Should we reach out to fellow researchers, or patiently wait for them?

[LCSPhysicist2]

Hi all.

Before getting straight to the point, let me provide some context. I am close to finishing my master’s degree, and the optimistic expectation is that I will finish it with three papers: at least one (with coauthors) published in a journal, while the other two (single-author) I plan to leave as open-access preprints while I organize my dissertation, etc., since I currently have no time to answer comments of referees.

One thing I have noticed is that it is rare for someone to read a paper from beginning to end, and even more rare to read a paper from a person not well-known, which is understandable since most professors at universities barely have time to do their own research, having to deal with many other bureaucratic tasks. At the same time, I have noticed that after publishing something, one often starts to receive emails from other researchers (sometimes well-known ones) pointing out related work of theirs.

Knowing this, I wonder whether someone who still has no established name in the field should mimic this behavior and actively look for new papers and contact the authors, or instead wait patiently for their name to become recognized, for people to start reading their work, and then, if appropriate, cite it.

 

[GlitchedGluon]

I am close to finishing my master’s degree, and the optimistic expectation is that I will finish it with three papers: at least one (with coauthors) published in a journal, while the other two (single-author) I plan to leave as open-access preprints while I organize my dissertation, etc., since I currently have no time to answer comments of referees.

It seems a bit odd to have two single author papers by the end of a masters. Usually, if you publish a paper, it is based on the work you have done for your master thesis, with your masters advisor (and collaborators, if any) as authors as well. I don't know about your specific situation, but if those two papers are related to your master thesis, it might be wise to get your advisor involved as well. That way, you will benefit from his expertise and it will be easier to get them published.

One thing I have noticed is that it is rare for someone to read a paper from beginning to end

Indeed. Usually, you start reading the abstract and then you read the conclusions. If you are interested in some of the details, you read whatever part is relevant. Otherwise, it would be extremely time-consuming.

Knowing this, I wonder whether someone who still has no established name in the field should mimic this behavior and actively look for new papers and contact the authors, or instead wait patiently for their name to become recognized, for people to start reading their work, and then, if appropriate, cite it.

You should definitely reach out to other researchers, specially if their work is related to yours. Do that in conferences/workshops as well, if you attend any. That is how you get yourself known and establish connections. I know of a guy that reached out to Wilczek once and managed to write a couple of papers with him. Of course, that is an extreme example.

 

[Choppy]

Well you should always actively look for new papers in your field.
You can for example use Google Scholar to set alerts for keywords of interested. Every couple days you get a summary of potential papers of interest. Reading review papers can also help, depending on the field.
With respect to contacting authors, there's an etiquette to it. You don't want to spam people, so I would avoid doing this superfluously. On the other hand if you find someone is doing some interesting research, it's okay to reach out and tell them so. Or if you cite them in one of your manuscripts, you can let them know as well. I've also reached out to other authors when I've been working on similar stuff and had questions about how they did things. In at least one case that led to a very productive collaboration.