The human quest for scientific knowledge results in expanding the body of knowledge. Looking at the fascinating scientific inventions, complex theories, and discoveries, one may be awe-inspired with the wonders of science and nature. Science helps us to understand nature and its underlying governing principles. Are these scientific discoveries, inventions, and theories reported on Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, or any other social media platforms? No, of course not. These complex theories, discoveries, scientific inventions, theoretical and experimental results are generally reported in scientific research papers which are published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Looking back to 2019-20, the whole of humanity suffered from covid-19. Countries were locked down, and travel restrictions were in place. Billions of people were affected and millions died. Scientists who are working on virology (the domain of Science in which we study viruses) put their full efforts to understand this virus. Thanks to researchers and scientists who developed mRNA and other variants of vaccines for the cure of the coronavirus. Before such vaccines were used publicly, scientists performed extensive experimentation and once approved by the medical regulatory bodies, these vaccines were rolled-out. The experimentation results were reported in scientific journals: for the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, results were published in Nature, and for the Oxford AstraZenica vaccine, results were published in The Lancet.
In 1953, James D. Watson and Francis Crick published a one-page research paper in Nature, showing the structure of DNA – double helix – through a diagram. This single one-page research paper changed the world of biology and led to the human quest for search to the next level. This research of Watson, Crick and Maurice Wilkins led them to win Nobel Prize in 1962 in Physiology or Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material.”
Pakistan’s Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Project, supported by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is a response to climate change and Ozone layer depletion. The discovery of the Antarctic Ozone hole by Joe C. Farman, Brian Gardiner and Jonathan Shanklin in 1985 was reported in a research paper published in Nature.
Current communication systems are based on the theoretical foundations laid by Claude E. Shannon (also known as the father of information theory). He wrote a pioneering research paper published in Bell Systems Technical journal in 1948 on the mathematical theory of communication. This was one of the highly cited papers in communications.
In some European countries, it is essential for scientists and researchers to communicate their research in easy words to the general public and educate the masses. The same can be done here and this will result in scientific attitude development in our nation. We, as a nation, should encourage quality research and discourage unfair and unethical means of publishing scientific research papers
The Higgs Boson, an elementary particle, was one of the greatest discoveries in science. It was discovered by ATLAS and CMS experiments at Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland. This discovery was reported in a research paper published by Elsevier Physics Letters B journal.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine `in 1984 was given to Niels K. Jerne, Georges J. F. Köhler, and César Milstein “for theories concerning the specificity in development and control of the immune system and the discovery of the principles for production on monoclonal antibodies.” Again this discovery of antibodies was reported in a research paper published in 1975 in Nature.
In the world of computers and the Internet,the TCP/IP protocol suite is the set of communication protocols that helps run the Internet and make computers communicate with each other. It was co-developed by Vinton G. Cerf and Bob Kahn (both of them are recognized as fathers of the Internet). One of the pioneering research papers about TCP/IP was published in IEEE Transactions on Communications in 1974 and the other one was published in the Elsevier Computer Networks journal in 1983. Paul Mockapetris, with whom I had a chance to interact when he was a visiting research fellow at LIP6 – Sorbonne University, France, is the inventor of the Domain Name System (DNS). DNS was introduced in RFC 882 and 883 in 1983, and later details were published in ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review in 1995.
As pointed out by one recent study published in Nature Index, journals such as Physical Review Letters, Astrophysical Journal, Science, and Nature are the journals in the domain of physics which published a large proportion of Nobel Prize-winning research papers. In simple words, if we collect the papers which received the Nobel Prize in Physics from 1995 to 2017, then 50 percent of Nobel Prize-winning research papers are published in these four journals. This clearly confirms that even Nobel Prize-winning research is reported in research papers published in top quality scientific journals and these are not merely “personal publications”, in fact, these “personal publications” provide the foundations of science.
These aforementioned examples are sufficient to show the importance of research papers in science. Even science itself cannot flourish without scientific research papers. Publishing in top quality scientific journals means researchers and scientists are conducting top quality research of technical worth, having an impact on society.
Publishing research papers in top quality scientific journals is not an easy game. If we want to increase the quality of research and nurture scientific knowledge in Pakistani society, we need to give due importance to scientific research papers both at academic and government level, provide an enabling environment and encourage researchers and scientists to publish in top quality scientific journals. These top quality field-specific scientific journals can be identified through Clarivate Journal Citation Report (JCR) – which annually publishes the list of scientific journal rankings.
Sadly, if a minority of scientists and researchers are conducting unethical practices in scientific research and publishing sub-standard research papers (has not been adding to the body of scientific knowledge) then we should not generalize this by denying all the scientific research papers and scientific journals. There is a dire need to enhance efforts of education and public engagement (EPE) activities.
In some European countries, it is essential for scientists and researchers to communicate their research in easy words to the general public and educate the masses. The same can be done here and this will result in scientific attitude development in our nation. We, as a nation, should encourage quality research and discourage unfair and unethical means of publishing scientific research papers.
