Academic Life

Should you review scientific publications after leaving science?

Publishing in peer reviewed scientific journals is an important part of a scientific career. Maybe you published journal articles as part of your PhD or during your time as a Postdoc.

Either way, once a few of your papers are out there, you might be asked to review articles from other researches in the field.

But how should you react to these requests if you changed your career path in the meantime? Should you review scientific articles even though you are not pursuing a career in science anymore? Here are three reasons why you should:

Review articles for fun

Maybe you are one of these researchers who is passionate about their research topic. The only reason you changed your career path is, that it did not pay the bills.

Depending on your particular research interest, it can be difficult to find a job following this passion. So it is legitimate to switch career out of economic necessity. And there is no need to refer to your new career as “the dark side”(read here why).

But if you still love your research topic, by all means have fun reviewing scientific articles about it. Don’t let the fact that you are not actively working on the topic stop you.

Keep the door to a scientific career ajar by reviewing papers

Maybe you took up a job outside of science temporarily. Or you are unsure if your new career path in industry is right for you.

In case, you do not want to close the door to a scientific career for good, becoming a reviewer is great. Thsi way to can keep you name active in the scientific community. If you should come back to science, you didn’t loose touch with the developments in your field.

Be a reviewer to give back to the scientific community

When you needed to publish your work, some editor made the effort to find competent reviewers. And several reviewers took the time to comment on your work.

Every editor knows it can be difficult to find suitable reviewers. It is even more difficult to identify those who are also willing to review an article. So even if you don’t want to pursue a career in science, consider to review a few article to give back to the scientific community. This community made it possible for you to earn your scientific stripes. Giving something back without benefiting from it shows paramount integrity (a topic I discuss here as well).