Although often daunting and discouraging, every academic must navigate the inevitable process of peer review. In this week’s post, Jean-Baptiste Koehl, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oslo (Norway), reflects on what the future of peer review might be. Author disclaimer: The reflections presented here reflect my perspective grounded in my own experience. While peer review is a key mech ...[Read More]
Do you want to publish and access papers for free? Do you want to improve the system by promoting equitable publishing alternatives? Then read on to learn about Geodynamica: Earth & Planets: a new community-powered Diamond Open Access Journal (DOAJ)! Join the conversation on discord by following this link. Diamond Open What? Diamond Open Access journals are peer-reviewed journals that are free ...[Read More]
As I already mentioned in the past, anonymity can lead to bad reviews. A state of namelessness can empower younger scientists to criticize manuscripts from potential future employers. But it also allows unaccommodating reviewers to stall a perfectly good submission for…reasons? Meia has encountered, or heard of such buffoons, and wonders: How to deal with an anonymous unreasonable reviewer? ...[Read More]
As academics, a lot of our time is invested in activities that are not seemingly related to our research. Teaching, organising seminars, writing EGU blog posts, reviewing papers. While I don’t deny the time consumingness of it, reviewing papers is a necessary and useful activity, at least as long as the publishing system works the way it currently does (that’s a topic for another post) ...[Read More]
Enzo submitted his manuscript for review at one of those well-known, Earth science-niche journals. However, shortly thereafter he received an email by his editor that it was rejected. Reason being that not enough research was added in the manuscript. Furious, he bellows: When is my research open enough to be published? Dear Enzo, I know, right? It seems that over the past few years the need to giv ...[Read More]
While savouring a refreshing beverage and browsing through news of [yet another] dystopian summer, Ethan keeps receiving notifications from his e-mail. It turns out that he is insistently being asked to review (again and again) a paper. Naturally, he turns to me to ask: How can I refuse doing paper reviews? Dear Ethan, A question as old as time academia! The increase in publication volumes in the ...[Read More]
How to write a reply to reviewers for the first time? Dear Marcelo, Oh my, oh my! First off, congrats for finally getting that ‘final_manuscript_v10.doxc’ out of your computer and into the submission portal. And congrats for not being desk rejected. You have already made it where many others have failed. The first reply to reviewers can be daunting and overwhelming. You are supposed to ...[Read More]
Every week, The Sassy Scientist answers a question on geodynamics, related topics, academic life, the universe or anything in between with a healthy dose of sarcasm. Do you have a question for The Sassy Scientist? Submit your question here or leave a comment below. After having dutifully followed the instructions put forward on this very blog on how to write a proper peer-review, Tomás got their i ...[Read More]
An important and inevitable aspect of being in academia is receiving a request to peer-review a paper. And much like the papers we write and submit, retaining structure and clarity for the review itself is important. This week Adina E. Pusok, Postdoctoral Researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, and our outgoing GD ECR representative, shares some detailed and helpful tips for writi ...[Read More]
