Are new ideas harder to find? A note on incremental research and Journal of Cheminformatics' Scientific Contribution Statement.

The article discusses the recent advancements in cheminformatics, particularly in the representation of chemical information for drug design. However, there is a perceived lack of transformative ideas in science compared to previous decades, with a potential explanation being the "low hanging fruit" problem where easier problems have already been solved. Another possible reason for declining research productivity is a shift towards more defensive research and regulatory requirements. Despite this, there is an increase in the number of research papers being published, leading to information overload for researchers. The Journal of Cheminformatics aims to address this by introducing a Scientific Contribution Statement, allowing authors to highlight their contributions and differentiate their work from prior research. The statement is intended to be a helpful tool for both editors and readers in assessing the value of a research paper. [Extracted from the article]