in: barb; barb > 2008-06-30;
| # Posted 2008-07-02 12:21:09 | |
| Terry: | I can't wait to read it. Unfortunately at the moment the site says it's down for routine maintenance. I hope I remember to go back to it. |
| # Posted 2008-07-04 12:42:59 | |
| Terry: | This topic is apropos in our lab: a student from Mexico was supposed to arrive in April and stay through August, but visa issues delayed her arrival by two months, significantly cutting into her time with us.
What motivated you to write on this topic? Deputy Editor-in-Chief of PLoS Comp Bio! that's pretty nifty. Does "deputy" mean you're filling in in someone's absence? What are your duties? |
| # Posted 2008-07-04 19:51:07 | |
| barb: | Deputy means there is too much work for the EIC (Phil Bourne) to handle on his own. There are more and more Deputy EIC's actually... My duties are to decide whether to reject a paper before review, then to parcel papers out to Associate Editors who have another chance to reject before review, or assign reviewers and manage the reviewing process and make the publication decision. I get one last chance to step in before the decision is final. I also meet with the staff and other EICs once a week to talk about issues related to the journal.
The topic of visas for scientists came up when a couple ISCB Board members mentioned it as an issue. From there, I took the question to the Public Affairs Committee, and we decided to conduct an informal survey of ISCB members. I got about 50 responses, many of them with stories like that of your student. The (anonymized) data was shared with the NAS in advance of their testimony to a Congressional hearing a couple months ago; many groups were saying the same thing. As may be typical for Congressional hearings, the Department of Homeland Security rep did not show up, and they're a big player in this whole thing. It would be helpful if the student from Mexico or her professor would fill out the NAS questionnaire at http://www7.nationalacademies.org/visas/index.html - it gives them more data on delays and their impact for scientists. |
| # Posted 2008-07-05 02:10:13 | |
| Terry: | So basically you are in charge of what gets published. Sounds like it would keep you on top of the field. Also sounds like a lot of work and responsibility. I'm impressed. |
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