Being a Kindly Blind Peer Reviewer: Promptness

So, after reading A Modernist Fantasy (2018) last month, I've turned into a major fan of James Gifford. And I've recently discovered that he's had a small blog series going where he describes the blind review process . . . . which is helpful because, as he says in one of the posts, academia is notoriously secretive, and my experience with the "blind peer review" genre comes entirely from common sense and the few blind reviews I've received.

So, from this post, here was a particularly helpful bit of information:

I made a quasi-promise to myself three years ago to resolve that contradiction. When asked to review an article, I either decline or complete the review by the end of the next day. It’s not really a matter of hurrying or spending more or less time – it’s simply when the time is allocated. I could race at the end of the deadline or just read the materials on the train the same day I receive them and send off comments the next morning (sometimes even that night).

Good gawd, YES. First, it's nice to get confirmation of my suspicion of how much time reviewers actually spend on these things (although I've also seen cases where reviewers have clearly perused a few extra books, just for their review). But, second, there's absolutely no reason on God's green earth that academic publishing has to take as long as it does. Me, personally, even when I was editing Scientia et Humanitas, I always did my reviews by the next day, and I've continued that practice as a post-doctoral researcher. As a reviews editor for Fafnir, too, I always return commentary on book reviews to their authors by the next day.

Part of me feels that I need to be cautious and self-reflective here. Although I'm a non-TT lecturer teaching a 4-4 load, which many people make sound as if it's infinitely taxing, that kind of workload at the U of Arizona isn't as harsh as at some other programs. Even so, I often wonder if academics (blind peer reviewers, book reviewers, etc.) aren't just really bad at managing their time and workloads efficiently.

Moral of this story: academia is lovely and it's fun. Why put off until the deadline what you could do immediately? It's like getting a candy bar and waiting two weeks to eat it. Just hurry up and write your reviews . . . and see what lovely arguments other academics are making.