Topic: Effects of Hypercompetition
Comments by Lorenzo Federico
MD Anderson Cancer Center
6/9/2015
Proposed Actions
I believe that the only way to eliminate a competitor is to turn him or her into a collaborator. The current system disproportionately rewards scientists according to the number of publications, “first name” articles, and paper’s impact factor. This approach kills collaboration at its root, while encouraging misconduct and unethical behavior. Funders should create policies that strongly reward scientists who adopt an open-science approach, promote data sharing and collaborations, and maintain well curated databases storing original data to be made available upon request. This approach should become the norm in any funded academic environment that is seriously committed to science, but not to self-interest. Just as in Nature, cooperation emerges from adaptive forces. Funders must introduce innovative policies to help today’s academia evolve into a much more collaborative, ha rmonious, and efficient scientific enterprise.