Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Editorial
. 2009 Oct;77(10):4177-80.
doi: 10.1128/IAI.00757-09. Epub 2009 Jul 27.

Important science--it's all about the SPIN

Editorial

Important science--it's all about the SPIN

Arturo Casadevall et al. Infect Immun. 2009 Oct.

Abstract

The importance of a scientific finding can be difficult to ascertain because it requires both subjective judgment and foresight. We propose criteria, based upon whether a discovery is sizeable (S), practical (P), integrated (I), and new (N), that can be used individually or collectively to systematically assess the importance of a finding.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Avery, O. T., C. M. MacLeod, and M. McCarty. 1944. Studies on the chemical nature of the substance inducing transformation in the pneumococcus. J. Exp. Med. 79:137-158. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Casadevall, A., and F. C. Fang. 2008. Descriptive science. Infect. Immun. 76:3835-3836. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Casadevall, A., and F. C. Fang. 2009. Mechanistic science. Infect. Immun. 77:3517-3519. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chargaff, E. 1950. Chemical specificity of nucleic acids and mechanisms of their enzymatic degradation. Experientia 6:201-209. - PubMed
    1. Chu, C., R. Schneerson, J. B. Robbins, and S. C. Rastogi. 1983. Further studies on the immunogenicity of Haemophilus influenzae type b and pneumococcal type 6A polysaccharide-protein conjugates. Infect. Immun. 40:245-256. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources