After a two year gestation period, the second paper will be out next week, first online, then in hard-copy format. It's being published in PNAS. Those in science will know what a big deal it is to be even entertained by PNAS. Being entertained is not enough coz then it undergoes reviews, re-reviews and the verdict of the chief editor and editorial committee. I was not sure till last week which way it's gonna go, but luck or some such stuff has tilted in our favour.
Among the papers PNAS publishes in each issue, it highlights a few that the editorial board thinks might be of special importance and/or special interest to the readers. Our paper has been shortlisted for that! It feels doubly awesome coz it means it fares well on the scale of academic as well as popular science. It's a double whammy for me and the co-author.
Six years' work has gone into this. Experiments went on for three years. I did my first experiment in March 2006 and the last one in April 2009. Simultaneously, I was analysing data, which is one of the most uncertain periods. You toy with a lot of stuff, don't really understand what's happening, and which one to choose (statistics in my opinion is like a departmental store where even the most ardent shopaholics will feel depressed by sheer number of options available). This went on for about a year. This was followed by writing the paper. The first draft of the paper was written in February 2010. We must have worked on at least 30-40 drafts of the manuscript. We submitted the final draft to PNAS in March 2012. After revisions, and re-revisions, we finally submitted it in July 2012.
I always get conscious about celebrating my victories. However this process has been hard and had more lows than highs. So I think I deserve it, and this feeling of entitlement makes me less careful about me projecting my happiness on to the world. I am hoping it makes you feel good about this too.
I want to be anonymous on this blog, so obviously I won't be posting the paper here. However, I will be glad to send a personal copy to whoever wants to read. Just leave a comment. If you want to deny me the pleasure of feeling important :) , you can search for it on the internet with my name.
Among the papers PNAS publishes in each issue, it highlights a few that the editorial board thinks might be of special importance and/or special interest to the readers. Our paper has been shortlisted for that! It feels doubly awesome coz it means it fares well on the scale of academic as well as popular science. It's a double whammy for me and the co-author.
Six years' work has gone into this. Experiments went on for three years. I did my first experiment in March 2006 and the last one in April 2009. Simultaneously, I was analysing data, which is one of the most uncertain periods. You toy with a lot of stuff, don't really understand what's happening, and which one to choose (statistics in my opinion is like a departmental store where even the most ardent shopaholics will feel depressed by sheer number of options available). This went on for about a year. This was followed by writing the paper. The first draft of the paper was written in February 2010. We must have worked on at least 30-40 drafts of the manuscript. We submitted the final draft to PNAS in March 2012. After revisions, and re-revisions, we finally submitted it in July 2012.
I always get conscious about celebrating my victories. However this process has been hard and had more lows than highs. So I think I deserve it, and this feeling of entitlement makes me less careful about me projecting my happiness on to the world. I am hoping it makes you feel good about this too.
I want to be anonymous on this blog, so obviously I won't be posting the paper here. However, I will be glad to send a personal copy to whoever wants to read. Just leave a comment. If you want to deny me the pleasure of feeling important :) , you can search for it on the internet with my name.
