I am being introduced to a side of research that is making me more and more uncomfortable. I know it’s probably hard to believe but I’ve made it all the way through a Ph.D. program and didn’t see a lick of the hoarding of information, especially like I see it now in the field of biology (and bioinformatics).
I’ve seen a number of blog entries covering ”Open Science” on the bioinformatics blogs that I keep up with. However, I’ve not been reading them in depth, only just skimming them. I had the naive notion that all the people I work with would be wide open with their work, especially within the same lab. Such is not the case.
On one side, I can completely understand. Say, I have a colleague who is working on a particular project and puts in a significant amount of work to produce a certain conclusion. There are many steps along the way for which that colleague developed the analysis to reach the conclusion. However, this same analysis can be repeated on other work. Whether it is code or simply a methodology/protocol, that work is significant and can make a name for that colleague. Does he share this with me or others in the lab so that it can further my own projects? Or, do I give him my data and let him do his analysis. Surely, even if he handed over all his information, I would give him credit. In a perfect world, we all receive credit for the work we do. However, what if I don’t plan on giving him credit. What if I want to make a name for myself and take his techniques produce work and give him no credit at all?
Deep down in my heart I am not a open source kind of guy. I am full-blooded capitalist, through and through. I believe in competition. Of course, there are ethics that provide boundaries for such competition, but I believe that healthy competition can produce quality results. I am not saying that competition and “open science” must be mutually exclusive, as it is possible to race to a result or conclusion with your information being fully available to the other party. Ultimately, the ideal goal is the same for all scientists: true understanding of the physical world. Nevertheless, human nature will prevent scientists from a selfless pursuit of truth.
By entering the realm of full-time research I need to come to some decisions on just what those boundaries are. There is a line somewhere between 100 percent open science and proprietary, commercial science that must be drawn and supported. So, now I’m going back to read those blog posts on open science and to decide just where I stand.
Recent Comments