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AffectiveMedicine's avatar

Great post!

I blame collaboration. The number of authors per paper has steadily increased, and for what? This is only partly in jest. I have published with multiple coauthors and as a solo author, and the solo papers were far easier, faster, and more interesting (I think). If you care about "idea generation" in particular, it's not at all clear that collaboration would help - the need for consensus tends to water ideas down while also drawing out the process.

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J.K. Lund's avatar

Maxwell, I agree. I called it the "Innovation Red Queens Race," but the cause is not readily apparent from Bloom et al. In my article on this very topic (https://www.lianeon.org/p/the-innovation-red-queens-race), I discussed one possible contributor: misplaced incentives.

"Since the 1970s, there has been a growing expectation that researchers not only publish frequently but also publish works that are frequently cited by others (have a large impact). Together, these metrics, known as the “h-score,” are a kind of “batting average” for researchers. The more a researcher publishes and the more his work is cited, the more likely he is to obtain grants and further his career."..."By conducting one’s research in areas in crowded fields where that breakthrough has already occurred, that is, doing incremental work rather than risking exploratory science, researchers are more likely to have their work cited by others."

I do not think that is the only factor at play, of course, there are likely multiple causes.

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