Russell, Oh, well! I couldn't' agree more: the reviewers who were recruited to read MY stuff were alsoall idiots and brigands.
A stand standard review package consisted of "REVIEWER A: This is the worst piece of outdated trash I have read in the last ten years. Where has this author been for the last fifty years. Living under some rock? REVIEWER B: This the worst piece of weird off-wall-trash I have read in the last ten years. Where has this author been for the last fifty years. Living on Mars? EDITOR: Despite the reviewers' negative opinions of your piece, I still would like to see a revision. Please try to accommodate BOTH reviewers views in your resubmission. " It's just the reviewers of OTHER people's papers that were deep, thoughtful, and helpful. Nick, -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Russell Standish Sent: Monday, December 06, 2010 4:49 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Peer review On Mon, Dec 06, 2010 at 03:27:19PM -0800, glen e. p. ropella wrote: > And when I see review comments to papers I'm a co-author on, they > usually contain constructive feedback. I do often have to sift > through prejudiced tangents or twist my mind to see their point of > view in order to get to the good stuff. But it's almost always > obvious that the reviewer takes her professional responsibility > seriously. Perhaps I'm just lucky in the scientists I know and the > reviews I've gotten of my work. But as my dad always said: "I'd > rather be lucky than good." ;-) > Maybe lucky, or maybe your work is more mainstream (you mention coauthor - most of my publications are single author, and that possibly makes a difference), or maybe its a pro-US bias (which does exist, according to sumfink I read in New Scientist). I should also mention - that even though I'm saying constructive revewing is a minority in my experience, it is not a rarity either, and the pearls of wisdom from the reviewers do make it worthwhile. Still, nothing can be proven by mere anecdote :). -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Mathematics UNSW SYDNEY 2052 [email protected] Australia http://www.hpcoders.com.au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
