Ever since Genome Biology‘s inaugural issue 10 years ago, Greg Petsko (or his dogs) has contributed a monthly column in which he has given us his views on the state of genome science and science in general. He has rarely shied away from stating controversial opinions, and his column in October – which excoriates the Board of the State University of New York at Albany for closing whole departments for financial reasons – was no different.
Given the global economic crisis, university departmental closure is an issue that affects large numbers of people, and not just in the US. Indeed, a recent review of government spending in the UK has recommended swingeing cuts in university funding and has focused allocated funding on commercially-driven research. Perhaps reflecting this widespread interest, Greg’s column has been accessed a staggering number of times – more than 100,000 hits in less than three months. To put that in perspective, that makes it the second most read Genome Biology article in the journal’s history, only surpassed by this one, which has been viewed 140,000 times (but that has taken 8 years).
As well as these impressive stats, Greg has received more than 500 personal emails in response to the column, and numerous requests for reprints and permission to translate it into various languages. Well done Greg!
Andrew Cosgrove
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