When Goodbye is Suddenly Tomorrow: How to Wrap Up Science Projects Quickly

In response to the rapid dismantling of U.S. scientific infrastructure, scientists are considering leaving in unprecedented droves. Large projects are getting defunded mid-cycle, entire laboratories are shutting down. This raises an urgent question: How can we ensure that the effort and resources already invested in partially finished projects aren’t completely lost? In this piece, we discuss means for rapidly documenting partially finished projects, as well as publishing ‘as you go’ to prevent future problems in an uncertain environment. We provide example venues for releasing products produced at each stage of the research process, including specialized repositories and dedicated peer-reviewed journals. By salvaging and preserving what we can from defunded projects, we sustain hope that future researchers can build on our disrupted work.