Annals of Applied Biology ( IF 2.6 ) Pub Date : 2020-09-25 , DOI: 10.1111/aab.12645 Ricardo A. Azevedo 1 , Carol A. Millman 2
“Interviews” is a new type of publication we are introducing in Annals of Applied Biology from 2019. The first one is with Prof. Simon Leather who has been on the board of Annals since 2005 as a Senior Editor and since 2015 as the Editor‐in‐Chief. We hope you enjoy reading this article and to know a bit more about Simon's research activities and his work as an Editor for Annals.
Q: Tell us a bit about you.
I discovered entomology as a young child and as I got older felt that I wanted to help the world. My father was a tropical plant pathologist and his work in crop protection inspired me a lot. I did my first degree in Agricultural Zoology at Leeds University, the main focus of which was invertebrate pests of crops and livestock. I then moved to the University of East Anglia where I did a PhD examining the ecology of the bird cherry–oat aphid (Figure 1). After my PhD, I did a Royal Society funded post‐doc in Finland working at the Pest Investigation Department just outside Helsinki. It was there that I developed the cereal aphid forecasting system that is still in use there. I returned to the UK where I spent just under a year back at the University of East Anglia working on cereal aphids before I moved to the Northern Research Station of the UK Forestry Commission. I spent 10 years there working on two major pests of forestry, the pine beauty moth, Panolis flammea, and the large pine weevil, Hylobius abietis. I then moved to Imperial College London, where I was based for 20 years, 1992–2012, teaching entomology and applied ecology and doing research on horticultural, forestry and agricultural pests in both the UK and elsewhere. In 2012, I moved to Harper Adams University in Shropshire, where I run the MSc course in Entomology, which we transferred from Imperial College London, and continue my entomological research. I have also developed my interest in science communication, an area that I feel is of great importance.
Q: You have been on the board of Annals since 2005 as a Senior Editor and since 2015 as the Editor‐in‐Chief of Annals, what can you tell us about this period with Annals?
It has been a bit of a roller‐coaster ride, some dips in submission rates and a bit of a wobble with the dreaded Impact Factor, but in the main, and certainly over the last 10 years, it has been a period of increasing success and increased international recognition.
Q: What are the main challenges you run into as an Editor‐in‐Chief?
I think I have been very lucky in my tenure as Editor‐in‐Chief. Thanks to my excellent team of Senior Editors and their teams of Handling Editors, and of course our Editorial Administrator, Carol Millman, I have had a very smooth ride. The biggest challenges have been those that our whole Editorial team share, finding willing reviewers. Challenges more specific to the role of Editor‐in‐Chief are dealing with cases of plagiarism and explaining to authors why they cannot use the Tukey test.
Q: What do you think have been the many changes in the editorial and publishing world? And have you any predictions for the future of scientific journals?
I think one of the major changes was going from paper‐based submissions to online Editorial manager systems. The role of Editors has changed hugely since I first became a journal editor in 1992. In those days, Editors had a much more “intimate” relationship with their authors. As well as choosing referees, they also physically edited the papers, marking them up and making firm suggestions on formatting and use of language. There are also many more journals to choose from and the number of papers submitted and published has increased hugely. As a result, the single Editor is almost extinct, and most journals have at least three Senior Editors plus a large number of Handling Editors who do the job that the single Editor used to do in the past. Regarding the future, I think that in a few years' time, there will be no hard copies of journals and only a few of us will be printing papers to read physically.
Q: Is open access here to stay? What is your view about Open Science?
Open access is here to stay although I do not necessarily think it is a good thing. I find it a strange precept that academic authors are expected to pay to publish their work. If you are a journalist or a novelist, you get paid to write. Yes, the taxpayer indirectly funds many academics but not all research is grant funded, and not all grants are equal. For example, in the UK, for a PhD student, there is usually not enough money associated with the funding to be able to pay the costs associated with publishing in an open Access journal. As a result, those authors are likely to be disenfranchised and their work not published. In addition, learned societies rely heavily on the funding arising from their journals; open access could seriously reduce their incomes and thus their ability to support workers in their discipline.
Q: What about Peer Review?
Peer review is a very important part of the academic process, but it now presents a huge problem and not just for us. Journal editors around the world report that getting the requisite minimum two reviews has become increasingly difficult over the last decade or so. Although people are keen to publish, they seem reluctant to reciprocate by reviewing the work of others. We need a commitment from all authors to review at least two papers for every one that they submit.
Q: Annals is owned by the Association of Applied Biologists and currently published by Wiley‐Blackwell; how important was this partnership for the journal and your role as EiC?
We are very fortunate to be a society journal rather than a purely commercial one. Being part of the Association of Applied Biologists gives us an ethical edge over those nonsociety journals as the profits we generate, although shared with the publishers, go to our members and help foster our discipline for example by subsiding conferences. Another example is that we are able to publish our very useful series of Plant Phenological Growth stages, which a purely commercial journal would probably frown upon. I have worked with Wiley‐Blackwell since 1992, albeit for other society journals, and have always found them to be a considerate publisher with a great understanding of how learned societies work.
Q: Back to Entomology, how do you see this field in the next 5 years and what do you think is missing or you would like to see published in Annals?
Given the burgeoning interest in biodiversity and nonchemical crop protection, I think that entomology both applied and ecological will be of increasing interest. I do not think that we are missing any aspects of entomology but there are areas where I think we could be publishing more, biological control in protected cropping for example, and I would also like to see more forest entomology in the journal.
Q: Simon, if you could pick three to five things (whatever they may be) from your CV or choices you made in life, what would they be?
If I had not failed to get into medical school, I would not have ended up at Leeds University doing the Agricultural Zoology course. That course transformed my life; it was there that I fell in love with aphids and realised that applied entomology was a hugely important discipline. I also owe a huge debt to my PhD supervisor Tony Dixon at the University of East Anglia, who allowed me a completely free hand with my research on aphids, I was allowed to choose my own topic. A major highlight of my career includes my time in Finland, where I worked at the Pest Investigation Department and with the help of colleagues developed the bird cherry–oat aphid forecasting scheme, which as I pointed out earlier, is still in operation 40 years after its inception. Being appointed to the academic staff at Imperial College London, was also a pivotal point in my life, as it allowed me to develop entomology teaching there as well as rubbing shoulders with some of the best ecologists in the World. I am also very grateful to all my students over the years for listening to me and inspiring me through their questions and to Francisca Sconce for forcing me to go on to Twitter.
Q: I will be the next Editor‐in‐Chief of Annals from January 1, 2021, and I am sure the members of the Editorial Board are happy you will carry on as a Senior Editor. So, please, what advice can you give to me?
Listen to Carol and to counteract keeping me on as a Senior Editor, take on some more early career researchers.
中文翻译:
Simon Leather教授,《 2015-2020年应用生物学年鉴》主编
“访谈”是我们将于2019年在《应用生物学年鉴》中引入的一种新型出版物。第一本是与西蒙·莱瑟教授(Simon Leather教授)一起,他自2005年以来一直担任Annals的董事会成员,自2015年以来一直担任该杂志的编辑-首席。我们希望您喜欢阅读本文,并希望进一步了解Simon的研究活动以及他作为Annals的编辑所开展的工作。
问:告诉我们一些关于您的信息。
我从小发现昆虫学,随着年龄的增长,我觉得自己想帮助世界。我父亲是一名热带植物病理学家,他在农作物保护方面的工作给了我很多启发。我在利兹大学获得了农业动物学的第一学位,其主要重点是农作物和牲畜的无脊椎动物害虫。然后,我搬到了东英吉利大学,攻读博士学位,研究的是樱桃樱桃燕麦蚜虫的生态(图1)。在获得博士学位后,我在赫尔辛基郊外的害虫调查部做了一个由芬兰皇家学会资助的博士后研究。在那里,我开发了仍在使用的谷物蚜虫预报系统。我回到英国后,在东英吉利大学度过了不到一年的时间,从事谷物蚜虫的工作,然后才移居英国林业委员会的北部研究站。我在那里呆了10年,研究两种主要的林业害虫,即松美蛾。Panolis flammea和大松象鼻虫Hylobius abietis。然后,我搬到了伦敦帝国理工学院,在这里工作了1992年至2012年20年,在英国和其他地区教授昆虫学和应用生态学,并对园艺,林业和农业害虫进行研究。2012年,我搬到了什罗普郡的哈珀·亚当斯大学,在那里我开设了昆虫学理学硕士课程,这是我们从伦敦帝国理工学院转来的,并继续进行昆虫学研究。我也对科学传播产生了兴趣,我认为这一领域非常重要。
问:自2005年以来,您一直担任Annals的董事,而自2015年以来,您一直担任Annals的总编辑,您如何向我们介绍Annals的这一时期?
这有点过山车,投稿率有所下降,而可怕的Impact Factor却有些摇摆不定,但总体而言,当然是在过去的十年中,这是一个越来越成功的时期并提高了国际认可度。
问:您作为主编遇到的主要挑战是什么?
我认为担任总编辑很幸运。多亏了我出色的高级编辑团队和处理编辑团队,当然还有我们的编辑管理员Carol Millman,我的旅途非常顺利。最大的挑战是我们整个编辑团队共同面临的挑战,需要找到愿意的审稿人。对于总编辑角色而言,更具体的挑战是处理抄袭案件,并向作者解释为什么他们不能使用Tukey测试。
问:您认为编辑和出版界发生了许多变化?您对科学期刊的未来有何预测?
我认为主要的变化之一是从纸质投稿到在线编辑经理系统。自从我于1992年首次成为期刊编辑以来,编辑的角色发生了巨大变化。在那些日子里,编辑与作者之间有着更加“亲密”的关系。除了挑选裁判员以外,他们还亲自编辑论文,对其进行标记,并就语言的格式和使用提出坚定的建议。还有更多的期刊可供选择,提交和发表的论文数量大大增加。结果,单个编辑器几乎绝迹了,并且大多数期刊至少有三名高级编辑器以及大量处理编辑器,这些编辑器完成了该单个编辑器过去的工作。关于未来,我认为几年后,
问:开放访问会保留吗?您对开放科学有何看法?
尽管我并不一定认为开放是一件好事,但开放访问仍然存在。我发现学术作者被要求为发表他们的作品付费是一个奇怪的原则。如果您是记者或小说家,您将获得报酬。是的,纳税人间接资助了许多学者,但并非所有研究都是由赠款资助的,也不是所有赠款都是平等的。例如,在英国,对于博士生来说,通常没有足够的资金来支付与在开放Access期刊上发表相关的费用。结果,这些作者可能被剥夺了选举权,他们的作品也没有发表。此外,学习型社会严重依赖其期刊产生的资金。开放获取会严重降低他们的收入,从而降低他们在纪律方面支持工人的能力。
问:同行评审怎么样?
同行评议是学术过程中非常重要的一部分,但它现在提出了一个巨大的问题,而不仅仅是我们。世界各地的期刊编辑报告说,在过去十年左右的时间里,获得必要的至少两次审阅变得越来越困难。尽管人们热衷于发表,但他们似乎不愿意通过回顾他人的工作来回报。我们需要所有作者的承诺,对于他们提交的每篇论文都至少要审阅两篇论文。
问:Annals由应用生物学家协会所有,目前由Wiley-Blackwell出版;这种合作关系对于期刊和您作为EiC的作用有多重要?
我们很幸运能够成为社会期刊,而不是纯粹的商业期刊。成为应用生物学家协会的成员,使我们在那些非社会期刊上拥有道德上的优势,因为我们产生的利润(尽管与出版商分享)流向了我们的成员,并通过例如举办会议等方式帮助我们树立了学科。另一个例子是,我们能够发布非常有用的植物物候生长阶段系列,纯商业期刊可能会对此予以反对。自1992年以来,我就一直与Wiley-Blackwell合作,尽管他也为其他社会期刊服务,但我始终发现他们是一个体贴入微的出版商,对学术社会的运作方式有深刻的了解。
问:回到昆虫学,您如何看待未来5年的领域,以及您认为缺少什么或希望看到发表在《 Annals》上的内容?
考虑到人们对生物多样性和非化学作物保护的兴趣日益浓厚,我认为应用昆虫学和生态学都将引起人们越来越多的兴趣。我不认为我们缺少昆虫学的任何方面,但是我认为我们可以在某些领域发表更多的文章,例如在受保护的作物中进行生物防治,并且我还希望在该期刊中看到更多的森林昆虫学。
问:西蒙,如果您可以从简历或生活中做出的选择中挑出三到五种东西(无论它们是什么),它们将是什么?
如果我没有没能上医学院,那我就不会在利兹大学学习农业动物学课程。那条路线改变了我的生活;在那里,我爱上了蚜虫,并意识到应用昆虫学是一门极为重要的学科。我还欠东英吉利大学的博士生导师托尼·迪克森(Tony Dixon)很大的欠款,他让我对蚜虫的研究完全自由了,我可以选择自己的话题。我职业生涯的一大亮点包括我在芬兰的时间,我曾在害虫调查部门工作,并在同事的帮助下制定了鸟樱桃燕麦蚜虫预报计划,正如我之前指出的那样,该计划在40年后仍在运行它的开始。被任命为伦敦帝国学院的学术人员,这也是我一生中的关键点,因为它使我得以在那里发展昆虫学教学,并与世界上一些最好的生态学家擦肩而过。我也非常感谢多年来我所有的学生,听我的话并通过他们的问题启发我,也感谢Francisca Sconce强迫我继续使用Twitter。
问:从2021年1月1日起,我将担任下一任《 Annals》的主编,我确信编辑委员会的成员很高兴您能继续担任高级编辑。那么,请问您能给我什么建议?
听卡罗尔(Carol)的讲话,为阻止我继续担任高级编辑,请多聘一些早期的职业研究人员。