Last week, a paper came out that received a lot of very harsh criticism from the scientific community. First things first: I 100% agree with a lot of that criticism.

Criticizing a paper (or agreeing with others& #39; criticisms of a paper) is okay. That& #39;s how science works.

1/

HOWEVER, after seeing the paper, I shot off a careless tweet. It was meant to be lighthearted, but it missed the mark!!!! It came across as a personal attack on the authors.

It was a mistake to have posted it, and I have since deleted it.

2/

After I posted it, a lot of people came to my defense and said that my tweet was fine, in light of the issues with the paper in question. I appreciate the support.

But the fact remains: while scientific criticism is fine, an attack on the authors is not. I was in the wrong.

3/

Here& #39;s the bottom line:

As scientists, we try to get things right, but sometimes we goof. It& #39;s important to acknowledge our mistakes when we make them (and we do make them!!!!).

This applies not just to research but to twitter. I will try to be more careful in the future!

4/4