Ros

Do you have any strong views on journals and the peer review system? The peer review system isn’t perfect, but I think it will continue to be better than the alternatives as long as we have hardworking and judicious editors. It worries me that an increasing number of action letters appear to have been written by someone who hasn’t read the article, and just took a head count of reviewers in favour of and against publication. Along that path lies massive expansion of gee-whizz research — studies that don’t annoy anyone because they don’t have any theoretical content. Fortunately there are a lot of editors out there who are still selflessly giving up their time to read articles carefully and to make informed judgements about key issues. I’d like to see them receive more recognition and respect.