publish or perish

tags: writer's block, psychology, abnormal psychology, cognitive psychology, writing, publishing, career, publish or perish, researchblogging.org,peer-reviewed research, peer-reviewed paper, journal club Sources: Didden, R., Sigafoos, J., O'Reilly, M., Lancioni, G., & Sturmey, P. (2007). A Multisite Cross-Cultural Replication of Upper's (1974) Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of Writer's Block. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 40 (4), 773-773 DOI: 10.1901/jaba.2007.773 Upper, D. (1974). The unsuccessful self-treatment of a case of "writer's block". Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis…
tags: The Downfall, Hitler, funny, weird, parody, scientific research paper, peer-review process, scientific publishing, streaming video OMG, this is the most hilarious scientific research video parody I've seen. It is a fly-on-the-wall view of what happens when a research paper is sent out for peer-review and the mysterious reviewer #3 demands more experiments before the paper is accepted for publication. Unfortunately, it is closer to the truth than the public (and even some scientists) realizes ... "Or I could write it up for Scientific American." Hahahaha!
I did a not-so-stellar job of meeting my not-so-stellar goals for writing and research in November, but I did get some stuff done. Done! Accepted!!!!! Finish revisions on the paper-that-won't-die (goal: November 13) Done! Internal release time application (due November 18) Read some, but not nearly enough. Read around proposed grad student topics enough to ensure we're not reinventing the wheel/pursuing proven dead ends (amorphous, I know) Made progress, not enough to strike-through. Finish GIS work left-over from 2008 AGU poster. Done! Draft abstract that is due in early December, so that I…
This week we are reading Judith Viorst's Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. This video was produced with a dedication to Kate, who explained to me why kids like this book so much even before they understand everything that's happening in it. She wisely told me that it's because kids rarely get to hear a story about a kid getting really mad, expressing their feelings, and without a neat fairy-tale or moralistic ending. Alexander just has a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day, and he's not afraid to tell us about it. I'd also like to dedicate this post to all of…
I am not in charge of SciWo's Storytime. Sure, it might look like I'm the one reading the books and operating the video camera, but Minnow exerts the ultimate executive authority as editor-in-chief. Some weeks no videos whatsoever are allowed to be made, some weeks she's content to let me pick the book, and some weeks she is quite happy to make a whole string of videos, so long as she chooses the content. With that proviso, Minnow presents this week's edition of SciWo's Storytime featuring the book Little Squire the Fire Engine by Catherine Kenworthy and illustrated by Nina Barbaresi. Now…
I even stole the title from Lady Scientist, because I am just that original these days. I spent the week teaching, advising, mothering, and making some progress on my InaDWriMo goals for the month. As of last week the goals stood like this: Done! Finish revisions on the paper-that-won't-die (goal: November 13) Done! Internal release time application (due November 18) Read around proposed grad student topics enough to ensure we're not reinventing the wheel/pursuing proven dead ends (amorphous, I know) Finish GIS work left-over from 2008 AGU poster. The paper got re-submitted on Wednesday! May…
I'm not going to apologize about lack of posting over the last month or so, and I'm not going to make any promises for the future. That said, here's what I'm up to for InaDWriMo this month. Here's what I wrote at ring-leader Dr. Brazen-Hussy's kickoff post: Finish revisions on the paper-that-won't-die (goal: November 6) Internal release time application (due November 15) NSF proposal (due ~December 1) After one week, I haven't finished the revisions, but I'm 90% done. No question as to me getting it done this week. I've got 3 pages of first draft of the 5 page release time application. This…
In 2009, I've done ~9 reviews of journal articles, including two in the past week, and not counting the 1-2 more looming in the next two weeks. During the same period, I've submitted one 1st author manuscript, still in review, but probably only going cost 3 reviewers some time. Anyone see a mass balance problem there? Or do y'all just see a case of a junior faculty member correctly working to build her international reputation in time for tenure? Or something else? 'Cause I'm no longer quite sure what to make of the situation. I'm dancing around the question of "How many reviews are enough?"…
Look what showed up in my most recent issue of the NWSA Journal (NWSA=National Women's Studies Association)? I'm in print! W00T! This co-authored paper is in the current issue, which is a special issue on "Inclusive Science" that came out of this conference last summer. I'm pleased to be in the same lineup with Cindy Foor, whose fabulous paper on industrial engineering as "imaginary engineering" you should really read (the original paper came out of the NWSA conference a few years back), as well as Meg Upchurch, whose paper on on our problematic metaphor of glial cells as "housekeepers" is…
I'm off visiting a set of archives for the rest of this week - Karen Tonso and I are trying to cook up a cool research idea (to expand into a manuscript) about engineering and identity in relation to this project. However, my attention was recently drawn to an article by Peg Boyle Single in Inside Higher Ed about writing your dissertation, and I noticed a connection with Robert Boice and his writing strategies. What ho! I thought. Time to bring back the ATNFM into my life. It's a sign. I've also started exploring the idea of doing research with Evernote. I'm not sure how it will work,…
Today I'm working on revisions prior to resubmittal on a manuscript that has been a very long time coming. While I'm busy with the revisions and reference formatting, I offer up this multiple choice question for your discussion. You've got a manuscript that you think is ready for submission to a journal. It's been through a significant reworking since the last time your co-authors have seen it, but now you think it is (finally) ready for prime-time. You'd also like to get the manuscript off your desk, so that you can focus on some other science for a while. In this scenario, which of the…
Here at Mystery U, we are evaluated on a calendar year basis, so in early January I turned in an up-to-date CV to our departmental review committee. Then I waited, and waited, and waited some more. Finally, a few weeks ago, I got a chance to see what the review committee thought of me, and I got to meet with the incoming and outgoing departmental chairs. I was actually one of the first people to see my reviews, because at the end of the summer I submit a dossier for the reappointment process. I'll be in the third year of my three-year contract, and the reappointment process for a second 3-…
The following email appeared in my inbox yesterday, and I thought some of you might have some more thoughts to share. Dear ScienceWoman, I recently discovered your blog, and have a question regarding academic publishing. I am just now entering a PhD. program, and plan to get married in about 2 years. Given the nature of my particular field, it is expected I will have at least co-authored one paper before the wedding. After marriage, I plan to take his name, for a number of reasons, including the commonality of my last name compared to his name. My question is this: should I start…
In the past few weeks, Scienceblogs has quietly debuted two fantastic new bloggers and a new channel (off the main page) related to information and library science, including open access and open science; digital and print publishing; information property and ownership, and more. Christina Pikas is a science and engineering librarian and a doctoral student, and she blogs at Christina's LIS Rant. Lately she's been doing a fantastic job of blogging and tweeting the Society for Scholarly Publishing Annual Meeting. John Dupuis is the head science librarian at York University. He blogs at…
This being the last week of class, it seems appropriate to reflect a bit more on the semester just finishing. Bluntly, this has been an awful semester for me in terms of things that count toward reappointment, tenure, and (nonexistent) merit raises. If you don't want to hear me whine a little about the suckitude and where that puts me going into the summer, then don't click through. After two rounds of painful reviews, I had a paper rejected. I'll resubmit it to a lower tier journal, but not without another round of revisions. I have never liked this project. I missed the deadline for a…
Look look, a new journal on gender, science and technology! See the inaugural call for papers below the fold. The International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology is an independent, peer reviewed, open access journal that welcomes contributions from practitioners, researchers and policy makers concerned with gender issues in and of science and technology. The phrase gender, science and technology intends to encompass a wide definition of these disciplines both in terms of methodological enquiry as well as subjects of research. Our aim is to help foster and provide a focus…
Okay, so what on earth *have* I been up to, if not blogging? I'm catching you up (rather like the recitative bits in opera - dry, dull, but advancing the action, rather than arias which are beautiful but don't get you anywhere much) with some RBOCs... As previously mentioned, I had a trip to Washington DC for a symposium on engineering education research. I've uploaded some photos here if you want to see the outcomes of the sticky-note brainstorm (the funnest part of the conference!). I did get a pretty awesome dinner with some attendees: I submitted an IEECI grant, my first PI experience…
Call for Manuscripts: Special issue of Engineering Studies: Journal of the International Network for Engineering Studies on "Engineering and Social Justice" Editors, Engineering Studies: Gary Downey (Virginia Tech, USA) and Juan Lucena (Colorado School of Mines, USA) Special Issue Editor: Jen Schneider (Colorado School of Mines, USA) This planned special issue of Engineering Studies invites submissions from scholars across the disciplines who study engineering and its intersections with social justice. Engineering, as educational and professional practices often aimed at developing…
New blogger Mrs. Comet Hunter is in the latter stages of her Ph.D., and she's at the stage of trying to figure out how to break her work out into discrete publishable chunks. She recently wrote a post about the topic, and she sent me an email to ask some related questions. With her permission, here's the bulk of the email: Dear ScienceWoman, I've been reading the Sciencewomen blog for a couple of months now (I know, I'm new to the blog thing) - and find it very interesting! I especially like your shoe posts, and "Ask ScienceWoman". I have a suggestion for an Ask ScienceWoman topic: how to…