Those engaged in scientific writing might
recognize what I am about to say...
You spent months in the field, digging in the
mud, collecting poo samples of gorillas, or puzzling on transmission chains of Ebola
patients, with the mourning and crying family next to your investigation tent
as another loved one has passed away. Running through the forest, falling in
mud holes elephants left for you, or driving hours on a motorbike with a cramp
in your left buttocks, all in order to get the data, the information you need
to understand the world around you better. And when you think you start to get
answers for your question marks, you want to share it with the world, sometimes
forgetting that not everyone is as excited as you are about gorilla faeces.
Once you get home, an enormous pile of data
awaits you to be analyzed. It will take you weeks – preferably hidden in a
wooden cabin, next to a beautiful lake in Canada with the occasional moose or
bear strolling by. Because nobody will understand how much time (for God’s
sake!) you can spend looking at numbers on a data sheet. I am a disaster in
statistics, as a child I didn’t understand the difference between ‘half’ and ‘double’…
fortunately, my highly intelligent family accepted me as I am and often
appreciate me for my developed social skills. I got over it eventually, but
still can’t get my head around what exactly an ANOVA means if I don’t calculate
it myself.
By the time you have your paper ready for
publication, people have moved on with their life, they’ve travelled, children
were born, and careers have been made. You have aged, probably grown a beard,
but you are proud of your work! You managed to narrow down months of work to 7
pages maximum, where the discussion concludes that more research is needed.
Three months later, reviewers have done their
work and you click hopeful on the email blinking ‘your submission’.
“I am afraid that we have decided to reject
your paper”
I hope this friendly moose and bear are still
around to keep me some more company.
 |
| Male Gelada, or "bleeding-heart monkey", Simian Mountains, Ethiopia - 2015 |
No comments:
Post a Comment