Should journal reviewers be rewarded for their efforts?

Way back in 2011 I asked journal authors for their opinions on the peer-review process. Overwhelmingly the response was very positive- the system has some deep flaws but it is essential for the advancement of science. I wonder if researchers feel the same way eight years on. Are there any issues with the new editorial structure of Minerals Engineering for example?

Very few correspondents suggested that reviewers should be financially rewarded for their time, the feeling being that self-respecting scientists would agree that being part of the peer-review process should be a responsibility of any serious scientist, and part of the job description of a researcher.

However, reviewing a paper can be a time-consuming process. According to results from a 2015 survey conducted jointly by Elsevier’s Customer Insights team and the Publishing Research Consortium, researchers spend a mean time of more than a full working day on reviewing a single manuscript while the modal number of manuscripts reviewed per month is 1-2. It goes without saying that the least journals can do is to demonstrate their appreciation for such an invaluable effort in some way.

I'm not sure that everyone is aware that Elsevier launched “My Elsevier reviews profile” on Elsevier’s Reviewer Recognition Platform in April 2014 with the aim of making peer review a measurable research output. On these private profiles referees can see the list of Elsevier journals for which they have reviewed during the past five years and collect:
• Review certificates associated to their status based on the number of submitted reviews per journal
• A yearly overview of their peer review performance
• Their signature, listing journals for which they have acted as referees
• Vouchers for Elsevier books and article publication services

“My Elsevier reviews” profile gets automatically updated each time a referee submits a referee report via one of Elsevier’s journal submission systems, removing the need for manually logging and claiming activities. Access to the private profile page is via means of an encrypted hyperlink, sent to the reviewer by email.

Reviewers who complete just one review in a two-year time period can download a certificate for 'Recognised Reviewer' and those who are in the top 10% become 'Outstanding Reviewers'. See below for my examples (I have refereed only one paper for Hydrometallurgy, and the same for IJMP).

The only financial reward is that reviewers can claim 25% discount and free shipping on Elsevier's print and e-books, and 10% discount on article- , illustration- , translation- and language editing services.

What do you think? Does this incentive provide sufficient acknowledgement of the time spent on reviewing? Do you feel that rewarding reviewers in this way is not necessary, as peer-review should be seen as a reciprocal arrangement between researchers, an essential part of every worker's remit?

Twitter @barrywills

Ying Gu, 1956-2019

There was sad news reported this week (MEI Online), of the death of Dr. Ying Gu, the creator of the Mineral Liberation Analyser (MLA), which for many years was the competitor to CSIRO's QEM*SEM (later QEMSCAN). These were the forerunners of the modern automated mineral analysers which have played such an important role in how the minerals industry has adapted to the challenges of increasingly complex ore bodies.

Ying with the MLA

Ying played a prominent role in five of MEI's mineralogy conferences, and he spent nearly 20 years with Australia's JKMRC and JKTech, responsible both for the MLA development, sales and support, and latterly made important contributions to the technology of X-ray tomography for mineral texture analysis. He was President of the International Congress for Applied Mineralogy (ICAM) from 2008-2011.

Ying at ICAM '11 with Chris Rule and Robert Schouwstra

Ying was a true pioneer of automated mineralogy, who will be sorely missed. Our thoughts are with his wife Wenqin Li and two young daughters.

16th European Symposium on Comminution and Classification

Dear Comminution & Classification Colleagues,

The next European Symposium on Comminution & Classification (ESCC) will take place at the University of Leeds, UK. We have great pleasure in organising the event on behalf of the Working Party of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE). ESCC has a long international history, and the last three conferences were held at Braunschweig, Gothenburg, and Izmir. As a long-standing member of the Working Party, representing the Institution of Chemical Engineers of UK, we are delighted to organise this important international conference and welcome the worldwide community to Leeds.

The conference structure is in line with the format of the previous events and will cover themes on foods, pharmaceuticals, mineral processing, fine and ultrafine grinding in the chemical and allied industries, fundamentals of breakage and comminution models as well as new applications. We will have plenary and keynote lectures from leading comminution and classification experts from all over the world, poster sessions and exhibitions by instrument manufacturers. ESCC is a focussed forum in which you have the opportunity to discuss current trends in this area and learn from other industries and can transfer knowledge to your own applications.

Invitation to participate in European Symposium on Comminution & Classification 

You are cordially invited to come to Leeds in 2019 to be part of the ESCC, which will bring together experts of comminution and classification technology from industry and academia worldwide.

Professor Mojtaba Ghadiri, Conference Chair

Please click here to download the first pdf circular

Recent Comments

There have been comments on the following postings since the last update:

Day 2 of Hi-Tech Metals '18 and the end of a great week at the Vineyard
Process Mineralogy '18 welcome reception follows from Zeiss Workshop
A few simple questions for climate scientists
Travels in Peru
Process Mineralogy '18: conference diary
Hi-Tech Metals '18: conference diary
Return to Chingola
Is CO2 the most maligned gas in history?
The importance of mineral processing: the message just isn't getting through
In memory of Peter Fiore, an Nchanga legend
2018 with MEI
Looking forward to 2019
We welcome Master Magnets as a sponsor of Physical Separation '19
Pleasant surprises at the first Cornish Mining Sundowner of the year

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Sad news from Cape Town on the death of Roger Thomas

Some very sad news in from Cape Town this morning, of the passing of Roger Thomas, who I managed to contact five years ago, via the blog.  We got together for the first time in 44 years, over coffee at the Vineyard Hotel during Comminution '14.  Barbara and I became great friends with Roger and his wife Janet, and we would meet up for dinner on each of our visits to Cape Town, the last time being only two months ago.

With Roger at the Vineyard Hotel during Comminution '14

Roger was acting plant metallurgist on the concentrator when I arrived in Zambia.  He often reminded me of when he supervised my first duty on the concentrator- looking after the daily and monthly metallurgical accounts. I have vivid memories of Roger praising me for how quickly I produced the first monthly account, and then the next day berating me, as I had completely cocked it up, but at least I was never asked to do this again!

Roger and Janet were adventurous, and they certainly made the most of their time in Zambia, travelling to East Africa (as we did), and climbing Kilimanjaro (which we did not do). They also made an overland trip to UK, driving through India and Afghanistan, something which no sane person would attempt today.

Roger and Janet left Chingola in early 1971 to study for MBAs at the University of Cape Town. He then left the metallurgical profession to develop his entrepreneurial skills, first in boat building and truck hire and then in engineering supply, where he became Managing Director and then Chairman of a company supplying anticorrosive and low friction products. After retirement seven years ago Roger and Janet, and their three children, settled in Constantia, a suburb of Cape Town.

Roger and Janet visiting us in Cornwall during the summer of 2017, with their friends Kathy and Rod Whyte (centre)

After a brave battle with cancer, Roger died last night at home surrounded by his family. Our thoughts are with Janet and the family at this sad time.

Flotation '19: Call for Abstracts

Flotation '19 is MEI's 9th International Flotation Conference, a series regarded by IMPC Chairman Prof. Cyril O'Connor as 'must attend' events for both flotation researchers and practitioners. He felt that the great value is the provision of an excellent forum for exchange of views among those doing more fundamental research and those from industry who are able to share their successes and challenges with the audience.

The value in presenting a paper at Flotation '19 is evident from the many testimonials received from earlier events, and we are now inviting short abstracts for the November conference, which should be submitted by email no later than the end of May. The conference features two discrete symposia, Flotation Fundamentals and Flotation Applications and Practice, and abstracts accepted for oral presentation will require an accompanying draft paper, which will be included in the unrefereed Proceedings, which will be available to delegates at the conference. Draft papers are optional, but strongly preferred, for papers accepted for poster presentation.

After discussion at the conference, all authors will be invited to submit final papers to Elsevier for peer-review with a view to publication in Minerals Engineering journal. The papers will also be collated into a Virtual Special Issue (VSI) of the journal on ScienceDirect (see Flotation '17 VSI). As the conference itself is regarded as the first stage of peer-review, VSI papers are in effect 'fast tracked' and the acceptance rate is much higher than with regular journal submissions (see the posting of 13th January for full details on the advantages of submission to a VSI).

This year marks the 10th Anniversary of the death of one of the 20th Century's foremost flotation and colloid scientists, Dr. Joseph Kitchener, of Imperial College, UK. We are honoured that Prof. John Ralston, the first Director of Australia's Ian Wark Research Institute at the University of South Australia, who worked under Dr. Kitchener at Imperial College, will present the keynote lecture in the Fundamentals Symposium, which will trace the scientific legacy of a hugely gifted man and show how it underpins a significant amount of modern research in mineral flotation and colloid science.

More than a century after its adoption and adaptation as a major mineral separation technology within the mining industry, significant new developments in flotation continue to appear. A number of important contributions have come from Canadians and a selection of these will be highlighted by Dr. Jan Nesset, of NesseTech Consulting Services Inc., Canada, in the keynote lecture in the Applications Symposium.

Apart from what I am sure will evolve into another fine technical programme, there is much more to look forward to at Flotation '19, including an associated exhibition, as always held in the main 'networking area' where the conference breaks for coffee and lunch.

And there will be more great networking opportunities at the evening sundowners and at the conference dinner at the beautiful Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

Sundowner at Flotation '17

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

If you are travelling from overseas to Cape Town it would be a shame to miss out on some of the wonderful things to see in Southern Africa, in South Africa itself, and in neighbouring Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Make the most of your time in November!

Finally a big thanks to the support of our sponsors, who in no small way help us to put on what is now regarded as the world's major flotation event.

The latest updates can be found at #Flotation19.

Twitter @barrywills