So I was wondering.... when new badges will come out? Cuz I have a bunch of work done and just one publication. Not the objective, I know, but It helps to keep us motivated and motive other people :D

There is unfortunately often a large lag time between when work is crunched and when an article is finally published. This lag time can range from 6 months to two years. The factors affecting this are complicated, and a number of them are out of our control. Analysis of the data can take as long as the simulations, and if we are working with collaborators we often need to wait for their results before we can publish. All that is before we even start submitting to journals and going through the peer review process, which can be grueling and lengthy. Sometimes it is difficult for good reasons (other scientists want to be sure our results are real), and other times for bad reasons or no reason at all (luck, politics, you name it).

That being said, we hope to have a few new publications in the coming months, and we will update the badges when we have them. I don't want to give timescales, because we cannot predict them. For example, we have one paper we have been trying to publish for over a year, and the WUs were crunched almost two years ago. We have hopefully gone through the final hurdles with that one. Gah! We are always working to shorten this time, and we have learned a lot over the years on how to do so. Still, science is meant to be slow and careful. You can read here about a recent case where a publication was rushed, and errors were almost found immediately: http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2013/05/cell-investigating-breakthrough-.html?ref=hp

Nate! That was an awesome explanation. Thank you a lot for that. I somehow knew, looking for the other people badges, that my lack of them was something to do with late engagement to project. After 13 years looking hardly for ET on SETI@HOME, I feel like heading for something else, and just recently found my home here, and your explanation was awesome. Thank you so very much.