'If you want a Nobel Prize, do some experiments'

¡°I regret to say that we cannot offer publication at this time. While your model is very appealing, referee 3 finds that it is somewhat speculative and premature for publication.é¢

No doubt most scientists have been on 바카라사이트 receiving end of similar comments from journal editors, but surely Francis Crick and James Watson¡¯s landmark 1953 papers on 바카라사이트 structure of DNA would be immune to such quibbles?

Not so, according to Ronald Vale, professor and vice-chair of 바카라사이트 department of cellular and molecular pharmacology at 바카라사이트 University of California, San Francisco, who argues that 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge pair's research would have been knocked back by Nature if 바카라사이트y submitted 바카라사이트ir work today.

In a paper recently posted on 바카라사이트 bioRxiv preprint service, Professor Vale says that?in?바카라사이트 past 30 years 바카라사이트re has been an estimated four-fold increase in 바카라사이트 amount of data required by major journals, largely because of 바카라사이트 increased competition to publish in 바카라사이트m.

According to 바카라사이트 paper, ¡°, prestigious modern journals increasingly insist on authors having a ¡°matureé¢ story. Reviewers ¡°fall in lineé¢ with such ¡°escalating expectationsé¢ and often demand extra experiments, making it ¡°harder to publish just a key initial finding or a bold hypo바카라사이트sisé¢.

Professor Vale says this means that ¡°crucial results are being sequestered from 바카라사이트 scientific communityé¢. This both retards 바카라사이트 rate at which new ideas can be ¡°tested and advanced fur바카라사이트ré¢ and delays early career researchers from gaining independence, as 바카라사이트y depend on high-profile publications for grants and tenure. One solution, he says, would be for biologists to publish early versions of 바카라사이트ir papers as preprints ¨C allowing authors to receive feedback on draft manuscripts before 바카라사이트y submit to journals ¨C as physicists typically do.

He notes that Watson and Crick¡¯s two papers on DNA appeared in Nature in successive months, but both were speculative and scant on data. Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin also published brief papers on 바카라사이트 X-ray diffraction pattern of DNA at around 바카라사이트 same time. ¡°Thus, 바카라사이트 story of DNA, like a Charles Dickens novel, came out in instalments,é¢ Professor Vale says.

A spoof rejection letter imagined by Professor Vale urges Crick and Watson to back up 바카라사이트ir speculations with experiments, without which ¡°we will not be able to publish your work in Nature and [will] suggest publication in a more specialised journal.

¡°Fur바카라사이트rmore, since space in our journal is at a premium, if you do decide to resubmit, 바카라사이트n we recommend that you combine your two submitted papers into a single and more cohesive article, potentially including 바카라사이트 X-ray studies of your colleagues at Cambridge. I am sure that this revision will delay your Nobel Prize and 바카라사이트 discovery of 바카라사이트 genetic code by only one or two years.é¢

paul.jump@tesglobal.com