Negative results are not necessarily criticisms of colleagues, at least I don't think it should be perceived as such. And if it is, folks should just grow up...:-)
It may be (too) idealistic, but one could argue that the most important aspect of scientific experiments is reproducibility. If no-one is able to reproduce those fantastic data, what is the value of those data? I just wonder how many "dogma's" are out there that are taken for granted ("its from a great lab"), but that no-one has taken the time to verify.
Maybe once we get used to the publication of (properly reviewed) negative data, reality will change?
________________________________________
From: CCP4 bulletin board [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bernhard Rupp [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, July 11, 2011 9:05 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] Fwd: Could Biological Negative Results be published?
Hmmm...I probably have a bit of experience in this business of 'negative results'.
Let me just say that it definitely has negative impact on your career when you criticize colleagues.
It is extremely difficult to cut through the 'defendant's' and editorial denial. In my experience
a lot of lip service is paid to the modern viewpoint of the scientific method which Tim optimistically voices,
but alas, we live in a real world of postmodern relativism and subjective interest, and reality looks different.
For those attending the IUCr meeting (shameless advert to follow), I have changed the title of my
talk in the validation MS to
"Transgressing Conventional Boundaries: Postmodern Structural Biology".
The absence of the word 'crystallography' in the title is not a coincidence.
Cheers, BR
On Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 4:31 AM, Tim Gruene <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
On Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 04:35:31PM +0530, Partha Chakrabarti wrote:
> What if the negative results contradict some recent papers in big journals?
In that case it is certainly not a "negative result" and I am actually surprised
someone even comes up with the idea of not publishing a result just for lip
service. A good scientist is happy to deal with criticism of his or her
results - if they would not get criticised, they would not have been worth
publishing.
Cheers, Tim
> Would the PI risk his / her contacts & connections? Of course for the PhD
> student or postdoc, it matters a lot to get it 'published'..
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 4:27 PM, Bosch, Juergen <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>
> > http://www.jnrbm.com/
> >
> > Might this be what you are looking for ?
> >
> > Jürgen
> >
> > ......................
> > Jürgen Bosch****
> > Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health****
> > Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology****
> > Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute****
> > 615 North Wolfe Street, W8708****
> > Baltimore, MD 21205****
> > Phone: +1-410-614-4742<tel:%2B1-410-614-4742>****
> > Lab: +1-410-614-4894<tel:%2B1-410-614-4894>****
> > Fax: +1-410-955-3655<tel:%2B1-410-955-3655>****
> > http://web.mac.com/bosch_lab/****
> >
> > On Jul 11, 2011, at 6:03 AM, F.Xavier Gomis-Rüth wrote:
> >
> > Dear CCP4ers,
> > I think this is a very interesting initiative and it could potentially lead
> > to a discussion within the board.
> > Best,
> > Xavier
> >
> >
> >
> > -------- Mensaje original -------- Asunto: Could Biological Negative
> > Results be published? Fecha: Sun, 10 Jul 2011 21:39:52 -0500 De: David
> > Alcantara <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>><[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Para:
> > [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> >
> > Dear colleague,
> >
> > As you are well aware it is common in our field that many of our
> > endeavors do not lead to the results we want or expect. Numerous tests
> > and experiments have outcomes that we share with our immediate
> > colleagues during informal meetings, but that we are not considering
> > material for publication. As a result a wealth of information is never
> > brought to the attention of the greater public, which is not only
> > unfortunate, but also has others repeating similar studies to produce
> > the same negative results. Not only are a lot of resources like time
> > and money wasted in this way, but it also leads to frustration that
> > could have been prevented if only the scientists would have been aware
> > of the negative results of earlier studies.
> >
> > My name is David Alcantara and, on behalf of our editorial board,
> > I’d like to invite you to submit your articles to The All Results
> > Journals: Biology, a new journal that focuses on publishing the grey
> > literature that has never been published. It is our goal to compile
> > and publish those experiments that led to negative results or to
> > outcomes that were not expected and were not before considered for
> > publication. We of The All Results Journals feel that it is equally
> > important to publish these results together with interpretations of
> > the scientists involved and in this way offer a solution to the
> > problem that publication bias is causing, because of a strong emphasis
> > on positive results.
> >
> > The All Results Journals:Biol is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to
> > publishing articles with negative results and outcomes that were not
> > expected and were not before considered for publication in all areas
> > of Biology (pure and applied). The Journal is TOTAL Open Access (no
> > fees to publish and read) and is being indexed by well-known
> > scientific databases such as Web of Knowledge, Scirus, and Pubmed This
> > will assure maximum exposure of your articles.
> >
> > We expect to publish articles within four to six weeks of submission,
> > and our award-winning OJS Publications Web Editions Platform will
> > showcase your important findings to the international scientific
> > community.
> >
> > Please check our info for authors to submit your articles at:
> > http://www.arjournals.com/ojs/index.php?journal=Biol&page=information&op=authors<http://arjournals.com/ojs/index.php?journal=Biol&page=information&op=authors> <http://arjournals.com/ojs/index.php?journal=Biol&page=information&op=authors>
> >
> > Thank you very much for your time and we look forward to hearing from
> > you..
> >
> > With kind regards,
> >
> > David Alcantara
> >
> > --
> > David Alcantara, Ph.D
> > Managing [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> > Phone: 001 617 575 9152<tel:617%20575%209152>
> > The All Results Journals:Biol (ISSN: 2172-4784)http://www.arjournals.com/ojs/index.php?journal=Biol
> > Follow us onhttp://www.facebook.com/pages/The-All-Results-Journals/53410901726<http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-All-Results-Journals/53410901726>
> > ---
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--
--
Tim Gruene
Institut fuer anorganische Chemie
Tammannstr. 4
D-37077 Goettingen
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