So... having cut the grass and the rushes around the pond, and having felt pretty good about the ever-expanding swathes of moss that make my lawn look particularly lush, I checked up on Cognition (the journal I edit) and felt good about that too - despite a 10% rise in submissions this year compared with last year, all my queues are clear. This year I’ve felt like my load has come down considerably. Oddly, the numbers indicate otherwise. I’ve made over 400 final decisions this year (accept or reject), slightly more than the number of manuscripts I’ve assigned myself (as distinct from those I assign to the Associate editors - the split is roughly 50:50). And of those manuscripts, I ended up triaging (i.e. rejecting without sending out to review) 49%. That’s a lot. There are different ways of defining triage rates, and the more conservative one (the proportion of final decisions that were triage decisions) puts me at 45% this year (with a four-year average of 35%). I’m evidently more productive this year than last (10% more decisions than the same time last year). So... a pat on the back, please. And the fact that I have some amazing collaborators scattered around the world with whom I’ve actually managed to publish a paper or three this year, and with whom another couple of papers are being produced, means that I have much to feel satisfied about. So... to all those people, without whom I could not feel so good on a Sunday lunchtime, and to all those other people who’ve sent supportive emails in light of recent events (see previous blog entries), my sincere thanks. And to whoever invented moss, my thanks also.
Finally, I’ve gone a whole week without buying a single watch. There’s self-control for you! My last watch was a limited edition (of 50), designed by a pair of brothers here in York. Ridiculously cheap for the price. However, my kids, who have little appreciation for anything at all, unless it’s downloadable and in the category “game”, think it’s complete rubbish.
