As a person outside academia, can I e-mail authors if I have questions about their work?

Question

I am autistic and I hold a bachelor's degree but, sadly, had to quit grad school due to health reasons. I have a special interest in a subfield of hematology-oncology and have read a fair amount of research papers about that subject. I have some – hopefully – sound questions that I'd like to get answered but these are very precise questions regarding a specific subject that only a couple hundred researchers know about (so no luck getting answers elsewhere). Since I am not in academia I can't post them in the comment section on ResearchGate (which would have been more practical).

How appropriate is it for me to e-mail the corresponding author to ask for details about their paper and/or ask for their insights about a possible research gap? Should I mention that I am autistic with a special interest in their research subject?

Answer 1

It's always entirely appropriate to email the corresponding author of a paper to ask about the details of that paper (indeed, that's what the role of 'corresponding author' is all about). The following (at a minimum) don't affect that answer, and don't especially need to be mentioned (unless you want to mention them): (i) whether you're in academia, (ii) whether you hold a research degree, and (iii) whether you're autistic. Conversely, you might want to mention that you have a special interest in their research subject, if you genuinely do - people tend to enjoy talking to kindred spirits :)

As another answer implies, the tone of the message you send them may affect your chances of getting the desired response. A reasonable formula might be:

Hi <>,

I'm <>, and I have a particular interest in <> because <> (keep it brief). I recently read your paper on <>, which I found really interesting because <> (imply that you actually put in the effort to read it in detail, and so you're not asking things that could have been trivially answered by reading it). However, there were a couple of things I didn't quite get from the paper, and I wondered if I could run them by you if you have time please?

<Question 1>

<Question 2>

(not too many questions in a first email)

Many thanks!

<>

Basically, keep it brief, friendly and non-onerous for them, and you're more likely to get an answer.

Answer 2

I've written to authors to ask details about the diets they fed to mice in their experiments, from an entirely non-academic e-mail address and they responded very quickly. Just don't ask them to submit a research paper to your journal! (as corresponding author that's the type of spam I always get). From my most recent paper, altmetric score of 800, reported in 100 newspapers, I got around three real people writing to me and I was happy to respond properly to all of them. Go for it.

If anything writing to researchers sharing your interest, could potentially be a first stop on rejoining your career working in their labs. Of course that's a very distant goal that relies on a lot of other steps. But definitely embrace your interests, and do reach out, researchers don't bite.

Answer 3

How appropriate is it for me to e-mail the corresponding author to ask for details ... and/or ... insights about a possible research gap?

Very appropriate. Just don't write them in a presumptive or accusative tone, and be respectful. Now, you mentioned autism, which sometimes makes it difficult to adhere to the finer points of social convention; so, if this is the case for you, perhaps you should ask someone to give your email a once-over to make sure you're not being unintentionally offensive somehow. Or, indeed...

Should I mention that I am autistic

... possibly do that. But only if it's important for them to be aware of your autism when answering your question. Otherwise, who cares what you are?

with a special interest in their research subject?

If you're not an academic and are writing these authors, then you obviously have such a special interest. But you should probably write what your interest is, i.e. whether you or people you know are suffering from some medical condition the book discusses; whether you are considering about a diagnostic, therapeutic or palliative method; or whether you just find it interesting, period.

On the other hand - don't write an essay. Be relatively brief and to the point, or split off a long description-of-motivation to an appendix after the request proper.

Answer 4

It is fine to do so. I recommend that, if possible, you have some academic introduce you to the author. This might be a former professor, for example. It is harder to ignore a mail from another academic than from an otherwise unknown person.

But, for first contact, write a short mail, introducing yourself (briefly) and asking if they would be willing to answer some questions in the future.

Your mail might look quite a lot like your post here.

But, don't flood them in a first contact. Many such mails are simply discarded. If you start out slowly you'll probably have a better chance of success.