Communication in Science

“Nothing in science has any value to society if it is not communicated,” said American psychologist Anne Roe in her 1952 study of how people become scientists. A scientific discovery has no meaning (and you will get no credit for it) until you communicate it to other scientists. Only then can it be accepted or rejected as a contribution to the body of science. Changes in format over the centuries show that the medium is not the message, but the form in which results are presented is important. During the Scientific Revolution, scientists mostly collected their results over extended periods and published them as books. The transition to publishing much shorter pieces of information in journals with independent editors occurred in the 19th century. Quality was ensured by peer review becoming a condition of publication. The move from print to electronic distribution occurred at the start of the 21st century, but so far has been a change in the means of distribution rather than really influencing the nature of the material that’s communicated.