Storytelling for Science

Why are abstracts so important? A lot can be gleaned from the title and abstract . Most readers only go through the first page to gauge whether an article is of interest to them. ➜ These sections are therefore critical.  The abstract should clearly describe the main idea of the article; however, in papers "produced" by papermills , the abstract often does not match what is represented in the title. Other times, authors add keywords to titles/abstracts ( keyword stuffing ) to pass scope checks, but the actual content of the article is unrelated to the keywords. These discrepancies are even the main cause for declarations of concern by publishers. It is increasingly difficult to discern reality from fiction. A lot of this is caused by the ever increasing rise in submitted papers and lack of formal standards or guidelines for peer review. Moreover, the notion of reviewing as a professional obligation fails to sufficiently recognize or reward the burden it imposes. The rest...

What's so special about this? Special issues are collections of papers centered around a subject of special interest and are organized and led by subject experts who take on the role of guest editor of the special issue. All submissions (...) are discoverable within the collection. MDPI A special Issue is a collection of articles that concentrates on a topical research area within the scope of a journal. Special Issues are targeted, timely, and insightful collections, meaning that they are often very well received. Hindawi A special issue focuses on a specific area of research that has a broad appeal and falls within the aims and scope of the journal. A special issue also provides an excellent opportunity to review a particular theme, examine previously unaddressed aspects, propose and develop new approaches, exchange perspectives and encourage new lines of research. Elsevier Special or themed issues can be a great way to focus attention on a topic of crucial interest. A good sp...

For those unfamiliar with or new to academic publishing, peer review manipulation is hard to spot. This is mainly because most peer review reports are still confidential documents that stay buried deep in academic journal's editorial offices. As long as this continues to be the default, recognising good and bad peer reviews is difficult enough... now we have to worry about fake peer review as well?! 😒 Well, yes. Yes, we do. The peer review process in academic publishing is unlike any other. The style and content of a manuscript are criticized, as are the thought processes that birthed it. Everything from word choice to significance of the research focus is under scrutiny. In traditional peer review formats, reviewers recommend that manuscripts be accepted or rejected. This much power may make some less scrupulous people guiddy... or yearning to rig the system. The refereeing work that is supposed to be one of the garantors of research integrity is itself highly susceptible to ma...

Money is still a dirty word in science. 💰 We sublimate "getting paid for your work" with expressions such as "was awarded a grant", "received recognition", "was presented a prize". Money is how we "fund" our activities or "source" our next project.   When I started working as a freelancer, it was the first time I had to think of how much my time is worth. 💱 So, I decided that my work would be measured in realized projects and client satisfaction, not how long it would take me to do the job: quality, regardless of effort . This is even noting how important it is to keep to deadlines . Being professional in your conduct means being able to estimate how long a task will take you, based on prior experience. Also, knowing when to take breaks to maintain consistency and accuracy. Within the allocated timeframe, freelancers are also expected to practice quality controls regularly, and self-correct. These are the kind of project m...