Scientists who switch the focus of their research to tackle emerging challenges receive significantly fewer citations for their new work, a Nature study has found.

Analysing more than 25 million papers published over a 45-year period, US researchers found that a pervasive ¡°pivot penalty¡± applied ¡°near universally across science¡± as the ¡°impact of new research steeply declines the further a researcher moves away from their previous work¡±.

The pivot penalty was also evident for those researchers who switched their research to focus on Covid-19 during the pandemic, explains the paper on 28 May.

While there was some ¡°premium associated with Covid-19 papers¡±, as evidenced by an ¡°upward shift in journal placement¡± attributed to the ¡°extreme interest in the pandemic¡±, researchers who switched to Covid-related topics faced a 61 per cent lower ¡°hit rate¡¯¡¯ (the likelihood of their papers featuring in the top 5 per cent of cited outputs) compared with similar non-pivoted Covid-era papers, the study finds.

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The findings underscore the ¡°central tension for individual researchers¡± asked to move into new areas of science in response to external opportunities, explains the Nature study, which highlights how ¡°working in a high-demand area has value, but pivoting leads to penalties that offset it¡±.

That could reflect how ¡°high-impact research is characterized primarily by highly conventional mixtures of prior knowledge but also tending to inject, simultaneously, a small dose of atypical combinations that are unusual in previous research¡±, suggest the authors based at Northwestern University, Cornell University and the University of California, Berkeley, as well as the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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¡°Larger pivots further exhibit weak engagement with established mixtures of prior knowledge, lower publication success rates and less market impact,¡± the paper adds.

The paper also has implications, in particular, for younger researchers tempted to move into a different specialism given that ¡°the pivot penalty appears regardless of career stage, including very early in the career¡±.

While highlighting the need for adaptability and the ability to find ¡°fresh perspectives¡±, researchers should be aware about the ¡°present challenges associated with adjusting to a different topic or discipline.¡±

¡°The findings highlight the challenges of adapting to new fields of research. Studying the consequences of such pivots may help to inform approaches to improve adaptive success,¡± the authors conclude.

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jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com