Arabidopsis research and publications

[John D Miller]

The (often self-inflicted) pressure to publish as many
papers as possible has been producing some unwholesome
side-effects lately. Results are being watered down and
often distributed over several publications, wasting
valuable journal space. A prime example of what I am
talking about can be seen in The Plant CELL 10 (2) 1998,
where results describing a Arabidopsis mutation were
spread thin over 25 pages. In my opinion this represents
a diservice to the scientific community as journal space
is put to less than optimal use. It has even been
suggested that in this particular case, the 2 publications
in question did not undergo a regular review process,
as the principal author and the then editor of the
Plant Cell work at the same department.
It is to be hoped that this post highlights some of
the problems underlying current Arabidopsis research
and raises the awareness of scientists to the issues
described above.

John D. Miller, PhD.



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