Peer reviews are really important to me (See this previous post for some reasons why). In many academic niches they really make the (academic) world go round and so it is important that we do them, do them well (enough), and do them in a timely manner. (It's also important we do them without being an asshole, but I'm going to tell myself all of my blog readers already know how to do that, because you are nice, kind, and supportive people).
This doesn't mean that I necessarily enjoy doing peer reviews or that I don't find them to be a pain in the ass. Mostly for reasons related to me consistently forgetting to put time in my calendar to do them (but also sometimes because I get sick of reading the same terrible manuscript that I've rejected over and over again).
Recently I sat down at a cafe to review a manuscript that had made its way to me a second time because of the first R&R decision from the editor. The first thing I decided to do was read through the other reviews and the response letter from the authors to gauge how well they had responded to my comments and the comments of the other three reviewers.
There was my review, about a page long. There were the reviews of Reviewer 2, same length. Reviewer 3 wrote about 2 pages of comments, which I thought was a bit long but they seemed reasonable and justified.
Then I got to Reviewer 4.
Reviewer 4's entire review was three bullet points long.
(and no, it wasn't "this paper is so amazing you should accept it")
This epitomizes for me how I'm feeling about work these days. I'm the one-page professor, who feels guilty for not doing a "better job." I'm surrounded with three-bullet point professors who probably don't feel guilty at all (in my mind). And in my crankiness I see nothing but benefits from being the three bullet point professor: More time for research and grant writing. Less stress. Not taking home work to do late at night.
Note: All of those benefits might not even be true, I know this.
I'm so tired out these days. Work is requiring a lot of effort. So Be The Three Bullet Point Professor (at least a bit) is, for now, my new motto for productivity.
Yup. One the most enlightening things I did as an untenured person was serve on our merit review committee. I learned a whole lot about what people do, what they claim to do, what's valued departmentally, etc.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't describe myself--even metaphorically!--as a three bullet professor but I'm definitely aware of what activities warrant my full attention and which ones really don't. Class prep is one of those things that for me seems inversely proportional; the less work I do, the better class goes (beyond a certain base minimum!).
Ten bucks says the three bullet professor was a dude.
ReplyDeleteI watch the men at my school doing the bare minimum all the time and the women really pick up the slack. It's irritating. But then, I think like you that if they can do it why can't I? I want to write a book, which means I need to prioritize and maybe act like the men at HU -- three bullets is a good way to think about it.
I probably sound gender-judgy and that's not my intention. But I have noticed that at least at my school women are killing themselves to keep up with service and cleaning up the messes men make. I wonder what would happen if we all acted like men?
We'd all personally get ahead but our departments and fields would fall apart. Someone has to do the administrative/service/committee work. I just wish that as a greater field we'd work together to change the rewards structure, so that service and teaching were valued as much as research and people could just choose which ones they wanted to focus more time on, and still succeed in their careers from that.
DeleteFie, I completely agree with you. I could have written your comment myself. One of my female colleagues and I are determined to "do it like the guys" this next academic year. I'll have to blog about it....
ReplyDeleteFie, I completely agree with you. I could have written your comment myself. One of my female colleagues and I are determined to "do it like the guys" this next academic year. I'll have to blog about it....
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the reasons I left academia, because service and teaching were two of the most important and enjoyable aspects of the work for me but they're the part that no one gives you credit for. This happened for me with an article review recently - I wrote a really long, detailed review of the paper with lots of suggestions and edits and comments, and the two other reviewers had written like a 3-6 line paragraph. Same thing with reading student papers - I read them, give helpful comments, sit and conference with students about their work, and they tell me that no other professor they've ever had has given them the same time to help develop them as researchers and writers.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, it's probably because I'm a woman, but you know what? Screw it. That's what I enjoy doing. I AM a nurturer and I own it. Nurturing is devalued in our line of work and it shouldn't be.
But that's why I had to leave, ironically, because I knew that Pen as Professor would spend most of her time perfecting her teaching and serving on committees because I like that stuff, and no time writing papers and grants because I don't like that stuff, and I would never get tenure. Sigh.
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