Am I getting grumpier or are academic getting lazier? Or both? This morning I had to write an email in my role as one of the editors of The Journal of Asian Midwives to a group of authors somewhere in South Asia with the following text:
‘I don’t think you have read the author instructions for our journal. The Journal of Asian Midwives is interested in promoting midwifery and maternity care in South Asia. Your article is about a different profession ‘nursing’ and worse it mentions neither midwifery, maternity care nor pregnancy. This manuscript is not appropriate for our academic journal.
Moreover, in terms of style, I am not impressed by an email addressed to me which ends with the following:
Best regards,
[Your Full Name]
[Your Affiliation]
[Your Contact Information]
[Enclosures: Main Document, First Page, Cover Letter]
[Your Full Name]
[Your Affiliation]
[Your Contact Information]
[Enclosures: Main Document, First Page, Cover Letter]
Please, try (1) submitting to a nursing journal and (2) have a bit less of an AI-generated cover letter.
Yours, not impressed,
Prof. Dr. Edwin van Teijlingen
First issue Journal of Asian Midwives
New editorial Journal of Asian Midwives published
The Journal of Asian Midwives accepted for inclusion by Scopus
Journal of Asian Midwives
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Not grumpy but upholding standards.
Without consistent standards it can be hard to tell what research or content could have real value to the wider community.
However, it does highlight the need for more raising awareness around standards, training, and maintaining those standard to avoid falling into predatory journal territory and low “quality” outputs that could affect lives.
#researchintegrity #publishingintegrity #academicquality #academicintegrity #lifelonglearning #allourfutures