Share your research results, data, ideas, or tools for a chance to win one of two $500 cash prizes
Transparent and early sharing of data, ideas and protocols
Current publishing practices don’t reflect the often disorderly trajectory of scientific research. Negative data, unreplicated results, or early-stage ideas are often omitted from the scientific narrative in pursuit of acceptance into a reputable journal. Yet, these aspects of the research process are equally valuable as a polished narrative, as their public disclosure may allow others in the scientific community to refine, replicate, or expand upon the work.
The belief that sharing early-stage ideas and results accelerate the pace of science isn’t new. In fact, it was one of the original aims of Nature, one of the most prestigious scientific journals. As summarized by Norman Lockyer, Nature’s founder, it intended to “aid Scientific men themselves, by giving early information of all advances made in any branch of Natural knowledge throughout the world, and by affording them an opportunity of discussing the various Scientific questions which arise from time to time.” Nature was unique in its ability to quickly bring an issue or idea to the attention of the scientific community, as there was essentially no delay between the submission of a piece and its appearance in the journal [ref].
Early dissemination and speed were key factors that led to Nature’s success. We’ve seen the scientific community increasingly embrace the rapid release of research with preprints, but we’ve yet to see the dissemination of early-stage ideas and results. In an effort to shift current publishing practices so that all forms of scientific research are shared, we invite you to participate in the ASAPbio 2024 poster competition.
What is the ASAPbio 2024 poster competition?
You’ve heard us relentlessly advocate for preprints and the sharing of early-stage research ideas and results. Now, we’re putting our money where our month is. The ASAPbio 2024 poster competition is an opportunity for you to publicly share your research with the chance of winning one of two $500 cash prizes. Whether you share negative data, recent results, a protocol, computational scripts, or another aspect of your research is entirely up to you. In fact, everything is up to you—which platform(s) you use to host your submission, the type of creative commons license you attribute to your poster, whether you disclose the use of AI, etc. Simply tell us a few details about yourself and where your poster is hosted by December 1, 2024 and you’ll be entered into the competition.
If you have any questions, please email: 2024-poster-competition@asapbio.org. For more details and how to enter, take a look at the ASAPbio 2024 poster competition one-pager or submit your entry here.
Written by 2024 Fellows; Jasmine Neal, Allie Tatarian & Morufu Raimi
