I doubt I'll be blogging much today (at least until late tonight, if at all). But since I've already been working since 7 today, I needed a break, and you're it..
We've had rain since Saturday, and it continues today. Normally I'd be frustrated since it keeps me from biking, but this time it worked out well because I've got a number of deadlines fast upon me.
I spent 7-8 hours yesterday on a referee report that's WAAAAAY overdue. At this point, I have all my thoughts down, but still have to finish organizing them into something coherent. I'm recommending that the paper be rejected because while the paper might potentially make a contribution, it's way too poorly done to tell- there are errors in the framing of the piece, the empirical analysis, and the "micro writing" (i.e. spelling and grammar.
In addition, there a number of years where their sample overlaps the samples of earlier pieces, and their numbers are extremely different. They don't provide any indication as to why this might be, so this makes me doubt all their results. So, as a note to any budding academics out there, make sure you compare your work to earlier similar work and explain any discreptancies.
These cases are always hard for me to review - on the one hand, I'm rejecting the paper; On the other, I hopefully can provide some comments & suggestions that will help the authors improve the paper for the next place they send it. In any event, I should have it done tonight.
In addition, I'll be working all day today with coauthors. As I mentioned previously, it's a piece from the dissertation of a former student of mine and my coauthor'. It'll go into a book of readings, and is due at the end of the week. Unfortunately, it's an invited piece (my colleague knows the editor), so it won't count as a refereed publication. But it will give our student something to show on her vita in her first semester at her new job.
Ah well, coauthor just showed up, so back to work.