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]
We all somewhat agree that publishing in Nature is a recognition of the value of our research and of the usefulness of our academic career. It does not matter that “our” research topic was bestowed upon us by our supervisor. And it certainly matters not, that we want to leave academia next year. At least we’ll leave with a bang! We all want to publish on the almost-holy pages of ...[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]
Hilde has been ever so occupied with her research, especially finishing a manuscript for the first time. Submitting that paper was supposed to be some sort of closure, and mental solace, yet somehow there seems to be a predilection for progressive diffidence: When has enough time passed to send a reminder/enquiry to an editor if the paper is in the ‘decision with editor’-stage? Dear Hilde, DonR ...[Read More]
Scientists are starved for recognition. When that little compliment we have been fishing for does not arrive from our supervisor, but from an unkown benefactor, we tend to open our hearts to them. But we should be careful about our new email besties. Delfina asks: Publishers have approached me for a book deal. How do I proceed? Dear Delfina, For the vast majority of the times, ignore them. Chances ...[Read More]
Diane is on top of her research. Not only that, her education is unparalleled and with this background she is therefore in a perfect position to adjudicate the works of others: A scientist I know published a paper drawing the wrong conclusions from their own research. How should I let them know? Dear Diane, As per the title of this very post, you simply write a comment. Submit this to the journal ...[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]