Category Archives: peer review

professors of the poison pen

Posted on October 30, 2017 by

Paul Stein’s 1939 film, The Poison Pen, is set in a small English village whose residents receive anonymous letters alleging sexual and moral misbehaviour. The recipients become increasingly angry and bent on revenge. A formerly quiet and placid place becomes … Continue reading →

Posted in peer review, poison pen, Professor | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

when peer review is scent marking

Posted on June 19, 2017 by

Continuing random posts on peer reviewer behaviour… So we all know what scent marking is. It’s when animals set out the boundaries of their territory by leaving their scent in strategic places. Scentmarked territories are often used for sleeping and/or mating … Continue reading →

Posted in disciplines, journal article, peer review, subfield, territoriality, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

self-citation by proxy

Posted on May 15, 2017 by

Meet Dr Oozing-Confidence. He knows his work is important. Very important. Superior even. He gets very miffed when he reads anything that is on his topic, or connected with it, that doesn’t recognise his contributions and their significance. He is always keen … Continue reading →

Posted in conversation, journal article, peer review, self-citation | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

what does a book proposal reviewer do?

Posted on January 26, 2017 by

A post for academic book week. When you send in a book proposal to a publisher, chances are that it will be sent out to reviewers. This is peer review – and a version that actually gets talked about very little. … Continue reading →

Posted in book proposal, peer review, reviews, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

what did that peer reviewer actually mean?

Posted on January 12, 2017 by

We all know that real estate agents write in code. Renovation potential means it’s a dump. First home buyer’s dream means it’s a dump. Original condition means it’s a dump. Now, journal reviewers have codes too. You may find that … Continue reading →

Posted in peer review, reviewer speak, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

the appraisal and rejection of conference abstracts

Posted on September 12, 2013 by

I had an email recently from an early career researcher who’d just had an abstract for a conference knocked back. When they asked for feedback, they were shocked by what they read. Presumably assuming that the writer would never see … Continue reading →

Posted in abstracts, conference papers, early career researchers, peer review, rejection, reviewing | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

a case of conflicting reviewer comments

Posted on May 27, 2013 by

So you’ve sent the paper into the journal and now the referee comments are in your in-box. You finally pluck up the courage to open the email and what do you find? Contradictory comments. Not helpful. Not at all. We … Continue reading →

Posted in conflicting reviews, journal, journal editor, peer review, refereeing | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments