Today I was awarded a Certificate of Outstanding Contribution in Reviewing for reviews I’ve undertaken last year. To be honest, my first reaction was a bit cynical (I didn’t know about the programme)… I mean what else will they think of next to motivate reviewers? Shouldn’t it be a natural thing to do reviews — something we’re intrinsically motivated to do in our quest for better science? I mean we already get to routinely choose if I want to brag about our reviewing on Publons these days (oh, hang on, are these competing services?). I then came across an explanation of these certificates by Elsevier. I learned that they have been around for 5 years now, and that the editors get to choose 25 awardees! Now this no longer feels so hollow.
Sociologist. Quantitativist. University of Neuchâtel.
Didier Ruedin 