Our Blog

by Hayley Wood

Having come through my first two years working freelance and from home, I thought I'd review some of the preconceptions and concerns I had before I started, with a view to busting some of the myths that get trotted out about self-employment - and homeworking in particular - for the benefit of anyone else who is thinking about taking the leap.

Part Two: using social media to promote your research articles by Steve Dudley

The BOU – 160 years old, digital, dynamic and social
The BOU is 160 years old. Like many, particularly older, societies, adapting to the fast changing worlds of science, journal publishing and society as a whole, is both daunting and difficult.

Part One - social media mentions deliver citations of research articles by Steve Dudley

When you publish your research you look for impact. Impact comes in different forms, but most publishing academics strive for their work to be cited providing them with some level of merit from their peers within their research community.

When following your manuscript through from submission to publication, there are many different people and several different teams with whom you will come into contact. So who on earth are you supposed to go to if you have a question?!

An email lands in your inbox to let you know that an editorial board meeting is on the horizon and the Editors want to see a report on submissions. And guess who has the joy of putting that together? Oh yes, it’s you.

Reviewer selection is arguably the most important part of an Academic Editor’s job; without good reviewers, the whole peer review process grinds to a halt. So, if you are a good reviewer, I would like to take this opportunity to say, on behalf of editors and authors everywhere: Thank You!

Absolutely everything is done online these days and peer review is no different. If you’ve ever written a journal article, or been asked to review one, then you will no doubt be familiar with online submission systems.

If you were lucky enough to be at the International Society of Managing and Technical Editors 2017 European Conference back in November, then you may have had the opportunity to take a look at “The Peer Review Game” created by Tom Gaston.

No, we’re not talking Shakespeare here (that’s another topic for another day – and, for that matter, another blog). We’re talking about the surprisingly contentious issue of who gets to be listed as an author on an academic paper.

There is something of an air of mystery as to what actually happens to your manuscript once you’ve pressed that “submit” button. It seemingly goes off into cyberspace and you are left playing the waiting game.