Sharing samples to advance knowledge

“Smooth single-layer graphene films want to meet new instruments for exotic experiments and unique measurements.” Well, not quite, but matchmaking is the goal of Sample of Science, a website launched in June to help scientists who make samples connect with scientists who need them (see http://www.sampleofscience.net ).

“Conferences have been the main place to get in touch with people,” says Sample of Science cofounder Olivier Acher, director of innovation at optics manufacturer Horiba Jobin Yvon near Paris. “But I [have] found it not very convenient to agree over a cup of coffee. Each scientist thinks he understands the other, but there are many details that cannot be handled in this frame.”

With the new website, scientists can post descriptions of their samples. When other scientists want to explore the use of a given sample, the parties discuss privately the terms under which they collaborate. Money comes into the equation only when a sample is actually transferred: Then, the sample adopter pays a €400 ($527) fee to have the sample description published in the open access Sample of Science Bulletin, the company’s sole source of revenue. Publications in the bulletin become citable references.

“Many times people have brilliant techniques, and they are often looking for samples that are interesting and suitable for their techniques,” says Matthias Kellermeier, a physical chemist at the University of Konstanz and a volunteer editor who vets submissions to the Sample of Science website. Often, he says, people involved in synthesizing and characterizing materials are “not directly linked in a common field. Sample of Science can connect people who belong to different communities.”

To start with, postings on Sample of Science will be divided into six materials-sciences categories: graphene, low-dimensional nanostructures, magnetic materials, sol-gel and hybrid materials, fluorescent nanocrystals and quantum dots, and metal-organic frameworks. Other categories will be created as needed, says cofounder and chief editor Romain Melet.

He recounts his own experience as a physics PhD student in France: “I was looking for a sample made of quantum dots in a specific geometry,” he says. Eventually, through conversations with scientists in Japan, his adviser found a sample and forged a collaboration. But, says Melet, it took more than two years and happened “almost by chance. It revealed to me how important samples are for the development of science.”

Horiba has provided startup funding for Sample of Science. But, says Acher, “We want to be self-sufficient and independent in the medium-term—in less than five years.” Profits are not the main aim, he insists. “My aim and Romain’s aim is to make something that is as important for scientists as open-access publishing. This is my personal dream.”