Joel Pick

So much this!! Code is so valuable and literally the thing that creates your results. When you include it in your paper it can be such a valuable resource to everyone (plus earn you a couple more citations).

Photo of Jane Goodall in the center, signing a book, with three women standing slightly hunched behind her. A very young Michelle is to the right, smiling.

As a primatologist, Jane Goodall was a huge inspiration to me. I admired the way she describes chimpanzee behavior with such detail and empathy, and she’s inspired so many people and advocated for chimpanzee conservation and welfare.

However, I'm dismayed at what her narrative leaves out (1/10)

A serious failure case is that many biologists seem to have been taught that they should inspect bivariate correlations between predictors and not include pairs with high correlations. That is not even "collinearity" as statisticians define it (where is about joint info in additive model).

tl;dr Collinearity is a form of lack of information that is appropriately reflected in the output of your statistical model. When collinearity is associated with interpretational difficulties, these difficulties aren’t caused by the collinearity itself. Rather, they reveal that the model was poorly specified (in that it answers a question different to the one of interest), that the analyst overly focuses on significance rather than estimates and the uncertainty about them or that the analyst took a mental shortcut in interpreting the model that could’ve also led them astray in the absence of collinearity. If you do decide to “deal with” collinearity, make sure you can still answer the question of interest.

Was asked about collinearity again, so here's Vahove's 2019 post on why it isn't a problem that needs a solution. Design the model(s) to answer a formal question and free your mind janhove.github.io/posts/2019-0...

📢🚨Please share! We’re hiring! 📢🚨Have a strong interests in wildlife ecology and gut microbiome bioinformatics? 3 year Senior Research Associate for NERC Pushing the Frontiers grant. Apply here: vacancies.uea.ac.uk/vacancies/18.... Informal enquiries welcome! drgldavidson.github.io/ACMEresearch

Interested in simulating the kind of data that you might commonly find in evolutionary and ecological studies?

Then we have the R package for you - squidSim!!

Check our new preprint:
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

🚀 We’re hiring a Postdoc!

Join our group in Poznan, Poland to study meiotic crossover recombination in plants 🌱 Highly motivated & enthusiastic candidates are welcome!
📅 Deadline: Nov 1, 2025

🔗 ibmib.web.amu.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Postdoc_position-2025-Ziolkowskis-Lab.pdf

And we still have an opening for a Lecturer in Nature, Environment and Society
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

Simonsohn has now posted a blog response to our recent paper about the poor statistical properties of the P curve. @clintin.bsky.social and I are finishing up a less-technical paper that will serve as a response. But I wanted to address a meta-issue *around* this that may clarify some things. 1/x

Sport and exercise science doesn't need papers telling researchers how to "make the most" of their small samples. The field needs to either grow the fuck up and collect sufficient data for adequate power/precision, or continue with their small samples but shut the fuck up and wait for a decent meta.

Register now for #SORTEE2025 conference!

We thank our sponsors (@asn-amnat.bsky.social, @cdnsciencepub.com, @datadryad.bsky.social, @peercommunityin.bsky.social, @royalsociety.org, @sse-evolution.bsky.social, @biologists.bsky.social) who are eligible for free registration.

Scientific productivity gap based on English-language peer-reviewed papers. Shown are the maximum % differences in the number of peer-reviewed papers published by female native English speakers from a high-income country (-45%), female non-native English speakers from a high-income country (-60%), and female non-native English speakers from a lower-middle income country (-70%), compared to male native English speakers from a high-income country (red flag).

Women, non-native English speakers & those form low-income countries are disadvantaged in science but by how much? We found that women with non-English first languages from low-income countries publish up to 70% fewer in English than their counterparts. 1/5
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
#languagebarriers

From policy to practice: progress towards data- and code-sharing in ecology and evolution | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Data and code are essential for ensuring the credibility of scientific results and facilitating reproducibility, areas in which journal sharing policies play a crucial role. However, in ecology and ev...

Open data & code make science better.

That means sharing data, & code with published research AND during peer review.

But even at the better journals, submitting a manuscript is often confusing and tedious.

🧵1/3
doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

From policy to practice: progress towards data- and code-sharing in ecology and evolution | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Data and code are essential for ensuring the credibility of scientific results and facilitating reproducibility, areas in which journal sharing policies play a crucial role. However, in ecology and evolution, we still do not know how widespread data- and ...

Our latest #SORTEE-led paper is out now in #ProcB!

We reviewed data/code-sharing policy clarity, strictness & timing across 275 EcoEvo journals

We also worked with #ProcB & #EcologyLetters to assess initial compliance with sharing mandates. Huge team effort! 👉 doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

Great to see this out! Only ~23% of psychology journals have a post-publication critique format (e.g., letter to the editor). Some impose strict limits (e.g., 400 words & 4 weeks to submit). Critiques are rarely published — in two random samples of 101 empirical articles we found only 1 critique.

Not long left now to apply for these new Data Editor positions! Feel free to email me for more details.

Please share with your networks or anyone that may be interested.

Only 38% of ecology and evolution journals mandate data sharing and just 27% mandate code sharing

New paper out today on how to fix this! Thnx to @eivimeycook.bsky.social @asanchez-tojar.bsky.social @nickmoran-sci.bsky.social @royalsocietypublishing.org

👉 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....

New in #ProcB - From policy to practice: Progress towards #data- and #code-sharing in ecology and evolution @asanchez-tojar.bsky.social @eivimeycook.bsky.social tell us more in our blog royalsociety.org/blog/2025/09...

Amazing work led by @joelpick.bsky.social A nice tool for those using mixed models in their research and wanting to i) improve their own understanding of these models and ii) conduct more robust analyses. It is also a great pedagogical tool!

📣 Hot off the press at #ProcB!

🔍 Our study checked data/code-sharing policies in 275 eco/evo journals and compliance in Proc B (n=2,340) & Ecology Letters (n=571). Policies exist, but clarity and strictness vary, affecting reproducibility.

🔗 doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

SquidSim is the coolest package - it let's you build complex hierarchical data structures and then simulate data from the world you create. The best tool for doing proper power analyses and testing how well your models can uncover the 'truth'. I've been recommending it to everyone!

If you want to simulate all kinds of data - from simple to very complex - check out this new package 📦 by @joelpick.bsky.social et al!

Come and work with us! Three new academic posts (including Animal Behaviour) and superb facilities in the new Life & Mind Building

All made possible by the great work of @dingemanselab.bsky.social @katelaskowski.bsky.social @eivimeycook.bsky.social @neddochtermann.bsky.social @hallegue.bsky.social @barbaraclass.bsky.social @denisreale.bsky.social Yimen Araya Ajoy, Jon Wright, Dave Westneat

Over the last few years, we have also very successfully used this package to teach linear mixed models and simulation to graduate students. We discuss this more at the end of the preprint.

We have a huge amount of documentation, including many worked examples: squidgroup.org/squidSim_vig...

This is an ever expanding resource, so if there isn't something there that you would find useful, let us know!!

Diagram linking a model equation to the syntax used in squidSim R package

The package is designed to lower the barrier to coding for simulations, and allow users to focus on the parameters themselves. It also provides a consistent and logical syntax, which links directly to the model equations that are being simulated from.

Figure with two panels, the right showing data simulated with spatial autocorrelation, and one showing data with no spatial autocorrelation

Our new preprint describes the squidSim R package, flexible and reproducible software for simulating a diverse range of data from GLMMs and extensions, including hierarchical, multivariate and non-Gaussian data, temporal and spatial autocorrelation, and genetic and phylogenetic effects.

Interested in simulating the kind of data that you might commonly find in evolutionary and ecological studies?

Then we have the R package for you - squidSim!!

Check our new preprint:
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...