I bet very few people would be arguing against coffee breaks. And indeed, apart from the fact that these are a great way to spent some time with colleagues and take a break from work, they can also be a great occasion to brainstorm and times of opportunities! Pretty recently, while enjoying a coffee break, a colleague of mine asked me whether I would up for reviewing a paper for the Journal of Computational Science. In the past I already submitted some papers but never had the chance to assess papers. So I gladly accepted to do so. It turns out it was a great experience! The paper was implementing a method I was familiar with but applied to a domain I didn’t know much about and it was very interesting to read about that. Looking back at this exercise of being a reviewer, here are a few things I enjoyed and take away from it:
- You get to read about some research you wouldn’t necessary stumble upon otherwise and it is a great way to discover new methods and topics. You get to see how people are working, and how could this translate in your own field.
- You get for once to assess the work of someone else. It’s very likely that while working on a project of our own, we may be biased by the choices we have made, and in the process of doing so, it may be hard to take some distance to look at our project from afar and judge its pros and cons. While assessing the work of another individual, on something we didn’t contribute to, I believe it gives us a chance to take a step back and be a bit more objective on the methods, the decisions, the scientific rigour and so on. It also gives you the opportunity to really think about what is expected in a paper and maybe helps you spot what you could implement in your own papers.
- Finally it is a great way to support the scientific community and give a bit of your time to review someone’s paper. Severa reviewers do so when you are submitting your own papers, so it is always nice to give back what you take :)
Overall I have been positively surprised by how pleasant and interesting this experience has been. Can’t wait for the next one!