Writing alone: benefits and pitfalls

Yesterday, I wrote about the types of collaboration we commonly observe in science. Today, I want to spend 5 minutes thinking about what happens when you write a science paper alone.

Benefits:

• New projects can emerge and die quickly.
• You set your own standards.
• You increase your range of skills by having to do all of the work.

Pitfalls:

• It takes slighly longer to write a paper alone since you cannot share the workload.
• The feedback loop is slow: you can waste months or years without anyone telling you how stupid you are.
• It is easier to go unnoticed when you work alone.

I believe that you can alleviate some of the pitfalls:

• Do experimental work early and often. Nature is the best coauthor.
• Read a lot and keep an open mind. Do not become overspecialized.
• Manage your time tightly.
• Make your work widely available.