Manuscript review motivation
August 17, 2011
Why is it that approximately every third or fourth manuscript I review has me thinking….Christ, they submitted THAT piece of crap* to THIS journal? I mean hell, it ain’t like I’m conservative with what I submit and to where but FFS, maybe I need to lower my frigging standards even more.
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*when the piece of crap is actually accepted for publication, the thought process is similar but with more floridly physioproffian flourishes.
DrugMonkey 
August 17, 2011 at 12:26 pm
Word.
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August 18, 2011 at 5:11 pm
I just got a paper with an n=2 in one group. And they actually wrote something along the lines of “We didn’t get data for half the other group because our shit didn’t work.”
I’ll probably vote “accept.” Meh.
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August 18, 2011 at 8:52 pm
I’ve seen one paper with an n=2. They were cows, though. It would have been a very good paper with more cows, but better publish two than none.
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August 19, 2011 at 4:46 am
I just read through a stack of n=1 papers. All case reports. Human beings. Humans are generally boring, but maybe one is better than nuthin.
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August 19, 2011 at 6:37 pm
Don’t lower your standards for submission, be more emphatic in your rejections. I routinely tear into subpar manuscripts, especially if it’s for a good journal. It’s the only way to stay sane. What bothers me is that there is a notion gaining ground that everything could and should be published somewhere. Some research is so bad and wrong that it should never see the light of day. Publishers aren’t helping my cause though with all of these riduculous journals that are popping up.
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