Our Pledge to You

We are incredibly fortunate to live in this era.  We’ve got a front-row seat to watch the collision of the internet and science.  Over the next decade, we can expect major changes in the scientific process – from teaching to learning to the way we think about publication.

Whatever happens, we, BenchFly, pledge that the following statement will always be true:

Uploading, viewing and sharing protocols on BenchFly is free.

It has to be.

Whether in a small lab in a small school in a small country; or in an empty lab in an empty department at 3am- researchers worldwide should have access to the same expert instruction at the click of a mouse.

Science is an intriguing mix of competition and benevolence.  We all want to change the world or discover something new.  But as long as there are limited resources (read as “forever”…), there will be competition.  As long as there is competition, it will be very difficult to convince people to share certain aspects of their projects, like real-time data.  Sharing data is generally saved for after publication.   So while increasing transparency throughout the entire scientific process may be desirable, it is unreasonable to expect.

Techniques are different.  As research scientists, 99 percent of the protocols we carry out on a daily basis are not novel.  In fact, as much as it pains me to think about this, in 15 years at the bench, I didn’t perform a single novel technique.  But I did use standard techniques to uncover several new findings.  Novelty generally arises not from the techniques themselves, but rather from how they’re applied.  Therefore, a lab’s trade secrets are not the protocols, but rather the reagents, constructs, cell lines, etc..

In summary, BenchFly isn’t asking for your real-time data.  We aim to democratize science through broad access to the resources upon which projects are built.   The more access we all have to expert techniques, the more efficient the scientific process and the more breakthroughs we might expect as an industry.  We feel this is too important to carry a pricetag.

So pick up a camera and show the world your expertise- it won’t cost you a thing!