We’re changing our name to TPM Science. This is partly because we no longer just review scientific papers (see below), and partly because of the negative connotations of our old name. It turns out that in academia, a “paper mill” is a derogatory term for for-profit companies that mass-produce scientific papers without care for the quality of the research.
So let’s talk about the Elephant in the Room. Why would a company that helps scientists write papers call itself ThePaperMill in the first place? Aren’t “paper mills” bad for science?
Here’s the story about how that happened, and how the values and mission behind our old name are stronger than ever.
During my PhD, I learned an important lesson about how we do science
As a PhD student studying genetics in my old lab, I had to learn every step of the genotyping process – designing primers, preparing samples, running gels, analysing results. And it was the same for every new student, a slow, inefficient process of trial-and-error, learning the same steps, and making the same mistakes.
Then, technology improved and specialist genotyping companies emerged that could produce higher quality results, save us time and money, and allow us to focus on what we do best: science. Moreover, since we were using public research money, doing things more efficiently was not just an option, it was an ethical responsibility.
This taught me that although I could learn to do anything, that doesn’t mean I should. I’m ethically bound to find the most efficient way to get science done.
So, what does this have to do with scientific writing?
Well, even today, scientists learn to write papers in the same inefficient way I used to learn genotyping. It’s slow, and everyone learns by trial and error, often guided by senior scientists who themselves learned by trial and error, and certainly weren’t trained to teach it to others. In science, we have protocols for everything, but not for writing! Most research groups don’t have guidelines or consistent practices, let alone training on how to do it, and this crucial scientific task then becomes an artisanal skill learned after years of practice.
This challenge of writing scientific papers is understandably disorienting for many, especially younger researchers. It slows them down and hinders their scientific progress. This inefficiency means wasted public money and this is ultimately unethical.
ThePaperMill: born from a side-job as a postdoc
In 2006, I started working in a non-native-speaking lab, and soon started helping other researchers review their papers. Initially, people asked me for “help with the English”, but I quickly realised that the language wasn’t the real problem. Even after fixing grammar and style, the scientific message often remained unclear, disorganised, and confusing. And of course, I realised I was making the same mistakes in my own papers.
When I left research in 2013, I decided to continue working for other scientists to help them publish their papers. I wanted to help them be more efficient in getting their papers written, and remove this barrier that was slowing them down so they could focus on what they do best: the science itself. It was all about papers, efficiency, productivity, and getting science done, so I decided to call it ThePaperMill.
What’s the problem with being called ThePaperMill?
When I started ThePaperMill in 2012, the term “paper mill” wasn’t widely used in Europe to refer to the unethical practice of mass-producing scientific papers for profit. I was certainly unaware of it, and I guess I was just unlucky to have picked precisely this unfortunate name.
I first discovered the issue with our name about six years after starting ThePaperMill, and had to make a decision. We were growing rapidly, our services were in high demand, and our clients didn’t seem aware of the problem. So, for better or worse, I decided to keep the name and keep going. Maybe we could even change the meaning of “paper mill” to something associated with efficient, high-quality work!
We’re changing our name for two main reasons
After 11 years of great success as ThePaperMill, we’ve finally decided to change our name to TPM Science for two main reasons.
First, we can no longer ignore the negative connotations of “paper mill”. As the academic publishing landscape has evolved in recent years, people are now more aware of the “paper mills” problem.
Secondly, our work has grown far beyond just editing papers. We’ve truly enjoyed and learned a lot from the over 650 papers we’ve reviewed over the last 11 years, and we now have a team of 8 in-house and collaborating editors, led by our manuscripts manager, Dr. Valeria Di Giacomo.
In 2015, we started offering training workshops in transferable skills for researchers, and our portfolio now includes 9 different topics. This is the area that has grown the most, especially since the arrival of our incombustable new training manager, Dr. Lisa Saemisch. In the last 5 years, we have run more than 380 days of training at over 50 institutes in 11 countries, and this list is growing steadily.
Finally, we began working on grants in 2014, and this area is now led by our lead consultant, Dr. Marc Font. In 2023, we reviewed almost 30 grants for all the major EU and national calls (ERC-StG, CoG, AdV, and SyG; MSCA-IF and DN; and SO and RyC calls), and we now have a team of 4 internal and external collaborating consultants.
The same values drive our work even now
It’s almost surprising to discover that, after more than a decade, we’re still guided by the same values of efficient, high quality work that gave birth to our old name. To us, science is not just a job, it’s not even just fun (which it is!), it’s an important and urgent task for society, and we are proud to be part of it.
Our values are present in every new workshop module we develop, every paper and grant we review, and every time we design a new process to help other scientists in their task of Getting. Science. Done. That’s our new motto by the way!
Thanks to you, our clients, collaborators, supporters and friends, for accompanying us and believing in us throughout the last decade. We hope you will continue to trust us as your partner, and encourage us to continue doing better.