I will second this.  As an editor, i went through 8 referees - including all of 
the authors' suggestions- to find just two.  I was supposed to find three, but 
we gave up at two.  

Another, related point: I was at an iucr meeting a few years ago and complained 
to Howard E, asking him why he was sending me so many mss to review.  His reply 
was: "well, you sent two mss in, and I have to get two reviews for each.  So I 
keep score - for each ms you send, I send two mss to you to review.  Otherwise 
the system doesn't work."

I took it to heart and stopped complaining.  And try to be more diligent about 
reviewing.

Adrian Goldman



On 12 Aug 2011, at 01:46, Phoebe Rice <pr...@uchicago.edu> wrote:

> Some people on this list seem to think that reviewers are on the whole lazy 
> and irresponsible and in need of some sort of public ridicule.
> 
> Please don't forget that reviewing manuscripts, while an important duty for 
> members of the community, is already in practice a completely thankless 
> volunteer job.  My understanding is that journal editors often have a very 
> difficult job talking 3 people per paper into acting as reviewers.
> 
> =====================================
> Phoebe A. Rice
> Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
> The University of Chicago
> phone 773 834 1723
> http://bmb.bsd.uchicago.edu/Faculty_and_Research/01_Faculty/01_Faculty_Alphabetically.php?faculty_id=123
> http://www.rsc.org/shop/books/2008/9780854042722.asp
> 
> 
> ---- Original message ----
>> Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:42:34 -0500
>> From: CCP4 bulletin board <CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK> (on behalf of Jacob Keller 
>> <j-kell...@fsm.northwestern.edu>)
>> Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] Another paper & structure retracted  
>> To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK
>> 
>> Do reviewers ever get taken to task for these things? Don't they share
>> at least some of the responsibility? Maybe they should have to give
>> their explicit imprimatur, perhaps only after the fact, if published?
>> 
>> JPK
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 2011/8/11 Colin Nave <colin.n...@diamond.ac.uk>:
>>> Well this article seems to have been refereed to 11 times so presumably 
>>> these 11 publications also have to be retracted. I haven't checked the 
>>> number of citations for each of the 11 publications but articles citing 
>>> these will also be in doubt. And then ......
>>> 
>>> It reminds me somewhat of the Erdos number calculation. How many 
>>> publications are each of us away from this. Is anyone safe.
>>> 
>>> Colin :(
>>> 
>>> From: CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK] On Behalf Of David 
>>> Schuller
>>> Sent: 10 August 2011 22:01
>>> To: ccp4bb
>>> Subject: [ccp4bb] Another paper & structure retracted
>>> 
>>> Time to fuel up the gossip engines for the approaching weekend:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096921260800186X
>>> 
>>> RETRACTED: Structure of the Parathyroid Hormone Receptor C Terminus Bound 
>>> to the G-Protein Dimer Gβ1γ2
>>> Structure, Volume 16, Issue 
>>> 7<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=PublicationURL&_tockey=%23TOC%236269%232008%23999839992%23693753%23FLA%23&_cdi=6269&_pubType=J&view=c&_auth=y&_acct=C000022719&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=492137&md5=9dc4b8953d3fa243dc98e395b6ac590d>,
>>>  9 July 2008, Pages 1086-1094
>>> Structure 2QNS withdrawn.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> 
>>> =======================================================================
>>> 
>>> All Things Serve the Beam
>>> 
>>> =======================================================================
>>> 
>>>                               David J. Schuller
>>> 
>>>                               modern man in a post-modern world
>>> 
>>>                               MacCHESS, Cornell University
>>> 
>>>                               
>>> schul...@cornell.edu<mailto:schul...@cornell.edu>
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> *******************************************
>> Jacob Pearson Keller
>> Northwestern University
>> Medical Scientist Training Program
>> cel: 773.608.9185
>> email: j-kell...@northwestern.edu
>> *******************************************

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