I have recently interacted with early career and late stage scientists who have had problems with predatory journals or journals with low requirements for members of their editorial boards. I advised each of these scientists and thought I would share that advice here. For an early career scientist, I first explained the typical roles of … Read more
The cover letter is critical not only for applying to jobs, but it is also a key component of a submission for publication in a journal. Just as cover letters for job applications have a formula, so do those for submitting manuscript to journals. As I hiring manager and editor, I read many cover letters. … Read more
The Importance of Precision One of the most common issues I encounter as an editor is the use of imprecise verbs in scientific research. It is possible that the author cannot be more precise, because the experiments have not been done to determine how the change occurred or because the conditions may produce diverse outcomes. … Read more
Researchers commonly refer to the molecular and biochemical events that occur in response to extracellular signals as pathways. There is a tendency to lump a related set of pathways into a general overarching pathway. For example, researchers may refer to the TGF-β pathway or the Wnt pathway. These are no more individual pathways than the … Read more
There are multiple ways to categorize nearly everything in biology. The value of an individual categorization scheme depends on the perspective of the user. As Shirley Malcom (former Director, Education and Human Resources Programs, AAAS) once said, “We [Biologists] are splitters not lumpers.” This need for classification makes consensus difficult, can limit our way of … Read more