A Call to Make the Human Dimension of Science a Core Component of Scientific Journals

摘要

The human dimension of science refers to the personal aspects of investigators-their life experiences, values, beliefs, habits, behaviors, philosophy of life, approach to challenges and setbacks, and so on. Although this aspect of the research enterprise is the engine that propels scientific progress (and thus is at least as important as the discoveries themselves), it is usually ignored in the literature. As a result, the community of researchers knows the discovery (the tip of the iceberg), but not the foundation that made the discovery possible. In this essay, I argue that the human dimension of science should become a core component of scientific journals.