News in Science

Survey shows scientists are working overtime

Working scientists Scientists around the world are working overtime - often through the night or on weekends, a new survey has found.

"Scientists may feel engaged and satisfied with their research work," write the research team from the Dailan University of Technology in China, "however, working too much is still a serious and heavy issue, which warns us to reconsider the work-life balance."

Dr Xianwen Wang and colleagues report their findings in a recent issue of the Journal of Informetrics.

Wang and colleagues drew up a global snapshot of scientists' working habitats by using an analytics platform that visualises the number of downloads of publications from the scientific publisher, Springer Verlag.

They collected information on the number of publication downloads by scientists from 30 countries throughout the day, over four week days and four weekends in April 2012.

The more downloads that were occurring, the more research was being done.

During the eight-day period, the highest number of downloads was from the US (392,985), followed by Germany, China, UK, Canada, Australia (38,486), Japan, India, Iran and France.

The picture Wang and colleagues got when they plotted the downloads throughout the day was revealing.

"Despite the different working habits in different countries, a quite common conclusion in most countries is that scientists all over the world today are working overtime," say the researchers.

"In the United States and France overnight work is more prevalent among scientists; while in United Kingdom and mainland China, scientists usually work almost as hard on the weekends as on the weekdays."

"The Australian curve and New Zealand curve show a similar trend on both weekdays and weekends," they say.

"Moreover, at weekend night, the number of downloads even exceeds the number at weekday night."

By contrast, the researchers found that Japanese scientists always appeared to enjoy their weekends.

Lunch anyone?

Lunchtime was a point of difference when it came to scientists' timetables. For example, while there was no fixed lunch break in the US and UK, scientists took a short one in Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark, and a longer and later one in Italy, compared with France, Switzerland, Belgium and Portugal.

Holidays were also an important factor. For example, Fridays, which is a legal weekend day in Iran, was also a slow work day for Iranian scientists; and April 11th, which was election day in South Korea, also meant scientists in that country worked less.

Wang and colleagues say scientists need to have a high level of devotion to their work and are challenged by a competitive environment and the need to keep track of a rapidly growing scientific literature.

Such factors could be responsible, they say, for overwork that can lead to mental and physical health effects and work-family conflicts.

Catriona Jackson of Science & Technology Australia says passion for science is not the only factor driving how much scientists work.

"Increasing competition for research grants, public and private sector contracts as well as career uncertainty, can add to stress levels and disrupt the balance between work and life," she says.

"This is not productive for individuals or the economy. Part of our challenge is to create an environment where scientists can do their best, without missing out a productive work/life balance."