I can't explain this...
I received a total of four referee requests (from four different journals) today. Yes: four distinct requests in one day. What the hell is that?
I'm too busy, so I'm saying no to all. Also, I've done about half-a-dozen reviews this year already. Completing six reviews seems more than sufficient-- perhaps even supererogatory. In light of the discussion going on at Leiter, does anyone have a sense of how many ms reviews are sufficient to meet one's duty to the profession?
9 comments:
Since most submissions result in 2 referee reports, I try to do at least twice as many reviews as things I send out. But I usually end up doing more than that (so far this year, I've done 1 book chapter, a book, 3 journal articles and 1 RR--so I'm pretty far ahead).
I really think it depends on how many outstanding obligations one has to the Wiley-Blackwell Philosophy and Popular Culture series.
I've never turned down a request to referee but then again I haven't ever been asked to do 4 in single day. Maybe 5-7 journal articles a year is average in a fairly small subfield (along with 3-4 conference submissions for which comments are minimal). So I would sympathize if I didn't find some of your previous posts so annoying. Although funny. OK, I sympathize. Or am impressed. One or the other.
I have no idea what would be sufficient to meet one's duty. Looking for a particular number seems misguided to me (doesn't it depend)--how about 'most of the ones one is asked to do so long as this doesn't significantly interfere with one's work and, I dunno, general flourishing'? (Truth be told I like refereeing...it's an excellent way to avoid that frustrating bit in one's own current work.) I suppose that might not work since a person who was made miserable by refereeing would get off scot free. On the other hand, maybe such a person should meet their duty to the profession some other way.
I wouldn't be inclined to treat doing 6 as superergotary.
OK. I've definitely spent too much time on this.
Mills Lain: I really think it depends on how many outstanding obligations one has to the Wiley-Blackwell Philosophy and Popular Culture series.
I "heart" you.
Spiros: I honestly wouldn't know the definitive quantitative answer to that. My FEC and administration tend to look for balance, but "balance" at my institution differs a lot from yours. I do 25-30 reviews a year on behalf of a grant-giving institution, so, to me, six reviews seems like a pretty light load in terms of service to the discipline. You might even get more credit for the six than I get for the 25-30 ay your university given the weight that teaching and service to the university has where I am.
The coincidence of the four requests is pretty amusing, though. No rest for the weary, huh?
Mills Lain:
I'm flattered.
729:
Hold on now.... Grant proposals are much easier to evaluate than journal submissions (at least the journal submissions that make it past an editor's review and into the formal review process). I've done my duty at the Old Post Office in D.C. (you know what I mean) on a regular basis for some time, and I can work through and evaluate a proposal pretty quickly. So I don't count that kind of work as commensurate with evaluating journal submissions!
Okay, I stand corrected, grant reviews aren't commensurate with reviewing papers. I find it takes a lot of time to do them; maybe my system isn't all that efficient, though that's neither here nor there. However, my overall point was about balance, and that it is relative to institutional expectations, and everything else you're doing to maintain your work. If you're also doing grant reviews or have done your time in doing that, on top of around six reviews a year, and any other activities that fall under this category, I can't see any dereliction of duty towards the profession. As Mills Lain noted, there are plenty of ways to meet this duty besides reviews.
Perhaps, the crux of the matter is doing only so many reviews such that 1) one's other professional obligations aren't negatively impacted and 2) the quality of the reviews one does is maintained. It makes no sense to take on reviews only to resent the fact that one has committed to do them, but doesn't really have the time and/or interest.
Well, it is clear why you get so many --- you rock, after all!
I think six is more than enough, especially where you are not on the board of these journals. As for board members, I would think that one or two per year perfectly fine.
What is a decent load for the year? This is hard to say. I would think six a fair number.
Brooks,
Thanks for the input, which, perhaps unsurprisingly, seems to me correct.
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