Would Newton retweet your post on Twitter? How would Einstein view open source software? How would Darwin have handled a Wikipedia edit war?
The way we do science is changing almost as fast as the volume of our data. Advice is needed; however, advice on leading a successful scientific life is usually confined to outdated memoirs, unrecorded weekly lab meetings, neglected blogs, or casual conversations at a conference.
When we are faced with the challenges of how to be the best scientist we can, our instinctive reaction is to follow our usual pattern of inquiry—search the literature.
This search left us wanting, until we discovered the PLOS Ten Simple Rules collection. We have found them to be a series of concise articles that capture the professional zeitgeist of being a scientist in an approachable manner.
Many topics cover the professional (or “soft”) skills that are necessary for a modern scientific career, but are not part of a formal scientific education. [PB: Sad but true—teaching such skills should be a no-brainer.] These articles represent an invaluable chance to pass on advice and knowledge in a way that can be widely distributed, formally recognised, and—as an added benefit—cited.
If (like us) you have read some articles in the Ten Simple Rules collection and appreciated their value, you may feel the urge to write one of your own. The collection provides a succinct and engaging format for advice on these skills. However, coming up with an article on soft skills need not be hard. Perhaps you have some insight, experience, or wisdom to impart. How would you do that?
Is there practical advice for contributing to the Ten Simple Rules collection already available? What can we learn from the existing articles in the collection? If only there was an article with ten simple rules for writing a PLOS Ten Simple Rules article. If only that article could be peppered with insightful comments from the founder of the collection: Philip E. Bourne.
This is that article.