5 ms·
Absence of a result is still a result, it's just not publishable. There are very few journals that will take a paper that boils down to "we tried some things t
by ink_13 7y ago
Absence of a result is still a result, it's just not publishable. There are very few journals that will take a paper that boils down to "we tried some things to solve this problem, and they didn't work, and not even in an interesting way".
Sometimes scientific progress goes "boink". Consequentialism is dangerous. Researchers, like everyone, need to be able to fail.
- dajohnson89 7y agoIf the attempt is novel, wouldn't it be worthwhile to share your failed results to help prevent others going down the same dead-end path you just did?
- lmm 7y agoYes. But your (financial, career) incentives are against doing that.