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1) I often hear scientists talk about “big papers” and “little papers”. I’ve been in science for about 24 years now and during this time I’ve thought a lot about papers & their meaning & impact so I now wanted to say a few things about this topic. So a thread!
2) When you’ve been in science long enough & built a publication record it's normal to look back & ask “which papers are my favourites”. What is surprising is that it's not always the obvious ones, the “big” ones. This is because every paper also has a deep personal meaning.
3) So a paper that came out in a "small" journal might mean the world to you because you overcame enormous challenges to see it published, or the paper was a result of a memorable collaboration. Of course the reverse is true, the Nature paper might be born of enormous suffering.
4) But beyond the personal aspect it is very hard to predict which of your papers might have the most impact. This isn't even about how cited the papers are, one of the most influential papers in my career is a little cited paper that provided the inspiration for half my PhD.
5) Science is so interrelated that every paper can be "big" to someone in the right context. This is why it is puzzling to hear about labs that only pursue "big" papers because it is so hard to predict ahead of time. All you can do is ask a good question & give it your best.
6) Of course even post DORA where you publish the papers matters enormously. I believe this because I submitted on a number of occasions the same application before & after a "big" paper came out & every time the difference was a NO turning to a YES.
7) But there is so much stochastic variability in publishing (who gets the paper to review, getting an editor who gets the paper) that sometimes our most impactful or important work ends up being hard to publish in top journals (ESPECIALLY if it is very novel).
8) Also sometimes the "little" papers have an essential function setting up a subsequent "big" paper, so at least in the context of your body of work they are at least as important. This means that a "little" paper can have an enormous impact on your own body of work.
9) So when people ask me which one of my papers are my favourites I tell them it's as ridiculous as asking me to pick which one of my children I love the best. I love all my paper equally but sometimes for different reasons based on their wonderful unique individual personality.
10) For my part I love & celebrate "little papers" as much as "big papers". Also, looking at someone's publication record I don't just see the "big" papers, I think about the collected body of work & don't guess which papers best represent them as scientists based on the IF.
