6 ms·

>More than a tenth of U.S.-based researchers who submitted manuscripts and peer review reports to journals did so during the holidays. I got my degree and got

>More than a tenth of U.S.-based researchers who submitted manuscripts and peer review reports to journals did so during the holidays. I got my degree and got out, so excuse my ignorance on academia as a profession, but I'm just wondering what the cause behind this spike is? Is it as a result of researchers being off during the summer months and then making up for the time during the opening half of the academic year, pushing to get to a certain deadline (and getting there last minute, as many in education will)? Or is there an incentive to submit at a time where reviewers are distracted with non-work activities, such as here during the holidays? i.e. is one more likely to be pass peer review and be published at these points in time?

srl 7y ago
I'm not sure that is a "spike". At my institution, "holidays" are nearly 1/10th of the year already! Moreover, the quote doesn't say "more than a tenth of papers were submitted", it says that "more than a tenth of researchers who submitted, did so during the holidays". The latter statistic includes folks who pushed out several manuscripts in a year, including one which happens to be finished over the holidays. Not that it's implausible that there is a spike -- just that I've never seen actual evidence of one. (Disclaimer: haven't read article thanks to paywall.)
- cmdshiftf4 7y ago
  Ah, very plausible. Thanks for weighing in. >At my institution, "holidays" are nearly 1/10th of the year already! That would indeed go quite some distance in explaining it in itself. Although I'm sure the idea of hitting an already bogged-down reviewer at peak season in the name of getting something perhaps hastily put together to publish, in avoiding perish, has crossed the minds of a few. Indeed, if it can cross the mind of a decidedly average non-academic such as myself, I'm almost certain it has for my intellectual and academic betters.
mattkrause 7y ago
Lots of reasons: It can be hard to get stuff that requires extended concentration during the business-as-usual part of the year. An uninterrupted morning is vastly more useful than six scattered half-hour blocks between meetings and seminars and helping students. The summer is actually fairly productive for most people for the same reason; very few people are actually off (as in at the beach); they're just not teaching. There's a brief period of calm between the end of the academic year (which is chaotic with exams, end-of-year stuff, and holiday parties too) and the beginning of the "personal holidays." If you've been mulling something over, now is a great time to finish it off. Finally, it's nice to start the year with less stuff on your to-do list. I don't think anyone expects more favorable peer review over the holidays; in fact, our lab lore suggests reviewers are grumpier now. In any case, stuff submitted in mid December probably won't even go out for review until next year.

srl 7y ago

I'm not sure that is a "spike". At my institution, "holidays" are nearly 1/10th of the year already! Moreover, the quote doesn't say "more than a tenth of papers were submitted", it says that "more than a tenth of researchers who submitted, did so during the holidays". The latter statistic includes folks who pushed out several manuscripts in a year, including one which happens to be finished over the holidays. Not that it's implausible that there is a spike -- just that I've never seen actual evidence of one. (Disclaimer: haven't read article thanks to paywall.)

cmdshiftf4 7y ago
Ah, very plausible. Thanks for weighing in. >At my institution, "holidays" are nearly 1/10th of the year already! That would indeed go quite some distance in explaining it in itself. Although I'm sure the idea of hitting an already bogged-down reviewer at peak season in the name of getting something perhaps hastily put together to publish, in avoiding perish, has crossed the minds of a few. Indeed, if it can cross the mind of a decidedly average non-academic such as myself, I'm almost certain it has for my intellectual and academic betters.

mattkrause 7y ago

Lots of reasons: It can be hard to get stuff that requires extended concentration during the business-as-usual part of the year. An uninterrupted morning is vastly more useful than six scattered half-hour blocks between meetings and seminars and helping students. The summer is actually fairly productive for most people for the same reason; very few people are actually off (as in at the beach); they're just not teaching. There's a brief period of calm between the end of the academic year (which is chaotic with exams, end-of-year stuff, and holiday parties too) and the beginning of the "personal holidays." If you've been mulling something over, now is a great time to finish it off. Finally, it's nice to start the year with less stuff on your to-do list. I don't think anyone expects more favorable peer review over the holidays; in fact, our lab lore suggests reviewers are grumpier now. In any case, stuff submitted in mid December probably won't even go out for review until next year.