When I was a graduate student in Thailand, my usual place was a library---reading everything I would like to consume in scientific journals. From Nature, Cell, Science, PNAS, Scientific American, American Scientist, and so on.
Starting from an impression that what was the language the authors used in their articles Martian maybe, because it didn't look like plain English to me?
From "a different world different planet and different languages", I became accustomed to those jargons bit by bit. Meanwhile I began to wonder when would my research work be published in an international journal . And, how those journals pick the names to be their editorial board was far far from my recognition (in lay term; daydreaming) Way too ambitious to ask maybe my thoughts in that time.
From some years of effort, I got some not bad
After having a few papers, there was an invitation from a reputable journal in my field coming to my mailbox asking me whether or not could I act as a referee (reviewer) of a manuscript . Promptly reply is always my style Yes, of course (please) was an essence of my reply. I did it so quick (maybe 5-7 days after getting a manuscript, I returned my comments back)
Somehow, the editor-in-chief had seen no one acting like having this free time on earth and having nothing to do but reviewing, he sent me another one in a few months later OK, I did it again with speedy reply as my routine Well, the third one came in a month after that from the same journal I reckoned; Well, this is just a little bit too much. . So I gave my comments back, this time it was few weeks after (right at the given deadline) . I thought, it would come less frequently this time .
I was wrong--- Although the fore-mentioned journal sent me less manuscripts to review (up to present, around 1 manuscript a year), there were other journals sending those darn manuscripts to me again and again At this time, I wrote down an exact line of doing this charitable honorable yet non-paid work to not more than 5 manuscripts a year!! And, for the first time in my academic life, I said; No, I was too busy.
One day, I got an e-mail which almost kicked me out from my office chair In the e-mails header, it said; An invitation to be a member of Editorial Board of . Of course, in the e-mail, there were persuasive words on which I didnt pay any attention. My answer was already pre-determined to be a YES .
Im writing this not because would I like to show how good or honorable I am But I would like to tell and encourage everyone that you can be "somebody" in your field, if you have fun, be honest with it, and continuously produce your good jobs. Someone else will see, and that will pay you off without any asking!!
I wish you the best of luck on your career what-ever it is!!
โดย: Rive Gauche วันที่: 11 มีนาคม 2549 เวลา:5:22:06 น.
Very interesting. Do they pay you to be a referee or editorial board ? I am just curious.
It's good to hear of such admirable achievement. I think in Social Science, it's so hard for students to act like that (or maybe because I never seen one).
One of my dreams is to be an editor-in-chief of some respectable journals or magazines or books :)
Yes, you must also learn when to say no and how to say no in academia.
I also remember that it was exciting to get to review a manuscript. And like you said, after a while when my time for "services" has become more limitted, I had to say no to some of them. Sometimes, I simply asked for an extension and let them know that I was glad to do it but it would need more time since I had so many things on my plate.
Today is still no different. Once you stay active in research, you will only get busier and busier. And now I'm also doing something I never really thought of before. This is another thing that keeps me busy. Yes, I'm setting up my own labs. The labs where my students can work with me on our research ideas. My own independent labs. The labs where my students and I can make some contribution to the science community hopefully.
Maybe, who knows, one of these days Khun AT might come across our papers and get to review them, depending on which journal it is.
I just saw Khun BF's reply, and allow me to share with him my two cents.
For me, as a reviewer, I've never got paid and I don't think anyone else did, at least in my field.
I've never been a member of an editorial board nor an editor (editor-in-chief or associate editor for that matter) so I don't know for sure if they get paid.
It is also uncommon or I should say unheard of for a student to be on an editorial board in my field of work. At least, all members must be associate professors or equivalent and must be highly recognized for their research contribution.
My mentors, however, have been on many editorial boards and editors of various journals. I don't think they receive monetary compensation for their contribution on these boards. But they may have been compensated as editors; at least they have an extra office totally dedicated to their involvement with the journals.
It's just strange to think that they pay you (referee, member of the board) as it is not a small job considering the time+effort spent on editing, proof-reading. Because in USA, time means money :)
So they will get the non-monetary = prestige+recognition from profession instead, not bad..maybe it can be converted into monetary terms afterwards.
It's so hard to get published in prestigious journal for social science students. Not to mention about being a referee/board.
Thanks Khun BFP. It certainly is a new experience for me having labs (that still need so much work to be set up) and a research group I can call my own. That's why I thought it might be interesting to share with you and some others comments/opinions about a job market in the US academia (not too sure how many would be familiar with it).
Just a quick comment, I'm not too sure if non-monetary reward necessarily equals prestige plus recognition. To me, recognition, yes. But prestige, it depends on which journals they are.
And I think most scientists, at least for me, think of doing this kind of services as another channel through which we can contribute to our community for its scholarly advancement.
Not only they gave me new knowledge/results which there were no one on earth reading them before, but they also gave me novel ideas of how to do these things. And, more importantly, I could contribute to make them better quality-wise.... :)
Recognition and prestige are too abstract to define... but, as I always do everything, having fun is too addictive to me....
Anyway these 2 abstract terms are coming to me both directly and indirectly.... But I don't pay much attention on these much... But, it's OK and a good thing, so I don't mind to accept them..
The journal invited me as a faculty member in the Thai University where I've worked for.
They have never asked for my degree or my physical location though!! Basically they don't know that I'm still a PhD student... :) this is another charm of an electronic era though!! :)
They just mentioned that they got a recommendation from an expert in the field to invite me to be one of the editorial board member... and I didn't bother to ask... :)
Khun CIT, I am certainly interested in academia job market (in terms of research interest, not that I am interested to get into US job mkt, as I am not in the position to do so). I will write about it someday.
This year, I have a friend who will be an assistant professor at UCSB, following another one who is working at UCSD (they both get PhD from Economics Chicago). So US job mkt is not too distant a subject to think about. I guess you will be working as Postdoc at CIT right ? BTW, have you met Jorge Cham (PhD Comic)? hehe.
Thanks K. A.T for setting this up. So we can discuss about academic life happily.
You talk about the happiness from the job. I think it is the most important aspect of life. If you do not have passion in what you are doing. Then it is very bad and you can never succeeed in it.
I am still seeking for my passion (to paraphase it as..seeking for my dissertation topic) ...not sure if I find it yet. But I think it's quite close..but not quite there yet.
hmm, everything you did, something you earned. But the things you earned can present as a fame or any insensive. I do agree with Khun A.T. about the deep pleasure in yours.
Everybody (at least, who replied this blog) seem to have an idea in their life, where to go, how to reach and which to choose. I think read Khun A.T. blogs inspired me somehow. 5 5 5 5. Hope that one day I will realize what I do need.
In my field, this sort of things impossibly happened krub. Only VERY-WELL-KNOWN Professor or WORLD-CLASS Investigator become an editorial board, even in our country, Thailand. No need to talk about International journal.
Anyway I think English in the journals are quit easy to read, plenty of technical terms, but may not so easy to correct them. I cannot tell that, I have no experience.
However, I think Khun A.T. has an very exellent opportunity. Please sieze it tight and make it shine krub.
โดย: dont wanna no วันที่: 11 มีนาคม 2549 เวลา:16:01:43 น.
Within our governmental/current university system, rewarding to more productive people is not that different from one who does thing minimally.
So, basically, there will be no one greatly prospering because of more publication nor perishing because of no publication.
So if we tie tightly to this above sad fact, one who does something would become one who does nothing eventually... So, positive attitudes count and greatly help...
I agree with you. Without appropriate incentive/disincentive system. I don't have much hope for the change in the 'culture of publish' among Thai scholars (not including the gibberish newspaper articles by univ profs).
No, Khun BFP, Ive never met Jorge Cham (I'm not too keen on taking his mechanical engineering classes). His books though can be found in the campus bookstore.
Like Khun BFPs friends, many of my friends have embarked upon that academic path. Its almost like a tradition for a place such as this or MIT or Harvard or Berkeley or Stanford, etc. that a great numbers of students and postdocs end up in academia after they are finished.
Whats more interesting though is that certain research groups in my field are known to produce quite a number of faculty members in universities, not only in the U.S. but also across the world. When we meet at a conference, sometimes its almost like a group reunion. Current students get to meet former students. Many times they talk about their research, about their science. A lot of times, they talk about their career path. After all, you are a part of the family(ies). Another recent example is when we had a group meeting last week. One of our former group members dropped by with his wife to say hello to my mentor and the group. I never met him before, but surely have heard of him several times as he is one of the famous authors in our field. One of his books is very popular and has been chosen as a required textbook in a graduate course at many universities.
Speaking of research and publication, I dont know much about those in humanity or social sciences. But as Khun BFP pointed out, in science, it is not uncommon to see a good first-year grad student publish in a good journal. Not to sound defensive, but this doesnt mean its always easy. Im sure those in science would know pretty well and probably agree. In most cases, the student is in a department/research group that is well equipped with resources and allows for much productivity. The students advisor may also have a high publication drive/need for whatever reason, but most certainly it has to do with the advisor submitting more grant proposals and hopefully getting more grant money. So their scientific pursuit can be ensued.
In some cases, maybe the advisor just wants to do it purely for the sake of publishing. I know one very well know scientist who keeps a strict record of his publication. Of course, one must keep ones publication record anyway. But in this case, its quite interesting. The guy is in his late 70s and he still actively publishes. His total publication number is more than 1500 over a period of 50 years of his career as a scientist. Thats averaged out to be more than 30 papers a year.
Maybe its now a tradition, a must perhaps for most scientists/researchers in the US to keep publishing. In fact, a kid in our research group (hes an undergrad) started publishing since he was in high school. According to my mentor, he was the only author publishing in good journals in math; the kid is a genius. Now he hasnt graduated and he has published five papers in good journals in my field with my mentor.
Quite interesting, eh? Oh and yes, its also common for the undergrads here to have at least one publication in a journal with a decent impact factor by the time they graduate.
================================= Note: My life has been intertwined with works and many others. New responsibility has emerged, resulting less and less time for my ordinary life. Although, a love to write is still intact... But having less time is related to having less imagination.... Therefore, I could not come up with new writings for quite some times.
It might be a good time for me to leave this forum for moment.... Please take it as Mr. A.T. is having a sabbactatical leave or something like that....
As noted above, my love to write is still the same... and will not be changed. Sometimes somehow, I hope I could come back and give some thoughts in this blog once more.
Cheers, Mr. A.T. June 6th, 2008
=================================
Hello,
My pen-name in Pantip is amatuer translator. Actually, I'm a lousy translator with lame translation. My pen-name is somewhat misleading, I have no background in linguistics what-so-ever. Anyway I love to read, write and communicate with people...
Reading is my most favorite hobby. I read everything from shopping bags to articles in theoretical physics. I do research and teaching for my living. So, reading, writing, thinking and doing research works are my everyday routine.
I would like to define myself as a person who is accepting new ideas and adopting those into my way of life.
I believe in power of knowledge/education. I think every society can be a better society with knowledge. Ignorance can be dispelled by it. Humanity can live sustainably and harmoniously with each other along with its biosphere with understandings in the nature surrounding it.
Apart from my philosophical thoughts reflecting who I am, I can tell you something I like or love in particular;
I love dogs.... Particularly, labradore retrievers.... One day, I would like to spend my time and life with them as a big part of my family.
Zhuge Liang is my hero. With his wisdom and faithfulness, he led a tiny army to a mighty and formidable kingdom. He left his humble residence with a hope to come back. But, sadly, he had never returned and died far far away from home in a horse carriage in a battle field. If I could choose where I would, I would say where-ever my lovely wife was nearby.
I value happiness and my family as my first priority. My profession and my philosophy come in the second. Pursuit in wealth has never been in my desire.
I'm glad to be your friend, and look forward to seeing you around krub.
)
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