I will share what I’ve learnt concerning the educational peer assessment course of by means of a private journey from a hesitant reviewer to an Affiliate Editor for the IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (Affect Issue 4.6).
Whereas most conventional science and engineering publications require prior publication expertise and educational credentials to function reviewers, machine studying and knowledge science could be an exception. A big driver of the widespread adoption and use of information science has been open-source initiatives and repositories. Many influential contributors to open-source knowledge science aren’t all the time revealed researchers however possess deep data of the sphere by means of apply and experimentation. Moreover, formal educational levels in machine studying have solely existed for a number of years, and plenty of present researchers come from various backgrounds. I, for instance, have a background in Mechanical Engineering.
With the above in thoughts, I hope that in case you are a machine studying practitioner who’s curious concerning the assessment course of and desires to become involved, this text ought to present some worth.
· My Story
· What’s Peer Overview?
∘ Shouldn’t Editorial Board Members be the Specialists?
· Peer Overview Course of
· Why You Ought to Think about Peer Reviewing
· How Can You Get Concerned?
∘ Monitoring Peer Opinions utilizing Net of Science
∘ Do I must be a broadcast researcher?
· How A lot Time Does it Take?
· Conclusion
· Chilly Electronic mail Template
· Disclaimer
In August 2024, I reached 100 verified peer critiques for 9 totally different educational journals and conventions. Though I carried out my first assessment in 2016, it was not till mid-2022 that I really began having fun with the method.
As a graduate pupil (2015–2020), I by no means actually loved reviewing papers. As a substitute, I largely did it as an instructional obligation when my advisor requested me to take action. Moreover, I lacked confidence in my skill to critique others’ work, provided that I solely had few publications beneath my belt.
After graduating, I discovered it difficult to remain up-to-date with new analysis. As a pupil, studying papers was a part of the job. In business, nevertheless, I solely learn the most well-liked papers. To remain present with the newest analysis, fulfill my educational obligations, and construct a stronger analysis profile, I started emailing editors of assorted journals to specific my curiosity in turning into a reviewer. Though I acquired responses from virtually all the journals, solely 2–3 assigned me papers initially. Over time, I began receiving assessment requests from journals I hadn’t contacted as effectively.
In late 2023, I utilized to IEEE RA-L for an Affiliate Editor function and was finally chosen to serve within the human-robot-interaction observe.
In the remainder of this text, I’ll clarify:
- the significance of peer reviewing and what the method entails,
- why it is best to take into account reviewing for educational publications and how you may get began
- time dedication and different components to contemplate
Lastly, I may also share a chilly e-mail template that you should utilize to achieve out to editors.
Though there may be some controversy over the efficacy of the peer assessment course of, I don’t take into account myself well-versed sufficient to touch upon that facet. As a substitute, I’ll concentrate on sharing my experiences and learnings.