Scientists are more likely to be successful if they start publishing their work early.
It is often said that the college or University you attend plays an important role in how successful a career you have. However, this may not hold true for scientists. According to a new study conducted by researchers from James Cook University in Cairns, Australia, scientists are more likely to have a successful career if they start writing articles early and often.
"We were really surprised," said Professor William Laurance of James Cook University in Cairns, Australia, who led the study. "It doesn't matter if you go to Harvard or a low-ranked university. If you begin publishing scientific articles when you're still a graduate student, you are far more likely to succeed in the long run."
For the study, researchers looked at 1400 biologists from four continents and finally selected 182 of them for their study. Researchers observed that there was a vast difference in the number of scientific stories each of them published during their career.
"For reasons that are not totally clear, some people just 'get' the publishing game early in their careers, and it's these scientists who are most likely to keep on publishing strong research," said Professor Corey Bradshaw of the University of Adelaide's Environment Institute in South Australia.
Researchers also noted that in this profession, women faced a lot more hurdles than men. Family obligations bogged them down. Researchers also noted that women were not capable of promoting themselves as aggressively as men in this field.
Language also plays an important role in determining how successful a publishing scientist is. Those who grow up writing and speaking English have an edge over those who speak and write other languages as most Science journals are in English.
Based on their findings, the authors of the study drew two more conclusions. They found that far fewer women ever made it to the top of the science industry. This was probably because they published less frequently. Secondly, those who begin publishing earlier in their life were more likely to succeed, regardless of which university they obtained their degree from.
"We need to pay a lot of attention to the early training of scientists," Professor Laurance said in a press statement. "If we do a good job, we can give them a head start that will last their whole lives. This research gives us a good evidence base for our efforts."