1.4: Reporting and Evaluating Scientific Work

Whether scientific research is basic science or applied science, scientists must share their findings for other researchers to expand and build upon their discoveries. Communication and collaboration within and between sub disciplines of science are key to the advancement of knowledge in science. For this reason, an important aspect of a scientist’s work is disseminating results and communicating with peers. Scientists can share results by presenting them at a scientific meeting or conference, but this approach can reach only the limited few who are present. Instead, most scientists present their results in peer-reviewed articles that are published in scientific journals. Peer-reviewed articles are scientific papers that are reviewed, usually anonymously by a scientist’s colleagues, or peers. These colleagues are qualified individuals, often experts in the same research area, who judge whether or not the scientist’s work is suitable for publication. The process of peer review helps to ensure that the research described in a scientific paper or grant proposal is original, significant, logical, and thorough. Grant proposals, which are requests for research funding, are also subject to peer review. Scientists publish their work so other scientists can reproduce their experiments under similar or different conditions to expand on the findings.

There are many journals and the popular press that do not use a peer-review system. A large number of online open-access journals, journals with articles available without cost, are now available, many of which use rigorous peer-review systems, but some of which do not. Results of any studies published in these forums without peer review are not reliable and should not form the basis for other scientific work. In one exception, journals may allow a researcher to cite a personal communication from another researcher about unpublished results with the cited author’s permission.

Careful attention is required to evaluate information presented as “scientifically supported” found on the internet, in general. Questions to ask about a source include:

• Who wrote the article? Who provided the information to the author? What are their qualifications?
• What’s the author trying to get across or accomplish?
• Is the article peer reviewed before publication?
• When was it written? Is the information timely?
• Where does it apply? Local? Worldwide?
• Is the information accurate? Does it make sense? Is it supported by data? Do others find the same conclusions?

Answering these questions sometimes takes more research than just reading an article on its own, but is important for verifying information contained within.

Attribution:

Cropped and edited from

• Reporting Scientific Work by Open Stax CC-BY 4.0