A failed western blot experiment image posted online in February triggered a satirical academic trend in China. The blot produced an unexpected pattern resembling a panda face instead of the usual horizontal bands. A biology master’s student shared the photo on RedNote, and comments joked about publishing the result in “Rubbish,” an imaginary journal for failed or useless work. A biomedical engineering master’s student created a real “Rubbish” account shortly after seeing the post. The journal invited submissions including unexplained experimental results, research anecdotes, and group gossip, published for free once labeled rubbish, with an expected impact factor of zero. The account gained followers rapidly and began publishing content immediately.
"The test went so wrong that instead of showing the standard few horizontal dashes, the image resembled a panda's face: round blobs on blobs."
"“I thought, why don't I start a Rubbish journal in real life,” says Li,. Hours after seeing the post, he set up Rubbish on RedNote."
"The satirical journal would “welcome a wide range of submissions, which can be about unexplainable experiment results, anecdotes that happened during your research or gossip within your research group”, read Rubbish 's inaugural post on 12 February."
"Submissions could take the form of photos or a few paragraphs about any academic topic, the post said. Once deemed rubbish, these would be published for free. The journal's impact factor “is expected to be zero”, the post added."
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