many conferences, and of which kind?

Published on 2010-09-29 11:30:03

Yet another conference invitation in my inbox, and I am wondering (again): how many conferences (broadly, meetings) should a scientist attend in a year? And of what kind, meaning, the large confluences of experts all over like a cleo, or the limited attendance meetings specialised in your research interest? In places where I come from, [...]