PA EDitorial

Mistletoe and Citations: Christmas according to academics By September, the first signs of Christmas start appearing in the shops. The TV schedules are planned, special programmes are made, and entire digital TV stations are handed over to 24-hour Christmas movies. The music industry moves into festive mode, recording Christmas singles and dusting off classic collections …

Mistletoe and Citations: Christmas according to academics Read More »

The entire peer review process is one of questioning. This isn’t because a peer reviewer is required to be a relentless sceptic or a pathological doubter. It’s because the exercise is extraordinarily demanding. A peer review isn’t like the review of a book or a film, in which the consequence may, in some cases, be …

Peer Reviewers: What Questions Do They Ask? Read More »

No one talks about the ‘information superhighway’ anymore. In the 1990s, the term was used to describe the internet’s potential to provide unparalleled access to information. Institutions and individuals would be able to ­- in seconds – find the answers to questions which would previously have required intensive work. World news, expert commentary and the …

Peer Review and Research: Integrity in the information age Read More »

It’s been with us for several years, yet more recently, co-production (as a knowledge generation methodology) has been shining its light even more so across academic research, as well as in the creation of public policy, service design and continuous improvement. I’ve often tried to demystify co-production for people by describing it as a mindset …

Mind-set or Mind-open: a shining light for research Read More »

The Phone Call “Hi, Lizi, do you have availability towards the end of April this year? We are holding a series of mini-conferences for editors and publishers; we’d like to invite you along – as an expert on our panel. Okay, wow. Stop for a minute. How did we get to this? Retail assistant. Admin …

Do you know where you’re going too? Lizi Dawes, on her journey from army recruit to PA EDitorial CEO Read More »

A fairly straightforward formula is associated with writing scientific and academic papers: the more authoritative the sources, the more credible the work. We start to discover this during our A levels, and as we advance through our education and professions, it only becomes more important. We learn that supporting the most innovative arguments with reference …

Blogs: is it acceptable to cite them as reference sources? Read More »

The perception of Albert Einstein in the public consciousness is of a man with rare scientific gifts, warm humanitarian views, rigorous ethics and, in later years, unruly white hair and a big moustache. His ground-breaking theories and scientific discoveries set him apart as a giant amongst geniuses and a man whose intellectual achievements are respected …

Albert Einstein: What did he think of peer review? Read More »

We’ve all been there. Well, to be factually correct, three-quarters of us have. The fear of public speaking, known as Glossophobia, affects 75% of people in the UK. In addition, 10% of those people describe themselves as ‘terrified’ of presenting and speaking to an audience and actively avoid it at all costs. Glossophobia derives from …

Presenting: feeling comfortable in your own story Read More »

Kitchens and cottages It’s 1985. I’m spirographing (new verb, courtesy of myself) at the kitchen table, and the solvent smell of paint is wafting across the room. I watch my mother – right leg crossed over the left, right foot tipped up and outwards for no apparent reason. Her face is one of both concentration …

Hooray for International Women’s Day: how far have we come? Read More »

For 350 years, peer review has been the primary method of validating or challenging new studies and theories in science and academia. Yet this age-old system has always been subject to attempts to improve, reinvent and even replace it. Moreover, peer review itself has produced its own mutations, but arguably the most significant challenge to …

Either Or: preprints and peer review Read More »