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Re: jobs-hiring- suggestions
Douglas B Hanson (dhanson@WORLD.STD.COM)
Fri, 10 Jun 1994 09:44:07 -0400
>
> POST SCRIPT . . . since academic work is oft predicated on publication
> record . . . why not work to get the review time for submitted articles
> down from 3 to six month to a matter of weeks (since six months to review
> an article means that in order to get publications when a graduate studen
> that an individual might have to avoid dual submissions and thus work for
> years to find just the journal that would take the work . . . before even
> having been awarded a doctorate. What about permitting multiple ubmissio
I think we ought to be getting the editors on-line here. My impression from
everything I've heard is that editors are overwhelmed by the sheer volume
of papers being sumbitted for publication. Many journals in biomedicine for
instance have not only had to increase the size of their editorial staff,
but have had to increase the number of pages in each issue and in some
cases the number of issues per year. Papers we've submitted to Journal of
Bone and Mineral Research, for instance have taken more than a year to get
published.
Part of the problem is with reviewers. Frequently our manuscripts are given
to reviewers who do not respond in a timely fashion. When we write the
editors asking about the delay we are usually told that the reviewer(s) has
been out of the country, etc. Frankly, I see this more as the editor's
problem who should take the initiative to cut that reviewer out of the
review process.
I am also concerned about the whole editorial process. I don't know about
the rest of you and it just may be the journals I am reading, but I am
seeing many more poor quality papers than I did say ten years ago. I think
the rush to publish and the demands made on scientists to get papers out at
any cost has resulted in a large mish-mash of published works, much of
which I find unreadable or not worth reading. Just an opinion...
Douglas B. Hanson, Ph.D.
Bioengineering Department
Forsyth Dental Center
140 Fenway
Boston, MA 02115
dhanson@world.std.com
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