Letter: Letters : Beating bias

From David Payne

Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan

Michael Day gives a timely appraisal of the long-standing problem of the
inaccessibility of the most prestigious scientific journals to Third World
authors (“The price of prejudice”, 1 November, p 22)

As a reviewer for science journals and as a field worker and lecturer in many
developing countries, I have seen both sides of this story. Bias against
submissions from Third-World scientists there certainly is and it is to be hoped
that articles such as yours will make editors more receptive to them. However,
there are things which budding authors can and should do to improve their
chances with journal editors.

First, there is an almost universal tendency to have multiple authors. Papers
with five or six joint authors are common and ones with up to ten joint authors
are by no means rare. This leaves reviewers and editors alike uncertain as to
who exactly has done the work described.

Secondly, multiple authors sometimes resubmit the same basic work using their
different names as first authors. This is extremely aggravating to editors and
reviewers alike and will surely sour a budding relationship.

Third, scientists in Third World countries do not always use the skills which
are available in their own country to peer review their work thoroughly before
it is submitted to overseas journals. In particular, the statistical methodology
used in many papers is suspect. A competent statistician would spot such
mistakes and could easily rectify them.

Finally, putative authors should remember that most editors are obliged to
have a high rejection rate—70 per cent is not unusual—and screening
measures are simplified by sloppy submissions.

They should also bear in mind that journal reviewers are generally unpaid and
that the reviewing they do is a labour of love done mainly in their own time. It
is just not reasonable to expect them to spend hours working on sloppily or
improperly previewed submissions. When there are many silly errors, the patience
of even the most dedicated of them grows thin.