Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Call for Submissions: Citation Classics

I will be hosting the next edition of The Giant's Shoulders here at The Evilutionary Biologist.

The Giant's Shoulders is a monthly blog carnival dedicated to classic science papers. My original aim when I started The Evilutionary Biologist was to write about one classic biology paper each week. The rationale was three-fold. One, to increase science appreciation by discussing the great science experiments of yesteryear. Two, to foster awareness of the human side of science by highlighting personal anecdotes. Three, to personally learn more about how to do good science by reading the work of the masters. Although my posting has been ever more stochastic due to the constraints of life on the tenure-track, I still post as often as I am able.

I've been a regular participant in The Giant's Shoulders since I found out about it (except for last month's edition), and enjoy learning about the work that others feel is classic. I urge you to participate, write about a science classic that really floats your boat, and submit it at Blog Carnival. Submissions need to be received by March 15th.

About “The Giant’s Shoulders”

If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” - Isaac Newton, in a letter to Robert Hooke, 1676. (Though the metaphor goes back much further.)

“The Giant’s Shoulders” is a monthly science blogging event, in which authors are invited to submit posts on “classic” scientific papers. Submissions are due on the fifteenth of each month, and entries will be aggregated and linked to on the host blog of the month. Links to entries should be sent to that month’s host blog.

What defines a “classic” paper? This depends upon the field in question, but one expects that the work should have somewhat stood the test of time: we suggest perhaps 10 years old, or more. Contributors should not only describe the research involved but also put it in a broader historical/scientific context: why is the work in question important/groundbreaking/revolutionary/nifty?

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