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Dr. Teixeira da Silva has focused the majority of his career in research and publishing to the area of biology. In the past few years, based on that experience, his work has addressed challenges, problems and frustrations faced during research by academics and biomedical scientists that then translate to difficulties when they attempt to get their work published.
NAJP: Recently you published an article on "Excessively long editorial decisions and excessively long publication times." First of all, what brought this about?
JATdS: The paper you are in fact referring to is Teixeira da Silva and Dobránszki (2017). Over a decades-old career in research, editing and publishing, I have encountered far too many instances in which editors and/or peer reviewers have taken an "excessive" amount of time to complete peer review, or to reach an editorial decision. This phenomenon has also been observed by my co-author and also by many colleagues, independent of their geographic origin, culture or field of study. As for other topics that interest me, based on these negative experiences, and using my own perspectives, I felt that it was important to publish my views about this so that colleagues could discuss them in greater detail. Since biomedical science and publishing appear to be in an evolving state of retrospective analysis and seeking corrective measures to improve the system overall, I have been positively encouraged by the response I have received thus far. The term "excessively" is used twice, not by accident, and serves to imprint the notion that it is "more than normal." Readers may also be interested in a perspective published by the Times Higher Education, which supplements this interview, but which does not address the issues that I would have liked seen covered, as in this interview: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/02/09/paper-says-it-timepublishers-punish-tardy-journal-editors NAJP:
I have been on both sides of the fence - as a state and national editor, and as a researcher- waiting a very longtime to hear back from journals. What is your major concern?
JTdaS: I have also been in both positions, and that is why we have to discuss the topic more openly, because like us, there are many who feel pained by a long process, and frustrated by a system that cannot seem to effectively overcome this limitation. The...