Ten simple rules for developing good reading habits during graduate school and beyond

Scientific activity has been compared to a scholarly conversation [1]. As scientific communities are now very large, this conversation mostly proceeds by writing and reading. While lot of advice exists about the writing part [2–4], much less attention has been devoted to what to read (see, however, [5]). Reading is fundamental for keeping updated in the advances of your discipline. However, scholarly literature grows at an increasingly fast pace [6]. Scientists, regardless of the stage in their career, have trouble in navigating an overwhelming amount of relevant literature. This overload can potentially lead to increasingly selective or cursory reading. Consequences are detrimental for the training of new scientists by decreasing quality standards. Good reading habits are essential and need to be instilled from the very beginning of a scientific career. As a coordinator of a doctoral program, I have addressed this issue in a recent workshop, after realizing the demand of advice on this topic by many graduate students. Here, I summarize the content of this workshop in 10 simple rules for achieving good reading habits (see also [5]). They were mainly intended to guide early graduate students, but I believe they can also be useful at later career stages.